How do I add a reference to an unmanaged C++ project called by a C# project?

Question

One solution (the.sln)

One C++ project (mycppproject.vcxproj in 2010or mycppproject.vcproj in 2008) which compiles a native DLL exporting some function(s). In debug

Answer 1

I would follow Slaks' second answer...

[...] you can add a link to the unmanaged DLL as a file in the C# project, and set Build Action to None and Copy to Output Directory to Copy If Newer.

... followed by my comment, to differentiate between Debug and Release builds (even if is a little bit "hackish", since it requires you to manually edit the C# project file)

open your C# project's csproj file with a text editor and search for all "YourNativeCppProject.dll" occurrences (without the ".dll" subfix, so if you added pdb files as a link too, you'll find more than one occurrence), and change the Include path using macros, for example: Include="$(SolutionDir)$(ConfigurationName)\YourNativeCppProject.dll

PS: if you look at the properties (F4), VS shows you the Debug's path even if you switch to the Release configuration, but if you compile, you'll see that the dll copied to output is the release version*