Copy all files and folders using msbuild

Question

Just wondering if someone could help me with some msbuild scripts that I am trying to write. What I would like to do is copy all the files and sub folders from a folder to another folder using msbuild.

{ProjectName}
      |----->Source
      |----->Tools
              |----->Viewer
                       |-----{about 5 sub dirs}

What I need to be able to do is copy all the files and sub folders from the tools folder into the debug folder for the application. This is the code that I have so far.

 <ItemGroup>
<Viewer Include="..\$(ApplicationDirectory)\Tools\viewer\**\*.*" />
 </ItemGroup>

<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
        <Copy SourceFiles="@(Viewer)" DestinationFolder="@(Viewer->'$(OutputPath)\\Tools')" />
  </Target>

The build script runs but doesn't copy any of the files or folders.

Thanks

Answer 1

I was searching help on this too. It took me a while, but here is what I did that worked really well.

<Target Name="AfterBuild">
    <ItemGroup>
        <ANTLR Include="..\Data\antlrcs\**\*.*" />
    </ItemGroup>
    <Copy SourceFiles="@(ANTLR)" DestinationFolder="$(TargetDir)\%(RecursiveDir)" SkipUnchangedFiles="true" />
</Target>

This recursively copied the contents of the folder named antlrcs to the $(TargetDir).

Answer 2

I think the problem might be in how you're creating your ItemGroup and calling the Copy task. See if this makes sense:

<Project DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" ToolsVersion="3.5">
    <PropertyGroup>
        <YourDestinationDirectory>..\SomeDestinationDirectory</YourDestinationDirectory>
        <YourSourceDirectory>..\SomeSourceDirectory</YourSourceDirectory>
    </PropertyGroup>

    <Target Name="BeforeBuild">
        <CreateItem Include="$(YourSourceDirectory)\**\*.*">
            <Output TaskParameter="Include" ItemName="YourFilesToCopy" />
        </CreateItem>

        <Copy SourceFiles="@(YourFilesToCopy)"
                DestinationFiles="@(YourFilesToCopy->'$(YourDestinationDirectory)\%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')" />
    </Target>
</Project>

Answer 3

I'm kinda new to MSBuild but I find the EXEC Task handy for situation like these. I came across the same challenge in my project and this worked for me and was much simpler. Someone please let me know if it's not a good practice.

<Target Name="CopyToDeployFolder" DependsOnTargets="CompileWebSite">
    <Exec Command="xcopy.exe  $(OutputDirectory) $(DeploymentDirectory) /e" WorkingDirectory="C:\Windows\" />
</Target>

Answer 4

<Project DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" ToolsVersion="3.5">
    <PropertyGroup>
        <YourDestinationDirectory>..\SomeDestinationDirectory</YourDestinationDirectory>
        <YourSourceDirectory>..\SomeSourceDirectory</YourSourceDirectory>
    </PropertyGroup>

    <Target Name="BeforeBuild">
        <CreateItem Include="$(YourSourceDirectory)\**\*.*">
            <Output TaskParameter="Include" ItemName="YourFilesToCopy" />
        </CreateItem>

        <Copy SourceFiles="@(YourFilesToCopy)"
                DestinationFiles="$(YourFilesToCopy)\%(RecursiveDir)" />
    </Target>
</Project>

\**\*.* help to get files from all the folder. RecursiveDir help to put all the file in the respective folder...

Answer 5

Did you try to specify concrete destination directory instead of

DestinationFolder="@(Viewer->'$(OutputPath)\\Tools')" ? 

I'm not very proficient with advanced MSBuild syntax, but

@(Viewer->'$(OutputPath)\\Tools') 

looks weird to me. Script looks good, so the problem might be in values of $(ApplicationDirectory) and $(OutputPath)

EDIT:

Here is a blog post that might be useful:

How To: Recursively Copy Files Using the Task

Answer 6

This is the example that worked:

<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">

   <ItemGroup>
      <MySourceFiles Include="c:\MySourceTree\**\*.*"/>
   </ItemGroup>

   <Target Name="CopyFiles">
      <Copy
        SourceFiles="@(MySourceFiles)"
        DestinationFiles="@(MySourceFiles->'c:\MyDestinationTree\%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')"
       />
    </Target>

</Project>

source: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/3e54c37h.aspx

Answer 7

Personally I have made use of CopyFolder which is part of the SDC Tasks Library.

http://sdctasks.codeplex.com/

Answer 8

This is copy task i used in my own project, it was working perfectly for me that copies folder with sub folders to destination successfully:

<ItemGroup >
<MyProjectSource Include="$(OutputRoot)/MySource/**/*.*" />
</ItemGroup>

<Target Name="AfterCopy" AfterTargets="WebPublish">
<Copy SourceFiles="@(MyProjectSource)" 
 OverwriteReadOnlyFiles="true" DestinationFolder="$(PublishFolder)api/% (RecursiveDir)"/>

In my case i copied a project's publish folder to another destination folder, i think it is similiar with your case.

Answer 9

The best way to recursively copy files from one directory to another using MSBuild is using Copy task with SourceFiles and DestinationFiles as parameters. For example - To copy all files from build directory to back up directory will be

<PropertyGroup>
<BuildDirectory Condition="'$(BuildDirectory)' == ''">Build</BuildDirectory>
<BackupDirectory Condition="'$(BackupDiretory)' == ''">Backup</BackupDirectory>
</PropertyGroup>

<ItemGroup>
<AllFiles Include="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)/$(BuildDirectory)/**/*.*" />
</ItemGroup>

<Target Name="Backup">
<Exec Command="if not exist $(BackupDirectory) md $(BackupDirectory)" />
<Copy SourceFiles="@(AllFiles)" DestinationFiles="@(AllFiles-> 
'$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)/$(BackupDirectory)/%(RecursiveDir)/%(Filename)% 
(Extension)')" />
</Target>

Now in above Copy command all source directories are traversed and files are copied to destination directory.