How do I late-resolve * in .csproj files?

I have a .csproj file that looks like this:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>net8.0</TargetFramework>
    <LangVersion>12.0</LangVersion>
    <DebugType>portable</DebugType>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <None Remove="*.dat" />
    <None Include="*.dat" CopyToOutputDirectory="Always" />
  </ItemGroup>

  <Target Name="PrecompileScript" BeforeTargets="BeforeCompile">
    <Exec Command="dotnet run -c $(Configuration) --no-build --project ../DatGenerator/DatGenerator.csproj -directory $(ProjectDir)" />
  </Target>
</Project>

The problem is *.dat is expanded too soon and doesn't actually pick up any files. How do I expand *.dat after the <Exec directive that emits the *.dat runs? No, -directory $(ProjectDir)/bin/$(Configuration)/$(TargetFramework) isn't right. That doesn't work at all; see how there isn't a <OutputType>exe</OutputType>. The copy build outputs built-in functionality needs to work.

Listing each .dat file manually is pretty bad. I need to pick up changes automatically here.

Long discussion in comments; however my previously accepted answer is now observed to be not working in comments. Issue filed on github: https://github.com/dotnet/msbuild/issues/10795

Solution

To late-resolve a wildcard, move the item Include inside a target.

e.g. Change your code to

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>net8.0</TargetFramework>
    <LangVersion>12.0</LangVersion>
    <DebugType>portable</DebugType>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <Target Name="PrecompileScript" BeforeTargets="BeforeBuild">
    <Exec Command="dotnet run -c $(Configuration) --no-build --project ../DatGenerator/DatGenerator.csproj -directory $(ProjectDir)" />
    <ItemGroup>
      <None Remove="*.dat" />
      <None Include="*.dat" CopyToOutputDirectory="PreserveNewest" />
    </ItemGroup>
  </Target>
</Project>

"How MSBuild builds projects" explains the evaluation and execution phases but, briefly:

When building a project, MSBuild has an evaluation phase followed by an executuion phase.
'Top level' PropertyGroup and ItemGroup elements are evaluated in the evalution phase.
Target order is determined in the evaluation phase.
Targets are run in the execution phase.
PropertyGroup and ItemGroup elements within a target are evaluated when the target is run.

Note I updated the answer to change from using BeforeCompile to using BeforeBuild.