Keeping track of external files added to a Visual Studio project

[dboggs]

Although most of my project files reside in the same file as my project itself, I sometimes add a link to an external file (Project > Add existing Item, browse to file, Add). This normally works fine but then when the external file is accidentally moved, or when the project is taken to another computer that is supposed to have the same folder layout but doesn't, things will not build of course.

Is there some way to check the path ofone of these external files to discover the link? I would expect to be able to select the filename in the Solution Explorer, right click on it, and select Propertiesbut this only gives me some other stuff (that seems useless, such as a statement that the file is not excluded from the build).

A common situation: I have multiple versions of MyProject.vfproj in different folders. The projects all have an added file (link) to MyLibraryFile.lib. My current project is not working, but an older project does. I suspect that the older project is linked to a different MyLibraryFile.lib that was stored in a different place. How can I investigate this?

[IanH]

Depending on your VS version (?) - select the file in the solution explorer and press F4. The item properties pane (which is different to the project properties dialog that you refer to) should appear. One of the of the fields is the "File Path". It is a read only field (unfortunately).

(The menu path is something like View > Other Windows > Properties Window, but you need to make sure that the file of interest remains selected, which can be tricky at times.)

If the path is not appropriate then you can directly edit the .vfproj file in a text editor (it's an xml file which is pretty easy to navigate), but ... generally best to close VS before you do this, make a backup of that file first before you make any changes, and make sure that no-one from Intel is looking over your shoulder.

(Opening the vfproj in a text editor may be a quicker way of identifying which file has the troublesome path.)

Note that you can also include a library in the Linker > Input > Additional Dependencies property (perhaps then with the directory for the library then in Linker > General > Additional Library Directories). If the library name or its path is a property rather than a project item then it can depend on things like environment variables. This can simplify working with multiple library versions - you set (or override) the environment to point to the appropriate location prior to starting VS.