including-generated-files

# Including Generated Files Into Your Build ## Overview Files generated during the build are generally ignored by the build process. This leads to confusing results such as: - Generated files not being included in the output directory - Generated source files not being compiled - Globs not capturing files created during the build This happens because of how MSBuild's build phases work. ## Quick Takeaway For code files generated during the build - we need to add those to `Compile` and `FileWrites` item groups within the target generating the file(s): ```xml <ItemGroup> <Compile Include="$(GeneratedFilePath)" /> <FileWrites Include="$(GeneratedFilePath)" /> </ItemGroup> ``` The target generating the file(s) should be hooked before CoreCompile and BeforeCompile targets - `BeforeTargets="CoreCompile;BeforeCompile"` ## Why Generated Files Are Ignored For detailed explanation, see [How MSBuild Builds Projects](https://docs.microsoft.com/visualstudio/msbuild/build-process-overview). ### Evaluation Phase MSBuild reads your project, imports everything, creates Properties, expands globs for Items **outside of Targets**, and sets up the build process. ### Execution Phase MSBuild runs Targets & Tasks with the provided Properties & Items to perform the build. **Key Takeaway:** Files generated during execution don't exist during evaluation, therefore they aren't found. This particularly affects files that are globbed by default, such as source files (`.cs`). ## S...