How to share files between multiple projects in .Net Core?

This post is about a small tip I discovered when I created a project with unit and integration tests. In that project, I used some files to test a service functionality, so I had to come up with a solution on how to share files between multiple projects.

The need

This is a structure I'm trying to achieve in my current project.

Solution

I ended up updating .csproj file directly by adding the following line.

1<ItemGroup>
2  <Content Include="..\Shared\TestResources\**\*" Link="Resources\%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)" CopyToOutputDirectory="Always" />
3</ItemGroup>

Here I'm using Content element to link files to project and publish them with the application. All files in the shared folder are linked to the project Resources directory.

Summary

File linking comes handy when there is a need to share content between multiple projects. The result is much cleaner a well-structured project. Also later when there is a need for file update then this can be done in a single place and all linked content will also be updated.