Reference DLL file not copying to bin with deployment project, causing error

Question

We have several external DLL files being referenced in our Web Application Project. We have a deployment project for installing on the hosting servers. When we were using .N

Answer 1

There is a bug in Visual Studio 2010. By default the XML in the solution file looks like this:

..\References\DevExpress.SpellChecker.v11.1.Core.dll

Whereas MSBuild is expecting this below, so that the DLL file will be included in the deployment:

..\References\DevExpress.SpellChecker.v11.1.Core.dll
True

The trick is to set Copy Local to False, save the project and then reset it to True - save again. This includes the Private node correctly, which MSBuild respects.

It appears that the default for no included private node (Copy Local) in Visual Studio 2010 is True, while MSBuild reads that missing node as False.