MSBuild copy entire directory while using metadata in path names

Question

Here are few other similar answers that I've found, but none answers my question:

Copying entire project structure into another directory using afterbuild task

Copy all files and folders using msbuild

MSbuild Copy whole folder

What I'm trying to do:

I need to copy a directory tree into several different places in the project upon compilation. Here is how it presently being done:

  <ItemGroup>
    <MediaFiles Include="$(ProjectDir)media\**\*.*" />
    <DeployLabel Include="$(ProjectDir)deploy\x">
      <Dir>x</Dir>
    </DeployLabel>
    <DeployLabel Include="$(ProjectDir)deploy\y">
      <Dir>y</Dir>
    </DeployLabel>
    <DeployLabel Include="$(ProjectDir)deploy\z">
      <Dir>z</Dir>
    </DeployLabel>
  </ItemGroup>
  <Target Name="GenericDeploy"
          Inputs="@(DeployLabel)"
          Outputs="%(Identity).Dummy">
    <Message Text="Deploying: @(DeployLabel)" />
    <Copy SourceFiles="@(MediaFiles)"
          DestinationFiles="@(MediaFiles->'$(ProjectDir)deploy%(Dir)media\%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')"/>

This pretends to run, but copies nothing at all. I've tried also to use %(DeployLabel.Dir), but that gives me an error.

I don't want to use xcopy because this program doesn't seem to be in the default inventory of Windows installs (my PC doesn't have it). Also, I must confess, I don't entirely understand what does the % thingy do. When I saw @ and % at first, I thought they were copied from Make, but now I' starting to doubt... Also some insight into what -> means would help (it's extremely difficult to find the documentation on these cryptic names).

Answer 1

OK, I actually solved it somehow, but I'm still interested in answering the "bonus" questions / perhaps my solution isn't good:

I added a PropertyGroup inside the target and concatenated the path there:

<PropertyGroup>
  <Deploydir>$(ProjectDir)deploy\%(DeployLabel.Dir)\media</Deploydir>
</PropertyGroup>

and later in that target I used

DestinationFiles="@(MediaFiles->'$(Deploydir)\%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')"

instead, so this avoided the problem with percents (possibly) coming from two different places.

Answer 2

These batchings are quite confusing, because some combinations of batchings are working with different ItemGroups and some not. I create a small proj to show some differences:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> 
<Project DefaultTargets="Batch" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" ToolsVersion="3.5">
 <ItemGroup>
  <BatchItem Include="myFile.txt">
   <Folder>c:\Temp</Folder>
  </BatchItem>
  <BatchItem Include="myFile2.txt">
   <Folder>c:\Tmp</Folder>
  </BatchItem>

  <DifferentItem Include="myFile3.txt">
   <Folder>c:\diff</Folder>
  </DifferentItem>
 </ItemGroup>

 <Target Name="Batch">
  <Message Text="Using (at) @(BatchItem) --  @(DifferentItem)" />
  <Message Text="Using -> @(BatchItem->'%(Folder)\somethingInbetween\%(Identity)') -- @(DifferentItem->'%(Folder)\somethingInbetween\%(Identity)')" />   
  <Message Text="Using percent %(BatchItem.Folder)\%(BatchItem.Identity) -- %(DifferentItem.Folder)\%(DifferentItem.Identity)" />
 </Target>
</Project>

• The first one will just put all after items in on string semicolon separated.
• The second one will use specific metadata of one item to make a string of it. This is done for all elements and they are semicolon separated as one item.

• The third expression is also referencing the metadata of an item, but it is also calling the target for each item in the group. Doing it that way you can't mix ItemGroups.

  Using (at) myFile.txt;myFile2.txt -- myFile3.txt

  Using -> c:\Temp\somethingInbetween\myFile.txt;c:\Tmp\somethingInbetween\myFi le2.txt -- c:\diff\somethingInbetween\myFile3.txt

  Using percent c:\Temp\myFile.txt -- \

  Using percent c:\Tmp\myFile2.txt -- \

  Using percent \ -- c:\diff\myFile3.txt