Set content files to "copy local : always" in a nuget package

copy-local, nuget, nuget-package, visual-studio, visual-studio-2012

Solution

You can use PowerShell and the `Install.ps1` hook provided by NuGet.

See the documentation.

Via PowerShell you have to 'search' for the content element which includes your `importantfile.xml` in an attribute. When the script found it, it has to add `<CopyToOutputDirectory>Always</CopyToOutputDirectory>` as a child element.

    <Content Include="importantfile.xml">
      <CopyToOutputDirectory>Always</CopyToOutputDirectory>
    </Content>

You can find some PowerShell snippets here. Just take a look at the `.ps1` files.

You could try the following (not tested). The file has to be named `Install.ps1` and copied into the `tools` folder:

param($installPath, $toolsPath, $package, $project)

# Load project XML.
$doc = New-Object System.Xml.XmlDocument
$doc.Load($project.FullName)
$namespace = 'http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003'

# Find the node containing the file. The tag "Content" may be replace by "None" depending of the case, check your .csproj file.
$xmlNode = Select-Xml "//msb:Project/msb:ItemGroup/msb:Content[@Include='importantfile.xml']" $doc -Namespace @{msb = $namespace}


#check if the node exists.
if($xmlNode -ne $null)
{
    $nodeName = "CopyToOutputDirectory"

    #Check if the property already exists, just in case.
    $property = $xmlNode.Node.SelectSingleNode($nodeName)
    if($property -eq $null)
    {
        $property = $doc.CreateElement($nodeName, $namespace)
        $property.AppendChild($doc.CreateTextNode("Always"))
        $xmlNode.Node.AppendChild($property)

        # Save changes.
        $doc.Save($project.FullName)
    }
}

You should also check if everything is removed completely when uninstalling the package.

Note by Jonhhy5

When updating the package via `update-package`, Visual Studio warns that the project is modified "outside the environnment". That's caused by `$doc.Save($project.FullName)`. If I click reload before the command is fully terminated, it sometimes causes errors. The trick is to leave the dialog there until the process finishes, and then reload the projects.

Problem

Original source

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