MSTest copy file to test run folder

Question

I\'ve got a test which requires an XML file to be read in and then parsed. How can I have this file copied into the test run folder each time?

The XML file is set to

Answer 1

In Visual Studio 2012, vstest.console.exe (the built-in test runner) runs with the output dir as the current path. This means that you only need to include the items in your solution with the 'Copy always' or 'Copy if newer' property for them to be used by your test. You don't need the DeploymentItem attribute for the general case. The same applies when running vstest.console.exe from the command line inside your output/test directory.

There are some cases where a separate folder is used, one of them being when you are using the DeploymentItem attribute. See here for more information.