buildaction

Specifies how a file or set of files should be treated during the compilation process. It is usually paired with a filter to select a file set. If no build action is specified for a file a default action will be used, based on the file's extension.

buildaction ("action")

Parameters

For C/C++, action is the name of the MSBuild action as defined by the vcxproj format; eg: ClCompile, FxCompile, None, etc, and may refer to any such action available to MSBuild.

Action	Description
ClInclude	Treat the file as an include file.
ClCompile	Treat the file as source code; compile and link it.
FxCompile	Treat the file as HLSL shader source code; compile and link it.
None	Do nothing with this file.
ResourceCompile	Copy/embed the file with the project resources.
CustomBuild	Treat the file as custom build code; compile and optionally link it.
Midl	Treat the file as MIDL source code; compile and link it.
Masm	Treat the file as MASM source code; compile and link it.
Image	Treat the file as an Image.
Natvis	Treat the file as Natvis source; use it for custom data layouts while debugging.
AppxManifest	Treat the file as AppX Manifest; required for UWP applications.
Copy	Copy the file to the target directory.

For C# projects, buildaction behaviour is special to support legacy implementation. In C#, action is one of

Action	Description
Application	Mark the file as the application definition XAML for WPF.
Compile	Treat the file as source code; compile and link it.
Component	Treat the source file as a component, usually a visual control.
Copy	Copy the file to the target directory.
Embed	Embed the file into the target binary as a resource.
Form	Treat the source file as visual (Windows) form.
None	Do nothing with this file.
Resource	Copy/embed the file with the project resources.
UserControl	Treat the source file as visual user control.

The descriptive actions such as Component, *Form, and UserControl are only recognized by Visual Studio, and may be considered optional as Visual Studio will automatically deduce the types when it first examines the project. You only need to specify these actions to avoid unnecessary modifications to the project files on save.

Applies To

File configurations.

Availability

Build actions are currently supported for C/C++ and C# projects.

Compile, Copy, Embed, and None are available in Premake 4.4 or later. All actions are available in Premake 5.0.0-alpha1 or later.

Examples

Embed all PNG images files into the target binary.

filter "files:**.png"
   buildaction "Embed"