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I have a solution in visual studios. 2 of the projects it contains are test projects. 2 are actual software to be deployed. 1 of these projects is stand alone the other, lets call this project B. The main project, lets call it project A, references project B's dll file.

Both of these projects have some content that needs to be copied to output. They both work fine on their own; however, when project A builds and launches it does not pull project B's content. This would make sense of course since the only thing it references is a dll. Furthermore, it doesn't do any installation of project B it just has a reference to it.

I think ideally some step in there would allow me to have both project A and B both installed and run (this is a powerpoint add-in btw), and their assets potentially merged. If needed their assets can be separate, but I just need to make a calls to project B from A and have it return me some files.

I think this might sound more complicated than it is.

Parris
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  • When you add references, do you do that for the other project specifically, or do you reference the dll? More info on project references. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/wkze6zky.aspx – Hans Z Jun 07 '12 at 01:02
  • No I reference the dll from project B in project A. I can't browse to find project be when I try to add it as a reference that way. The only thing that tab contains are the test projects. – Parris Jun 07 '12 at 01:20

1 Answers1

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You can have Visual Studio "link" a representation of B's content files in A... see this article

bluevector
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  • But how will that work out once it is compiled. The file location is going to be different and it should be local for each installation. Project B should always be installed/function as well, and hopefully 2 instances of the same files wont be created, but if that can't be helped then this solution could work. Thanks :)! – Parris Jun 07 '12 at 01:20
  • You can mark the files' properties to `Copy Always` or whatever the value is (I forget off-hand). – bluevector Jun 07 '12 at 01:22
  • Well then how would I copy a folder of stuff not just a file? Dragging and dropping (the typical solution) would cause separate instances. – Parris Jun 07 '12 at 01:29
  • I think you can link a directory, too. Read the article for details. – bluevector Jun 07 '12 at 01:29
  • Well, its a partial solution. More came from this answer: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3610845/add-as-link-for-folders-in-visual-studio-projects I'll accept it because you are the only one who answered. – Parris Jun 09 '12 at 17:10