Dragging file between folders which match wildcards for different Build Action items results in file being included in both

[dsplaisted]

• Create a new Console App (.NET Core) project
• Add the following to the .csproj file:

<ItemGroup>
  <None Include="**/*" Exclude="bin/**;obj/**;**/*.*proj;**/*.user" />
  <Content Include="wwwroot\**" />
  <None Remove="wwwroot\**" />
</ItemGroup>

• Create a wwwroot folder in the project folder
• Create TextFile1.txt in wwwroot folder
• Create TextFile2.txt in project root folder
• Alternatively, open the following repro project instead of the provious steps: FolderBuildActionRepro.zip
• In Solution Explorer, drag TextFile2.txt to the wwwroot folder
• Save project file and view it

EXPECTED: Move operation should have included the file in the None item and removed it from the Content item, ie:

  <ItemGroup>
    <Content Remove="wwwroot\TextFile2.txt" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <None Include="wwwroot\TextFile2.txt" />
  </ItemGroup>

ACTUAL: The file is included in the None item but not removed from Content. So it will be in both items. Further project modifications can result in more weirdness because of this (for example, moving the file back to the root will include it in Content at the root and leave a None include for the file where it doesn't exist anymore).

  <ItemGroup>
    <None Include="wwwroot\TextFile2.txt" />
  </ItemGroup>

NOTE: Changing the Build Action of TextFile1.txt from Content to None does correctly remove the file from the Content item and include it in the None item.

[srivatsn]

Is this a CPS issue - @lifengl @jviau @adrianvmsft?

[adrianvmsft]

I think that behavior is by design... when you drag drop the file, the physical file gets removed from the source, so it doesn't need to be removed from Content anymore.

[jviau]

This is by design. You can see our globbing behavior document here. When moving/renaming an item CPS' end goal is that the item remains included under its current item type. This means adding a <None /> include for it. We do not care if there is an existing glob for another item type at the target location. If you manually change its build action after moving it, then CPS should remove that <None /> include and let it be included via the <Content /> glob.

[dsplaisted]

@jviau

We do not care if there is an existing glob for another item type at the target location.

I don't think this matches user expectations. If I drag an item from a folder covered by a None glob to a folder covered by a Content glob, I expect either:

• That the item will be included in None but not in Content (preserving the item type / build action)
• That the item will be included in Content but not in None (matching the default item type / build action applied to the destination)

I don't expect that the item will be included in both None and Content after the operation.