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I have a solution with 3 projects in it. I need to copy a view from one project to another. I'm able to copy the created DLL via post build events like so:

enter image description here

So i want to copy the file in project one '/Views/ModuleHome/Index.cshtml' to a folder in project 2. How do I copy file(s) to my desired project via post-build event? Thanks

BoundForGlory
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  • Does this answer your question? [Visual Studio Post Build Event - Copy to Relative Directory Location](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/834270/visual-studio-post-build-event-copy-to-relative-directory-location) – Michael Freidgeim Mar 09 '23 at 04:01

8 Answers8

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xcopy "$(ProjectDir)Views\Home\Index.cshtml" "$(SolutionDir)MEFMVCPOC\Views\Home"

and if you want to copy entire folders:

xcopy /E /Y "$(ProjectDir)Views" "$(SolutionDir)MEFMVCPOC\Views"

Update: here's the working version

xcopy "$(ProjectDir)Views\ModuleAHome\Index.cshtml" "$(SolutionDir)MEFMVCPOC\Views\ModuleAHome\" /Y /I

Here are some commonly used switches with xcopy:

  • /I - treat as a directory if copying multiple files.
  • /Q - Do not display the files being copied.
  • /S - Copy subdirectories unless empty.
  • /E - Copy empty subdirectories.
  • /Y - Do not prompt for overwrite of existing files.
  • /R - Overwrite read-only files.
Rohit416
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Darin Dimitrov
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    I added this line to my post build and i get this error "Error 1 The command "xcopy "C:\Users\tcompton\Downloads\MEFMVCPOC\ModuleA\Views\ModuleAHome\Index.cshtml" "C:\Users\tcompton\Downloads\MEFMVCPOC\MEFMVCPOC\Views\ModuleAHome"" exited with code 2." What does this mean? – BoundForGlory Jun 12 '12 at 17:50
  • Look at the output window: `Ctrl+W+O`. Does the `Views\ModuleAHome` folder exist at the target location? Look at the output window for the exact command being executed and then read the documentation for the xcopy command to understand the different switches available: `xcopy /?`. – Darin Dimitrov Jun 12 '12 at 17:51
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    The folder 'Views\ModuleAHome' exists but its not part of the target project meaning you have to click 'show all files' for it to appear in VS. – BoundForGlory Jun 12 '12 at 17:55
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    I don't think that the fact that the destination folder is not part of the destination project makes any difference to xcopy. This command operates directly with the file system. As far as making this folder appear as part of the destination project is concerned, automating this task might be more difficult. – Darin Dimitrov Jun 12 '12 at 17:56
  • Thats what i'm thinking. But exited with code 2 means it doesnt exists right? – BoundForGlory Jun 12 '12 at 17:57
  • Yes, it means there was an error. As I said if you want to see the exact command being executed and error message look at the Output Window. – Darin Dimitrov Jun 12 '12 at 17:58
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    Got it... xcopy "$(ProjectDir)Views\ModuleAHome\Index.cshtml" "$(SolutionDir)MEFMVCPOC\Views\ModuleAHome\" /Y /I....this article helped along with your input http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/uk/csharpgeneral/thread/b114b957-bdb0-4a68-82f3-16cb0191015b – BoundForGlory Jun 12 '12 at 18:02
  • I have updated my answer to include the working version for further reference. – Darin Dimitrov Jun 12 '12 at 18:05
  • Is it possible to have these added to the project file, after copying them to the directory, or do I have to do that manually? – crush Jun 25 '15 at 17:10
  • Hello @DarinDimitrov for this answer. It works very well in the case when the file I wish to copy exists in the source directory. However, what can I do to prevent a build error when the file does not exist? Thank you for your response. –  Jun 27 '20 at 00:45
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xcopy "your-source-path" "your-destination-path" /D /y /s /r /exclude:path-to-txt- file\ExcludedFilesList.txt

Notice the quotes in source path and destination path, but not in path to exludelist txt file.

Content of ExcludedFilesList.txt is the following: .cs\

I'm using this command to copy file from one project in my solution, to another and excluding .cs files.

/D Copy only files that are modified in sourcepath
/y Suppresses prompting to confirm you want to overwrite an existing destination file.
/s Copies directories and subdirectories except empty ones.
/r Overwrites read-only files.
Hallgeir Engen
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  • Thank you. The /exclude: works after adding quotes to `your-source-path` and `your-destination-path`. Without those quotes it doesn't work at all. – AechoLiu May 20 '13 at 06:35
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    @AechoLiu The quotes are always necessary if your file path has blank space e. g. `"My File.txt"`. – Felipe Romero Mar 19 '19 at 23:43
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xcopy "$(TargetDir)\*$(TargetExt)" "$(SolutionDir)\Scripts\MigrationScripts\Library\"  /F /R /Y /I

/F – Displays full source & target file names

/R – This will overwrite read-only files

/Y – Suppresses prompting to overwrite an existing file(s)

/I – Assumes that destination is directory (but must end with \)

A little trick – in target you must end with character \ to tell xcopy that target is directory and not file!

CarenRose
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Namrata Jain
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I use it like this.

xcopy "$(TargetDir)$(TargetName).dll" "$(SolutionDir)Lib\TIRM\x86\" /F /Y 
xcopy "$(TargetDir)$(TargetName).lib" "$(SolutionDir)Lib\TIRM\x86\" /F /Y 


/F : Copy source is File   
/Y : Overwrite and don't ask me

Note the use of this. $(TargetDir) has already '\' "D:\MyProject\bin\" = $(TargetDir)

You can find macro in Command editor

enter image description here

Super-Mantis
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8

Call Batch file which will run Xcopy for required files source to destination

call "$(SolutionDir)scripts\copyifnewer.bat"
swapneel
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5

This command works like a charm for me:

for /r "$(SolutionDir)libraries" %%f in (*.dll, *.exe) do @xcopy "%%f" "$(TargetDir)"

It recursively copies every dll and exe file from MySolutionPath\libraries into the bin\debug or bin\release.

You can find more info in here

Bizhan
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Like the previous replies, I'm also suggesting xcopy. However, I would like to add to Hallgeir Engen's answer with the /exclude parameter. There seems to be a bug with the parameter preventing it from working with path names that are long or that contain spaces, as quotes will not work. The path names need to be in the "DOS"-format with "Documents" translating to "DOCUME~1" (according to this source).

So, if you want to use the \exclude parameter, there is a workaround here:

cd $(SolutionDir)
xcopy "source-relative-to-path-above" "destination-relative-to-path-above
/exclude:exclude-file-relative-path

Note that the source and destination paths can (and should, if they contain spaces) be within quotes, but not the path to the exclude file.

kim
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If you want to take into consideration the platform (x64, x86 etc) and the configuration (Debug or Release) it would be something like this:

xcopy "$(SolutionDir)\$(Platform)\$(Configuration)\$(TargetName).dll" "$(SolutionDir)TestDirectory\bin\$(Platform)\$(Configuration)\" /F /Y
Flot2011
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