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Improve docs on pack's CopyToOutput and Flatten #3274

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Improve docs on pack's CopyToOutput and Flatten #3274

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17 changes: 17 additions & 0 deletions docs/reference/msbuild-targets.md
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Expand Up @@ -113,6 +113,23 @@ The following table describes the MSBuild properties that can be added to a proj
| `NuspecBasePath` | Base path for the *.nuspec* file. For more information, see [Packing using a .nuspec](#packing-using-a-nuspec-file). |
| `NuspecProperties` | Semicolon separated list of key=value pairs. For more information, see [Packing using a .nuspec](#packing-using-a-nuspec-file). |

### package item inputs

As described in the section on [including content in your package](#including-content-in-a-package), there is certain [item metadata](/visualstudio/msbuild/msbuild-items#item-metadata) that can be added to [MSBuild items](/visualstudio/msbuild/msbuild-items), which pack will use.

| Metadata | Description |
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I believe the nuspec allows files under contentFiles/ to set whatever item type they want, for example, you could have contentFiles/cs/any/stuff.cs and make it a <Compile item, not <Content.

@nkolev92 do you remember how to specify this? I didn't have much of a search yet, so if you don't know, don't waste time looking for it yourself, I'm just hoping you can save me some time 😁

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BuildAction

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Basically this: https://github.com/NuGet/NuGet.Client/blob/b869c3cc0e0012e297e9f40742daab4168c25d27/src/NuGet.Core/NuGet.Build.Tasks.Pack/PackTaskLogic.cs#L751-L755.

|:--|:--|
| Pack | The file that this item represents should be included in the package. For items of type `Content` this defaults to the value of the `IncludeContentInPack` property. For all other item types, this defaults to `false`. |
| PackagePath | The path within the package that the file will be located. For items of type `Content`, this defaults to `content\;contentFiles\any\any\`. For all other items types, there is no default value. |
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I'm too lazy to edit the PR right now, but I think it would be worthwhile mentioning that this metadata allows package authors to put any file in any location in the package, even ones that are not part of any NuGet convention.


The following item metadata only apply to files in the package that follow the correct `contentFiles/{language}/{target_framework}/**/*` naming convention, and the project using the package must be using `PackageReference` (not *packages.config*).
More information can be found in on [including content in your package](#including-content-in-a-package).

| Metadata | Description |
|:--|:--|
| PackageCopyToOutput | The file's `CopyToOutput` item metadata will be set the specified value in the project using the package. |
| PackageFlatten | The file's `Flatten` item metadata will be set to the specified value in the project using the package. |
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I'd love to link to some docs where customers can learn more about CopyToOutput and Flatten, but I can't find any Does anyone know where these are documented?

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Rainer pointed me to CopyToOutputDirectory documented on https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/msbuild/common-msbuild-project-items?view=vs-2022

I guess this is what PackageCopyToOutput sets, but since the NuGet name is missing Directory I feel like it's something we need to validate.

I still haven't found docs on Flatten though.

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@nkolev92 nkolev92 Apr 4, 2024 •
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I'd add BuildAction here.

In general, the BuildAction defaults to the item type.


## pack scenarios

### Suppressing dependencies
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