Use wildcards to include resource files in a project

Just discovered from Keith Rome’s blog post that you can use wildcards to include files in a project. This is occasionally useful as when you have lots of resources.

For example, in the IdeaBlade Bookshelf sample application (based on John Papa’s BookClub sample) there is a folder of 58 images:

You can add and remove these files by hand. I admit it’s not that hard to do by clicking “Show all”, scatter selecting the ones that aren’t already part of the project and adding them. But it’s still a maintenance chore.

Alternatively you can edit the project file once to pick up all of the jpgs and never worry about it again.

Begin by opening the project file in a text editor (or within VS by unloading the project and editing the project file; commands for this purpose are available from the context menu).

Each of the image files is mentioned by name in an <ItemGroup/> as shown here.

Replace the entire <ItemGroup/> block with the following:

  <ItemGroup>
    <Content Include="Assets\Images\*.jpg">
      <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
    </Content> 
  </ItemGroup>

Save and reload the project. Henceforth, the images will be self-included.

As long as a matching file (any jpg) is in the folder, the build will pick it up. Remove the file and it disappears (no lingering missing link). You may have to click “refresh” in Solution Explorer to get the project to show you the latest list.

Of course you can no longer set properties on the files individually or include/exclude individuals. But it’s a pretty cool trick when you have a pile of identical resources like this.

Who knew?