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How to create folder in mvc solution directory so that it is included in project?

I am new in mvc and c# and I can't solve following problem:
I am trying to create a folder named "Items" in solution folder.
I have tryed to use CreateDirectory method:
Directory.CreateDirectory("~/Images");
But it didn't work for me - folder wasn't created ..
Partly working solution was to create a folder by :
Directory.CreateDirectory(Server.MapPath("~/Images"));
"Items" folder was created, but it is not included in the solution:
How to create folder in solution directory so that it is included in project ?
(I needs to by done by code not by hand)

You need to understand what solution and csproj file is used for
In general, they're being designed and used for development with Visual Studio, and once the project is compiled, all these files will be ignored and excluded from the deployment package
Directory.CreateDirectory(Server.MapPath("~/Images"));
The code above simply create the directory if not existed yet in the deployment package at run-time, so you won't see it in your solution unless you run the project locally (either debug/release mode, it does not matter here). However, everything will run normally in hosted environment (ex: IIS).
For your information, here's the brief of what solution and csproj is
solution (.sln) file: contains information to manage one or many individual projects, contains build environments (for each project), start up mode (useful when you want to start multiple projects in one run), project dependencies and so on. Take a note that VS also read from suo file (solution user options) which is used to defined user-custom preferences (you should not include the .suo file in the version control, because it's custom settings)
csproj file: define the structures of project, what the namespace is, what is static folders, embedded resources, references, packages, etc.
Lastly, if you create the folder manually, VS will auto include that folder into deployment package AND csproj, but depends on the file type, you might need to change the Build Action and Copy To Output Directory in file properties.
Hope it helps.

A deployed web application on a web server doesn't have any notion of Visual Studio solution or projects. So the Directory.CreateDirectory(Server.MapPath("~/Images")) is the correct way to create a folder inside your web application at runtime but we cannot be talking about including it into a solution because this hardly makes sense in a pre-compiled web application. If you create the directory on your local development machine, you could always manually include the folder to the corresponding .csproj file, but at runtime this will not make any difference whatsoever.

The reason I wanted to create a folder (if didn't exist) was to make sure it exits before I try to store image in it.
After reading posts here and a few google searches I have concluded that the proper way to handle image upload would be
To create (In my case) folder "Images" by hand to be sure it exists
Then storing uploaded img in existing folder:
string path =Server.MapPath("~/Images/"+ UploadedImageName);
file.SaveAs(path);

Creating a project for web assets in Visual Studio 2013

I have multiple ASP.NET MVC5 projects that use several similar styles/scripts, and I think, for maintenance's sake, it'd be ideal to have a separate project in Visual Studio 2013 containing the LESS stylesheets and JavaScript files that can be shared between the two.
My setup is as follows:
Web.Project1
Web.Project2
Web.Assets //would contain LESS/JS files
Resources
Domain
Data
Any pointers?
I've been looking at adding as a link, but I'm not certain that would accomplish what I need.

I recently went through this process for a project of mine, and concluded that if your goal is simply to avoid duplication by keeping your code DRY then using linked files works great.
It's simple enough to do, but I'll write it up anyway as it might save someone some time.
Quick Summary
Create common Solution Folders containing the resources to be shared, or simply designate one of the projects to be the master.
Use "Add as Link" to add the shared resource files to each project as needed.
Add an AfterBuild task to each project file that will copy the linked files to project folders. This is only needed so that Visual Studio test/debug (F5) will work locally.
Detailed explanation follows:
Configuring Solution Folders for the Shared Resources
** Note that if you're simply going to share files directly from one project to one or more additional projects then you can skip this step.
Visual Studio solution folders do not have to reflect physical file system folders, but doing so will help preserve your sanity. So first create the folders on your local file system and copy the resource files into them. The new folders should be located under your solution folder. For example:
\MySolution
\Common
\Images
\Scripts
\Styles
Back in Visual Studio, right click on the Solution Items folder and use Add Solution Folder to replicate the new file system folders.
Next, add the files to the new solution folders by right-clicking each folder and using Add Existing Item to add the contents of the folders.
Add Shared Resources as Links
For each project that will use the shared resources, right-click the project folder and choose Add Existing Item. Browse to the common folder, select the desired files, click the drop-down arrow next to the "Add" button and choose "Add as Link".
You may get a source control warning about adding files that are outside of the project directory structure, but this can be ignored since the linked file will be under source control at its source.
Add an AfterBuild Task to Copy Files
When you publish the application to a server the linked files will copied to the project folders to which they are linked and everything works as expected. However, in the development environment the linked files do not physically reside in the project folders. So when you hit F5 to test your application in VS, the shared resources will be missing.
The simple solution is to add an MSBuild task to copy the linked files from their source after each build. This needs to be done to for each project that contains the shared resource links.
Right-click the project and choose Unload Project. Right-click the project again and choose Edit <ProjectFileName>. Scroll to the bottom and add the following (just above "</Project>"):
<Target Name="AfterBuild">
<!-- Copy linked content files to local folders so that they are available in the debugger.
This is only an issue when running the application locally. The linked files should
be automatically published to the correct folder when publishing to a web server. -->
<Copy SourceFiles="%(Content.Identity)"
DestinationFiles="%(Content.Link)"
SkipUnchangedFiles='true'
OverwriteReadOnlyFiles='true'
Condition="'%(Content.Link)' != ''" />
</Target>
** Copy task adapted from this link.
Save the project file then right-click and choose Reload Project.

VS2010 (C#) Environment.SpecialFolder.ProgramFiles is where in the Solution Project?

I have created a C# WinForms application. It has some additional files that it uses, such as help files and some external data files. I want to put these files in folders under the Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.ProgramFiles) path so that the application can find and read them.
This path doesn't get created until the application is installed right? So where do I put these files in my VS2010 project, or how do I tell my project that these files exist so that when I am running (debugging) the application from VS it will find the files.
Thanks
EDIT: I did think about adding the files as resource files, but unfortunately some files may get added after the project is built and deployed. Therefore we decided to make the program search and find the data files (and associated help files) at a specific location and load them if they exist.

Thing is that your application should not need to use 'Environment.SpecialFolder.ProgramFiles'. It "should" be location agnostic. The quick answer to your question is "from the folder that the application was launched from". The real answer is how you reference these files.
Your help files and data files need to be deployed to folder with a known relationship to the application. That is, the same folder or a child folder. Consider making the file resources.
Now if the files are user configurable or run time writable then they should not be in the program files area but be in the application data area. If so, then there is your path!
Hope this helps.

You should add these files to the main (exe) project inside your solution.
(Right click on Project Name, Select Add Existing Item)
Then set its property Copy to Output Directory = Always
(not sure of the translation because I use a localized version of VS)
Of course, it should be noted that, when you deploy your files in the Environment.SpecialFolder.ProgramFiles, you could not be able to write to them (Windows7, Vista) for security reasons.

Add the files as resources in your project. Take a look at this MSDN article. You can add resources to a project by right-clicking the Properties node under your project in Solution Explorer, clicking Open, and then clicking the Add Resource button on the Resources page in Project Designer.
You can add resources to your project either as linked resources, which are external files, or as embedded resources, which are embedded directly into the .resx file.
When you add a linked resource, the .resx file that stores your project resource information includes only a relative path to the resource file on disk. If you add images, videos, or other complex files as linked resources, you can edit them using a default editor that you associate with that file type in the Resource Designer.
When you add an embedded resource, the data is stored directly in the project's resource (.resx) file. Strings can only be stored as embedded resources.

Why does VS2010 allow for the concept of "include in project"?

I'm still learning the basics of how VS2010 sees the world. Apparently, you can optionally "include" a file in a project. I'm a bit confused by this: If a file is version-controlled, AND the file is within the project directory, shouldn't it implicitly be "included" in the project? If not, what's the use case where a version-controlled file in the project directory should NOT be included in the project?
=== Addition ===
Based on the answers I've gotten so far, maybe I should rephrased my question: What does it mean for a file to be "included" in a project?

A project needs to know about files in order for compilation and distribution to occur. Just because you have a file that's under source-control, doesn't mean that it will be compiled if the project is unaware of it.
Also, you may want to include files as part of a distribution package. We do this quite often for our web projects that we distribute using web app gallery.
Conversely, you could have documentation or sql scripts that you version control, but do not want them to be part of the project.
EDIT: In answer to your update, what it means for a file to be included in a project is that the file is actually added to the .csproj or .vbproj file and will be used during compilation and/or distribution. VS does differentiate if the file is Content or if it needs to Compile it. This can be seen by clicking on the file in Solution Explorer and looking at the Build Action property.

No, you don't want random files that happen to be in the project directory included in source control.

We do sometimes put documentation (pdfs) or drawings/schematics in the project folder and under version control but you don't need them inside the visual studio project (especially when they are not being distributed because they are for internal use only).

Excluding the file from your project can be useful if the file is related to the project but not necessarily needed in the solution.
Example
If I need some test XML for an application that i'm writing; that is designed to normally be pulling this from a WCF service, it can be useful to keep that file in the directory for a development environment where I use IO to get the XML for testing, but I don't necessarily want it in my solution which is source controlled.

When you exclude a file from a project is no longer compiled or embedded, then when you want to include it again you can do so without having lost your settings.

If you e.g. copy a file (containing a helpful class which want to have in your project) into a folder of your project, then you will see ... nothing. You have to check the option "Show all files" of the solution explorer and the copied file can be seen, but it is still "greyed out". No you can choose the menuitem Include in project and that file will be integrated in your project and a pending change (add) for your source control is added too. Visual Studio doesn't include all files it can find in the project folder automatically to the project - and that is a good feature.

One of my colleagues explained to me a scenario in which a version-controlled file should NOT be part of the project. Here's the idea:
A developer writes some new code.
The code is experimental, and not intended to be part of the normal build.
The easiest way to exclude the file from the build is to NOT include it in the project, but still version-control it.
This way, the file can be shared with other developers, but not break the build.

How to use shared resource file between projects in one solution?

I have a problem with resource files.
I have a solution with two projects. The first project contains ImageResource.resx file with the images that I use. Every Form in this project can access this file from the designer. But I can see in the designer ImageResource.resx file to use it from second project (Reference to second project is present).
I have added the ImageResource.resx file as a link to my second project. And I saw it in the designer! But when I use an image from this resource in the second project Visual Studio modified my original file (It sets the namespaces, and other..) and my solution breaks. Also Visual Studio tells me that ImageResource.resx is present in two dll's first_project.dll and second_project.dll
Can anybody help me with How to correctly use shared resources between projects?

The correct way to share resources is to create a global shared project. Create a new Project with the name Resources:
Next we must add some resources (such as icons) to the project. Do this as usual. Go to the projects setting, select tab Resources and Add Existing File… to the project. We can see that the icon is added to the project and was copied to the local folder:
Next step consists of adding this icon to the other project(s). Note the important difference, you need to add this icon as a link!
Adding as a link avoids the resource duplication. Create a new Project within the same solution and name it e.g. Main. Create some folder in this new project, naming it Resources (the logical name for our purpose). Then right click on this folder, select Add Existing Item… and choose the image file from the shared project folder. Make sure to use Add As Link here! If done correctly the icon of the newly added file will look slightly different (see below):
Added resource's icon must look like this
Now we must set the Build Action for this file to None. For this select the file and go to the Properties Window. There choose None for Build Action. We need to do this to avoid embedding this icon into the assembly:
Finally we need to add the linked files to the Resources of the corresponding project. Open the project Properties for the project where we just added the files. Choose the Resource tab and drag the linked file there:
These are the five simple steps you must perform to share icons between projects. You might ask "What are the benefits of this?" The benefits are:
We store resources in one place, and
It is easy to replace an icon with a new one.

This didn't work for me and I found another (VS2015+) approach.
See https://stackoverflow.com/a/45471284/4151626
In short, the shared project is directly included into the peripheral project. Thus, even though the IDE does not support <Resource> elements in the shared project. <Resource> elements can be added to the shared project, via a text editor. They are then incorporated into the peripheral project during the build.
(Apologies for the hyper-link. I would just repost the answer for clarity, but the stackoverflow editors crack down on this, deleting duplicate answers to save you from ???.)

Can you use a symbolic link to share the file into multiple folders?
windows:
mklink linked_location\ImageResource.resx original_location\ImageResource.resx
C:\Users\preet>mklink
Creates a symbolic link.
MKLINK [[/D] | [/H] | [/J]] Link Target
/D Creates a directory symbolic link. Default is a file
symbolic link.
/H Creates a hard link instead of a symbolic link.
/J Creates a Directory Junction.
Link specifies the new symbolic link name.
Target specifies the path (relative or absolute) that the new link
refers to.

If a resource file is really shared between projects, you should put it in a shared project.
Solution 'Sample'
Project Sample.Data
Project Sample.Business
Project Sample.UI
Project Sample.Resource //shared resources are put in a shared project

You can't see the resource if it is not public, and it is default set to "Friend". You can set the "Access Modifier" in the Visual Designer (upper right-hand corner).