How to include dll files in a .csproj file?

Question

Well, the thing is, I don’t have Visual Studio installed, and I don’t want to install it, so I created a batch file that compiles my .csproj file and all my source files.

The problem is that I do not know how to include DLL files. Here is my current code for my .csproj file:

<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <AssemblyName>Project</AssemblyName>
    <OutputPath>Bin\</OutputPath>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
        <!-- .cs files -->
    <Compile Include="program.cs" />
  </ItemGroup>

  <Target Name="Build">
    <MakeDir Directories="$(OutputPath)"      Condition="!Exists('$(OutputPath)')" />
    <Csc Sources="@(Compile)" OutputAssembly="$(OutputPath)$(AssemblyName).exe" />
  </Target>
</Project>

What do I need to change to include / reference the dll file during compilation?

Answer 1

You will need an ItemGroup with elements called Reference:

<ItemGroup>
    <Reference Include="Microsoft.Practices.Unity" />
    <Reference Include="MvcMiniProfiler">
      <HintPath>..\packages\MiniProfiler.1.6\lib\MvcMiniProfiler.dll</HintPath>
    </Reference>
    <Reference Include="System" />
    <Reference Include="System.configuration" />
    <Reference Include="System.Core" />
    <Reference Include="System.Data.Entity" />
    <Reference Include="System.Runtime.Serialization" />
    <Reference Include="System.Security" />
    <Reference Include="System.Web" />
    <Reference Include="System.Xml.Linq" />
    <Reference Include="System.Data.DataSetExtensions" />
    <Reference Include="Microsoft.CSharp" />
    <Reference Include="System.Data" />
    <Reference Include="System.Xml" />
  </ItemGroup>

-GAC'd-dll, HintPath (. mvc mini, ), MSBuild ReferencePath.