Does copy/paste of a Folder that contains only links to files result in the linked files being deleted?

Question

Yesterday I finished developing a set of shared sources for projects I'm working on.  I created a new project to test the shared sources.  I then right clicked the main Shared Sources folder in VS and dragged the folder to the new project.  I expected that it would result in a copy but instead the folders were created in the new project and all linked files were deleted.

I trust this isn't the intended behavior.  Please advise if there is another place I should post this issue.

Answer 1

Hi,

Your scenario is not entirely clear to me, but it seems like you moved the files in stead of copying them. A little tip: dragging something while holding the CTRL button down (untial AFTER you dropped it) always results in a copy action in stead of a move.

Kind regards

---

Please mark the best replies as answers
Blog: bloggingabout.net/blogs/rick
Twitter: @rickvdbosch

Answer 2

Dragging and dropping files or folders within Solution Explorer across projects always results in the copying of the project items.  If the project items are real files then the files are copied.  If the items are links to files then just the links are copied.  Folders are recreated in the new project (at least for C# and VB).  If you want to create links to existing files in another project (which it sounds like you do) then you'd use Add Existing Items in the new project and select the shared file(s) and then select Add as Link in the Open dialog.

Michael Taylor - 11/23/2012
http://msmvps.com/blogs/p3net