someone explain the "build Action" for a file...

[MrPolite]

I'm especially wondering what the "content" build action means for a file... (if you click on a file in the solution explorer, there is a property called build action)

[Kt3]

I'm not entirely certain how this works, but content just puts the file in the main folder of your application, unless the file itself is in a subfolder you created, in which case it recreates that structure. Resource I believe should create an entry in the resource XML file for your application, although I have tested this and it doesn't work like I expected. Compile only works for files containing code obviously, and embedded might put the file in the main application's .exe but again, I'm not certain.

Once you figure it out, maybe you can enlighten me on the difference between build and rebuild. Don't laugh, I've only been coding for a month.

[wossname]

This is especially important in C++ projects:

Rebuild does a complete compile of all code in the project including precompiled headers and such.

Build just compiles the files edited since the last build I think.

[Memnoch1207]

From MSDN

The "Build Action" property tells the compiler what to do with a particular file.

Embed: Include the file as an embedded resource.

Compile: Compile the file.

Content: Files designated as content files can be referenced by Visual Studio setup projects.

None: Do nothing. Use this action to add documentation or other uncompiled files to your project for reference purposes without embedding them in an assembly.