How can I include different files when publishing to Mac and PC?

Question

I have a .Net Core (3.1) project that can be run on both PC and Mac. One source file (a json file) needs to have different content depending on the platform I'm publishing to.

Is it possible to have two different versions of the file in my project somehow have the correct version copied/renamed depending on publish target? If so - how? If not - is there some other way I can do this without having to rename the file myself after publishing it?

Answer 1

Hello @GuruGurra ,

Thank you for taking time to post this issue in Microsoft Q&A forum.

You can try to add following codes to your .XXproj file.(right-click your project > select Unload Project > click your project and select Edit Project File)

<ItemGroup>  

    <Content Update="XXXX\XXXX\XXXXX" Condition="'$(RuntimeIdentifier)'=='win-x64'">     
      <CopyToPublishDirectory>Never</CopyToPublishDirectory>  
    </Content>  

 </ItemGroup>  

Replace XXXX\XXXX\XXXXX and add the file path that you'd like(or not) to use(the json file).

The <Content> tag represents files that are not compiled into the project, but may be embedded or published together with it.

You can select the RID that you want(or not) for publishing to PC or MAC, for example win-x64 for "Portable(.NET Core 2.0 or later versions)".

The <CopyToPublishDirectory> tag helps to exclude the specified file when you publish your project.(It includes these values: Never, Always, PreserveNewest)

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,
Tianyu

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Answer 2

I added the following section to my project file:

  <ItemGroup>
    <Content Update="Manifest\PC\manifest.json" Condition="'$(RuntimeIdentifier)'=='win-x64'">
      <CopyToPublishDirectory>Always</CopyToPublishDirectory>
    </Content>
    <Content Update="Manifest\Mac\manifest.json" Condition="'$(RuntimeIdentifier)'=='osx.10.12-x64'">
      <CopyToPublishDirectory>Always</CopyToPublishDirectory>
    </Content>
  </ItemGroup>

and added the different manifest.json files in in the "Manifest\PC" and "Manifest\Mac" folders in my project folder.

Nothing happens when I publish the project - no manifest files are present in the published folder.

Answer 3

Hi @Tianyu Sun-MSFT

First - thanks for the very extensive answer.

I have a console application and publish to a local folder.

At least it were a console application prior to the update to version 16.8.1 of Visual Studio. That update broke my project by injecting things in the project file that forced it to be a Windows application (and impossible to build). (We have discussed that in another thread). I found the following entry in the project file, and when I removed it my project went back to being a console application.

<UseWindowsForms>true</UseWindowsForms>

I don't know why it was injected and I don't know if the VS update also made other changes to my project file.

I would say that my configuration on the most parts is identical to yours. The only very obvious (and probably important) difference is that I don't have any FolderProfile.pubxml file. How is that file created? I have two defined folder profiles - one for PC and one for Mac but I don't have any *.pubxml files anywhere in my project file structure.