Visual Studio C++ project management. How do I handle non-code files in a project?

Answer 1

You could use pre-build events to create the directories and copy the files.

Answer 2

In Visual Studio's Solution Explorer, you can right-click on the non-code files, select "Properties" and set the "Copy To Output Directory" property.

This creates a rule in the build file to (1) include the file, and (2) to copy that file as part of the build process. In other words, it's possible to get this behavior without Visual Studio, but a little more work.