Automatic copy files to output during application building

Question

There is Copy to Output Directory property for files in C# projects. But in VC++ projects it is absent. I know, that I can use Build events in VC++ and wri

Answer 1

It depends on what version of Visual Studio you are using. Format of VC++ project file in Visual Studio 2008 is not MSBuild and so using xcopy in PostBuildStep is a good choice.

VC++ project in Visual Studio 2010 has MSBuild format. Thus, there is functionality of MSBuild Copy task.

Below is a sample:

<Copy
    SourceFiles="%(FullPath)"
    DestinationFolder="$(OutDir)"
/>

If the destination directory does not exist, it is created automatically

An MSDN Copy task reference is here

Answer 2

Can MSBuild do something to help in this case?

Using MSVC 2012, this worked for me:

Assumed you have a file "Data/ThisIsData.txt" in your c++ Project.

Unload the project (right click --> Unload Project).
Edit project XML (right click --> Edit .vcxproj)
Now you see the projects MSBuild file as XML in your editor.

Find "ThisIsData.txt". It should look something like:

<ItemGroup>
<None Include="Data\ThisIsData.txt" />
...
</ItemGroup>

Now add an other item group like this:

<ItemGroup>
<Content Include="Data\ThisIsData.txt">
<CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
</Content>
...
</ItemGroup>

Reload the project and build.
Your file "ThisIsData.txt" should get copied to $(OutDir)\Data\ThisIsData.txt.

Why duplicating the ItemGroup?

Well if you simply change the None include to a content include, the IDE does not seem to like it any more, and will not display it. So to keep a quick edit option for my data files, I decided to keep the duplicated entries.