ASP.NET Core: Exclude or include files on publish

Question

There were before aspdotnet1.0 include/exclude sections on project.json file

{   "exclude": [     "node_modules",     "bower_components"   ],   "publishExclude": [     "**.xproj",     "**.user",     "**.vspscc"   ] } 

Where is this section in ASP.NET Core 1.1 (there is no project.json)? Are there similar sections on .csproj file or .pubxml?

Answer 1

From documentation: if you wish to specify, for example, some files to get published with your app, you can still use the known mechanisms in csproj for that (for example, the <Content> element).

There is a CopyToPublishDirectory attribute for ItemGroup elements that determines whether to copy the file to the publish directory and can have one of the following value:

• Always,
• PreserveNewest
• Never

Note, that there is also similar CopyToOutputDirectory attribute for output folder.

Example (from here):

<ItemGroup>    <None Include="notes.txt" CopyToOutputDirectory="Always" />   <!-- CopyToOutputDirectory = { Always, PreserveNewest, Never } -->    <Content Include="files\**\*" CopyToPublishDirectory="PreserveNewest" />   <None Include="publishnotes.txt" CopyToPublishDirectory="Always" />   <!-- CopyToPublishDirectory = { Always, PreserveNewest, Never } --> </ItemGroup> 

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If you are interesting how project.json -.csproj migration use CopyToPublishDirectory attribute to migrate publish options, you may look into MigratePublishOptionsRule class in dotnet cli repo.

Answer 2

In .csproj for Visual Studio versions 15.3 and higher, this keeps the files visible in Visual Studio (whereas "Content Remove" does not), and prevents the files from being published.

<ItemGroup>     <Content Update="appsettings*.json" CopyToPublishDirectory="Never" /> </ItemGroup>