MSBuild 2010 - how to publish web app to a specific location (nant)?

Question

I'm trying to get MSBuild 2010 to publish a web app to a specific location. I can get it to publish the deployment package to a particular path, but the deployment package then adds its own path that changes.

For example: if I tell it to publish to C:\dev\build\Output\Debug then the actual web files end up at C:\dev\build\Output\Debug\Archive\Content\C_C\code\app\Source\ControllersViews\obj\Debug\Package\PackageTmp And the C_C part of the path changes (not sure how it chooses this part of the path).

This means I can't just script a copy from the publish location.

I'm using this nant/msbuild command at the moment:

  <target name="compile" description="Compiles">
<msbuild project="${name}.sln">

  <property name="Platform" value="Any CPU"/>
  <property name="Configuration" value="Debug"/>
  <property name="DeployOnBuild" value="true"/>
  <property name="DeployTarget" value="Package"/>
  <property name="PackageLocation" value="C:\dev\build\Output\Debug\"/>
  <property name="AutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStrings" value="false"/>
  <property name="PackageAsSingleFile" value="false"/>

</msbuild>

Any ideas on how to get it to send the web files directly to a specific location?

Answer 1

msbuild /t:Build;PipelinePreDeployCopyAllFilesToOneFolder /p:Configuration=Release;_PackageTempDir=C:\temp\somelocation;AutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStrings=false MyProject.csproj

Corresponding NAnt script:

<msbuild project="MyProject.csproj" target="PipelinePreDeployCopyAllFilesToOneFolder">
  <property name="Configuration" value="Release" />
  <property name="_PackageTempDir" value="C:\temp\somelocation" />
  <property name="AutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStrings" value="false" />
</msbuild>

References

• Simulating "Publish to folder" Functionality in Visual Studio 2010
• Team Build + Web Deployment + Web Deploy + VS 2010 = Goodness

See also Team Build: Publish locally using MSDeploy

Answer 2

If you are using a VS2010 web application (as opposed to a web site project), consider setting up the Package/Publish Web settings in your project and building the 'Project' target in your nant script.

Lots of juicy msdeploy goodness and background here: http://www.hanselman.com/blog/WebDeploymentMadeAwesomeIfYoureUsingXCopyYoureDoingItWrong.aspx

In my nant scripts, I run the following msbuild commands:

    <if  test="${property::exists('basename')}">
        <exec program="${msbuild.location}" workingdir="${project::get-base-directory()}">
            <arg value="/p:Configuration=${configuration}" />
            <arg value="/logger:ThoughtWorks.CruiseControl.MsBuild.XmlLogger,${msbuild.logger.dll}" if="${nunit.formatter.type == 'Xml'}"/>
            <arg value="/noconsolelogger" if="${nunit.formatter.type == 'Xml'}"/>
            <arg value="${basename}.sln"/>
        </exec>
    </if>

...

    <if  test="${property::exists('basename')}">
        <exec program="${msbuild.location}" workingdir="${project::get-base-directory()}\${basename}">
            <arg value="/p:Configuration=${configuration}" />
            <arg value="/t:Package" />
            <arg value="/logger:ThoughtWorks.CruiseControl.MsBuild.XmlLogger,${msbuild.logger.dll}" if="${nunit.formatter.type == 'Xml'}"/>
            <arg value="/noconsolelogger" if="${nunit.formatter.type == 'Xml'}"/>
            <arg value="${basename}.csproj"/>
        </exec>
    </if>

My basename nant variable gives the name of both the VS solution file (.sln) and the project file (.csproj) for the web application. I happen to prefer the zip-file deployment as shown in my project settings:

There is one additional quirk. If you install MSDeploy version 2.0 on the target machine, the .deploy.cmd file must be edited to change the MSDeploy version number as follows:

Change

  for /F "usebackq tokens=2*" %%i  in (`reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\IIS Extensions\MSDeploy\1" /v InstallPath`) do (

To

  for /F "usebackq tokens=2*" %%i  in (`reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\IIS Extensions\MSDeploy\2" /v InstallPath`) do (

Answer 3

I think you're using the wrong property. Try the OutDir property instead.

<arg value="/property:OutDir=C:\dev\build\Output\Debug\" />

Personally, I call MsBuild.exe directly instead of using the msbuild tag:

    <exec program="${MSBuildPath}">
        <arg line='"${ProjectFile}"' />
        <arg value="/target:_CopyWebApplication" />
        <arg value="/property:OutDir=${LocalDeployPath}\" />
        <arg value="/property:WebProjectOutputDir=${LocalDeployPath}" />
        <arg value="/property:Configuration=${SolutionConfiguration}" />
        <arg value="/verbosity:normal" />
        <arg value="/nologo" />
    </exec>

MSBuildPath - The path to MsBuild.exe (allows you to target any framework version you want)

ProjectFile - The relative path to your project file

LocalDeployPath - The local folder where everthing will be outputed. Your copy script will use also use this as the source directory.

SolutionConfiguration - Release, Debug