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Common MSBuild Project Items

Note

This article applies to Visual Studio 2015. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here

In MSBuild, an item is a named reference to one or more files. Items contain metadata such as file names, paths, and version numbers. All project types in Visual Studio have several items in common. These items are defined in the file microsoft.build.commontypes.xsd.

Common Items

The following is a list of all the common project items.

Reference

Represents an assembly (managed) reference in the project.

Item Name Description
HintPath Optional string. Relative or absolute path of the assembly.
Name Optional string. The display name of the assembly, for example, "System.Windows.Forms."
FusionName Optional string. Specifies the simple or strong fusion name for the item.

When this attribute is present, it can save time because the assembly file does not have to be opened to obtain the fusion name.
SpecificVersion Optional boolean. Specifies whether only the version in the fusion name should be referenced.
Aliases Optional string. Any aliases for the reference.
Private Optional boolean. Specifies whether the reference should be copied to the output folder. This attribute matches the Copy Local property of the reference that's in the Visual Studio IDE.

COMReference

Represents a COM (unmanaged) component reference in the project.

Item Name Description
Name Optional string. The display name of the component.
Guid Optional string. A GUID for the component, in the form {12345678-1234-1234-1234-1234567891234}.
VersionMajor Optional string. The major part of the version number of the component. For example, "5" if the full version number is "5.46."
VersionMinor Optional string. The minor part of the version number of the component. For example, "46" if the full version number is "5.46."
LCID Optional string. The LocaleID for the component.
WrapperTool Optional string. The name of the wrapper tool that is used on the component, for example, "tlbimp."
Isolated Optional boolean. Specifies whether the component is a reg-free component.

COMFileReference

Represents a list of type libraries that feed into the ResolvedComreference target.

Item Name Description
WrapperTool Optional string. The name of the wrapper tool that is used on the component, for example, "tlbimp."

NativeReference

Represents a native manifest file or a reference to such a file.

Item Name Description
Name Required string. The base name of the manifest file.
HintPath Required string. The relative path of the manifest file.

ProjectReference

Represents a reference to another project.

Item Name Description
Name Optional string. The display name of the reference.
Project Optional string. A GUID for the reference, in the form {12345678-1234-1234-1234-1234567891234}.
Package Optional string. The path of the project file that is being referenced.

Compile

Represents the source files for the compiler.

Item Name Description
DependentUpon Optional string. Specifies the file this file depends on to compile correctly.
AutoGen Optional boolean. Indicates whether the file was generated for the project by the Visual Studio integrated development environment (IDE).
Link Optional string. The notational path to be displayed when the file is physically located outside the influence of the project file.
Visible Optional boolean. Indicates whether to display the file in Solution Explorer in Visual Studio.
CopyToOutputDirectory Optional string. Determines whether to copy the file to the output directory. Values are:

1. Never
2. Always
3. PreserveNewest

EmbeddedResource

Represents resources to be embedded in the generated assembly.

Item Name Description
DependentUpon Optional string. Specifies the file this file depends on to compile correctly
Generator Required string. The name of any file generator that is run on this item.
LastGenOutput Required string. The name of the file that was created by any file generator that ran on this item.
CustomToolNamespace Required string. The namespace in which any file generator that runs on this item should create code.
Link Optional string. The notational path is displayed if the file is physically located outside the influence of the project.
Visible Optional boolean. Indicates whether to display the file in Solution Explorer in Visual Studio.
CopyToOutputDirectory Optional string. Determines whether to copy the file to the output directory. Values are:

1. Never
2. Always
3. PreserveNewest
LogicalName Required string. The logical name of the embedded resource.

Content

Represents files that are not compiled into the project, but may be embedded or published together with it.

Item Name Description
DependentUpon Optional string. Specifies the file this file depends on to compile correctly.
Generator Required string. The name of any file generator that runs on this item.
LastGenOutput Required string. The name of the file that was created by any file generator that was run on this item.
CustomToolNamespace Required string. The namespace in which any file generator that runs on this item should create code.
Link Optional boolean. Indicates whether to display the file in Solution Explorer in Visual Studio.
PublishState Required string. The publish state of the content, either:

- Default
- Included
- Excluded
- DataFile
- Prerequisite
IsAssembly Optional boolean. Specifies whether the file is an assembly.
Visible Optional boolean. Indicates whether to display the file in Solution Explorer in Visual Studio.
CopyToOutputDirectory Optional string. Determines whether to copy the file to the output directory. Values are:

1. Never
2. Always
3. PreserveNewest

None

Represents files that should have no role in the build process.

Item Name Description
DependentUpon Optional string. Specifies the file this file depends on to compile correctly.
Generator Required string. The name of any file generator that is run on this item.
LastGenOutput Required string. The name of the file that was created by any file generator that ran on this item.
CustomToolNamespace Required string. The namespace in which any file generator that runs on this item should create code.
Link Optional string. The notational path to be displayed if the file is physically located outside the influence of the project.
Visible Optional boolean. Indicates whether to display the file in Solution Explorer in Visual Studio.
CopyToOutputDirectory Optional string. Determines whether to copy the file to the output directory. Values are:

1. Never
2. Always
3. PreserveNewest

BaseApplicationManifest

Represents the base application manifest for the build, and contains ClickOnce deployment security information.

CodeAnalysisImport

Represents the FxCop project to import.

Import

Represents assemblies whose namespaces should be imported by the Visual Basic compiler.

See Also

Common MSBuild Project Properties