Project-system: Unable to change build action/related options: property value is not valid

[SomeAnonDev]

Steps to reproduce:

1. Create a new C# project (in my case, it was a shared project)
2. Add an existing file with a double extension to the project (e.g. 'program.exe.vcdiff')
   3/7/2017: the file extension doesn't really matter, I was able to repro this with _New Text Document.txt_
3. Try to rename it or change the build action and some other related property (e.g. _Copy to Output Directory_)

You may need to reload the solution and/or repeat the steps. Eventually, you should encounter this error.
After that, you won't be able to change the build action of any file in the project.

[RaulPerez1]

I'm unable to repro this using the latest build

[davkean]

Yep, can no longer repro this either.

[SomeAnonDev]

Congrats on the release 😉
Just repro'd this with the RTM bits. It wasn't really about double extensions. No matter the file name, it fails. This time I added an empty txt file to the project and tried to change build action to _Content_ then set _Copy to Output Directory_ to _Copy if newer_.

Details:
An error has occurred while saving the edited properties listed below: Copy to Output Directory One or more values are invalid. Mismatched PageRule with the wrong ItemType.

[davkean]

@SomeAnon42 Thanks for following up.

[davkean]

@srivatsn Do you want this for 15.2 or 15.3?

[tannergooding]

Looks like the rename isn't propagating all the way through and this may be specifically related to shared projects.

Specifically, I did the following:

• Create a new shared project
• Add a new text file
• Rename the text file to T.txt (I did this via the solution explorer)
• Attempt to modify the Copy to Output Directory property

This results in a number of exceptions being thrown:
```
"Could not find project item with item type 'Content' and include value 'C:\Users\tagoo\documents\visual studio 2017\Projects\SharedProject1\SharedProject1\TextFile1.txt'."

and

An error has occurred while saving the edited properties listed below:
Copy to Output Directory
One or more values are invalid. Could not find project item with item type 'Content' and include value 'C:\Users\tagoo\documents\visual studio 2017\Projects\SharedProject1\SharedProject1\TextFile1.txt'.
```

The *.shproj is not modified (as expected), but the *.projitems is also not modified and still has <None Include="$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)New Text Document.txt" />, not sure if that is expected (at the very least, I would expect Content and not None, since Content is what is listed in the properties page by default).

[SomeAnonDev]

@tannergooding I can reproduce this with other project types as well (specifically, .NET Core and .NET Standard projects). Recorded a video, just in case.

[tannergooding]

Ok, I am able to repro that as well.

It is interesting that we aren't setting the correct output type here, when it is defined in our ProjectItemsSchema.xaml to be:

<ContentType
        Name="Text"
        DisplayName="Text file"
        ItemType="Content">
    </ContentType>

and

<FileExtension Name=".txt" ContentType="Text" />

[wayoung]

Yeah, this is happening to me in production. Did a port from VS2015 to VS2017 with the new .csproj .NETCore files. Everything changed. This is one of the mucky errors.

[kierenj]

I'm adding a new JSON file to a test project, then trying to change Copy to Output Directory (to anything) and I get:

An error has occurred while saving the edited properties listed below:
Copy to Output Directory
One or more values are invalid. Mismatched PageRule with the wrong ItemType.

Is this the same issue?

[davkean]

Yes it's the same issue. @jviau is this one of the ones you fixed for 15.3?

[jviau]

@davkean yes this looks exactly like an issue I fixed for 15.3. Bug 397479

[srivatsn]

Thanks @jviau - @tannergooding mentioned that he isn't able to repro this anymore as well.

[kierenj]

@srivatsn Humm. Would you mind letting me/us know what the above means, in terms of how/when we might get a fix we can install, please?

[srivatsn]

This fix will be in the next Preview of 15.3 which should be coming out soon.

[azjerei]

When is this becoming available in a release? I am experiencing this issue right now with .NET Standard 2.0.

[Pilchie]

@azjerei What build do you have? This should be fixed in the current public release - if you are still hitting it, maybe there is something different about your repro?

[azjerei]

@Pilchie Build of what?

[Pilchie]

Visual Studio - can you let us know the build number from "Help - About"?

[azjerei]

Visual Studio is at 15.4.3.

[Pilchie]

@azjerei - it sounds like you're hitting a slightly different bug with similar symptoms then. Can you share a repro project where this happens?

[azjerei]

@Pilchie Check out this example application where the problem can be found: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aiutb3QYc1ScmbBC0qC7WVzIXuECLw

[Pilchie]

@azjerei Both of the projects in that fail to load because of:

<Import Project="$([MSBuild]::GetDirectoryNameOfFileAbove($(MSBuildThisFileDirectory), Standard.targets))\Standard.targets" />

for me:

D:\Dumps\1044\CodeAnalysis\CodeAnalysisLib\CodeAnalysisLib.csproj : error : The imported project "C:\Standard.targets" was not found. Confirm that the path in the <Import> declaration is correct, and that the file exists on disk. D:\Dumps\1044\CodeAnalysis\CodeAnalysisLib\CodeAnalysisLib.csproj

[azjerei]

@Pilchie Ah, that's unfortunate. But, I made a simple console app that should not have that problem, but that reproduces the problem in this thread: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aiutb3QYc1ScmbBFYOjZrNCN_J1JUQ

[Pilchie]

Unfortunately, I'm not able to repro that with either the 15.4.5 build or the 15.5 Preview 5 build.

@davkean have you got ideas on how to figure out what's going on here?

[davkean]

Sound like @jviau refresh which he added in 15.3 isn't working, @azjerei can you record a video like @SomeAnon42 did to show exactly the steps that are occurring?

[azjerei]

@davkean Here is a GIF showing the steps: https://1drv.ms/i/s!Aiutb3QYc1ScmbMFay50zRBbfVaJMQ

[davkean]

Thanks that perfectly describes why I couldn't repro it - I was using Properties tool window.

This has been fixed in 15.6 with: https://github.com/dotnet/project-system/pull/2984. As a workaround, use the Properties _tool window_ to change properties ( View -> Properties Window) instead of Properties pages.

[azjerei]

Awesome! Thanks for everything.

[stas-lucky]

This issues still exists. Mentioned issue by @SomeAnon42 (video) above is reproducible on my VS. Attached screenshot with VS version (15.6.0 Preview 2.0).

I came to this issue conversation while was searching for solution with properties window. Thanks, workaround with Properties tool window helped.

[tudorsibiu90]

I am still experiencing the same thing with version 15.6.1 of Visual Studio Professional 2017.
Is there a workaround or something?

[Pilchie]

@tudorsibiu90 Change through the properties tool window, instead of the modal properties dialog. Select the file and press F4 to get the properties window.

[wooderz]

Having the same issue here, can confirm the properties tool (F4) rather than the Properties dialog (Right Click > Properties) works.

I assume weirdly they are using different mechanisms

[FabriDamazio]

@wooderz i can reproduce the same situation.

As workaround i selected the file and pressed F4 and changed what i needed

[davkean]

We've fixed this inconsistently in 15.8. Only F4 properties now shows.

[jakesays-old]

I'm still getting this with 15.8 - I added a .resx file to a core 2.0 project, set the build action to Embedded resource and the custom tool to ResXFileCodeGenerator. when I click ok, i get that error.

[davkean]

@jakesays Can you please file a new bug with the exact steps you took to get the error?