I have a C# solution where the same file belongs to multiple projects. How?

Question

There is a file C:\Users\Me\source\repos\MyProject\VersionInfo.cs that is somehow contained within all but one projects in the MyProject solution; editing one copy of it simultaneously edits all of them, but it only shows up once in source control, at the solution level. How is this possible? How can I add it to the last project? I tried "add existing file" but that just copied it into that folder... if it helps any there is a little blue "arrow in a box" icon on it...

You need "Add as Link" to prevent the copy. Click the arrow on the Add button to get it. — Hans Passant, May 03 '20 at 16:03

Guru Stron · Accepted Answer · 2022-09-27T17:06:53.193

7

You have a file which was added as a link. You can read about it for example here or here. You can achieve this via Add -> Existing Item dialog but instead of clicking "Add" click on the dropdown arrow to the right and select "Add As Link":

Or by manually editing .csproj:

<ItemGroup>
  <Compile Include="..\OtherFolder\VersionInfo.cs" Link="VersionInfo.cs" />
</ItemGroup>

edited Sep 27 '22 at 17:06

answered May 03 '20 at 16:07

Guru Stron

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Oh, thanks! I had no idea Visual Studio had that feature. – ekolis May 04 '20 at 13:39

I have a C# solution where the same file belongs to multiple projects. How?

1 Answers1

Linked