bin\Release

[ADO DOT NET]

.exe
.pdb
.vshost.exe
.xml
Are some of files that are created in bin\Release folder.
What are each of them and which ones should be distributed while creating setup and publish the application?

 

[PlausiblyDamp]

The .exe is the executable the end user will run and as such this needs distributing.

The .pdb is the "Program DataBase" file - debug information, this isn't required by the end user but can make debugging easier if present.

The .vshost.exe is the visual studio hosting process, IIRC it is there to improve debugging performance - this isn't required by the end user and there is no reason to distribute this file.

The .xml file is the xml documentation taken from the xml comments within the source (/// comments for C# or ''' for vb.net) this isn't required by the end user either.

If you are compiling a classlibrary then the resulting .dll will be needed by any .exe that references it, also if the .dll is being used in other projects the .xml should be kept in the same folder as this will provide intellisense for visual studio.