Question

Is there a way I can publish *.ascx files without adding them to my project?

I am trying to make my user controls in Visual Studio 2010 reusable. I have a project containing my user controls called ControlsLibrary solution directory. I copy the ascx files to the web directory upon building the project with build events.
I use the command copy "$(SolutionDir)ControlLibrary\*.ascx" "$(ProjectDir)controls\"

This copies the *.ascx files from G:/SolutionDirectory/ControlsLibrary to C:/Inetpub/wwwroot/WebProject/controls

Now when I publish WebProject, the publish does not copy the *.ascx files from C:/Inetpub/wwwroot/WebProject/controls to my website. This is because they are not added to my project.

Is there a way I can publish *.ascx files without adding them to my project?

I know there is a way to publish all files by selecting the option “All files in this project.” That includes more files than I want.

Answer 1

Have you considered using the Virtual Path Provider approach? Here’s a good article on it: Load Web Forms and User Controls from Embedded Resources.