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Why is build action: None ignored for a *.cs file?

Answer 1

+2 A:

The file is actually excluded from build, but not from the background compilation in the IDE that produces the errors in the error list¹.

The simplest thing is to comment out the entire file, press Ctrl+A to select everything, and the Ctrl+K, C to comment out the file.

Another option is to use conditional compilation. On top of your source file insert an undefined pre-compiler constant:

#if DONTINCLUDE
...
//code goes here
...
#endif

Yet another option, of course, is to rename the file so that it has a different extension, e.g. .txt. This will make you loose all the IDE features related to C# such as syntax highlighting though.

^{1_{You will actually see that the error list contains less errors (as far as I can see only syntax errors) when you set the Build Action to something other than Compile}}

0xA3 2010-08-19 22:57:07

Ah, yes, I figured something like that. I know (and abuse a lot), Ctrl+k, C, but when you want to keep a file intact in the project and want to exclude it from builds (or even: want to keep it as a resource), I'd love to be able to stop the background compilation from happening without tampering the original contents. That isn't that odd to ask, is it? This seems similar, btw, to the CSS-errors that were too apparent in 2008.

Abel 2010-08-19 23:00:29

Sounds like the best of both worlds (i.e., highlighting plus not building because of errors you'd like to solve later, or keep as an example) does not exist. The renaming feature is similar to the 2008 feature of *.exclude (the name it gets when excluding a file from the project). Hmm, I think this is just a missing feature, what's otherwise the use of `Build: None`? Anyway, thanks for thinking along :)

Abel 2010-08-19 23:05:24

(oh, you removed your comment...) *"You will actually see that the error list contains less errors"* >> yes, indeed. But not when the file is open. Or am I nitpicking now? ;)

Abel 2010-08-19 23:06:59

@Abel: No, this is not correct, you will see the errors only if the excluded file is open in the editor. I wouldn't really say that this is a missing feature. It's rather a feature that the IDE shows you the syntax errors. Switching that off is probably so rarely needed that it never made it in the product. Btw, I incorporated the comment in the answer.

0xA3 2010-08-19 23:10:53

Thanks, I actually used the compiler constant (but still found it a nuisance), but eventually switched to a meaningful/less extension (*.keep). But you're right, this should be a scarcely needed feature, just the situation on and of itself raises eyebrows when you think of it.

Abel 2010-08-19 23:33:47

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Why is build action: None ignored for a *.cs file?

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