Is it possible to have cumulative custom build steps in Visual Studio?
What I want to do is have a
if not exist "$(OutDir)" mkdir "$(OutDir)"
as a custom step for ALL configurations (current and possible future ones)
But for a specific configuration (say Deploy) I want to ADDITIONALLY do this
xcopy "$(ProjectDir)..\Resources" "$(OutDir)" /D /E /I /F /Y
Is this possible? I have tried adding a property sheet in Deploy with the xcopy command, but the All Configurations "custom build step" property (with the mkdir command) seems to completely overshadow the xcopy one!
Alternative solution: you can easily have this functionality by using for instance
<Target Name="MyTarget" BeforeTargets="BscMake">
<Exec Command="xcopy ..."/>
</Target>`
That will run right before BscMake, which is when a custom build step with default options also runs. Or you could also use AfterTargets="CustomBuildStep" to make it run after your CustomBuildStep, etc. Note this method also makes it easy to add more steps without interfering with others.
It seems that you need to have a %(Command) added at the end of EVERY commands list to make the commands inheritable.
Answer found here:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/22749337/113718
Having to add an extra "command" feels very hackish, if there is another, better solution, please share.
Related
I have a C# Visual Studio solution with about 15 projects. When I build the solution I want all DLL and EXE files for each project to go to a common folder (called Deploy).
The way I was thinking about doing it was, for each project's Post-build Event Command Line section put the following commands:
IF NOT EXIST $(SolutionDir)Deploy (
'If directory does not exist, create it
MKDIR $(SolutionDir)Deploy
) ELSE (
'Delete directory to make sure it's "clean"
RMDIR /F /S /Q $(SolutionDir)Deploy
MKDIR $(SolutionDir)Deploy
)
'Copy executable and required DLLs to Deploy directory
COPY /Y $(TargetPath) $(SolutionDir)Deploy
COPY /Y $(TargetDir)*.dll $(SolutionDir)Deploy
The problem with doing it this way, however, is I have 15 projects and would have put this in each individual project's post build event section and also, every time I add a new project, I would have to remember to do the same for it.
I checked the solution file properties and did not see a way to set a solution-wide post build event to copy all the files so I did a few Google searches.
One page said to use a C++ Makefile project. I added this type of project to my solution and clicked on the project properties page and found that there is a section under Configuration Properties->NMake with the following:
Build Command Line
Rebuild All Command Line
Clean Command Line
Using the Makefile project's Command Line option poses a similar problem to above. Many different commands to copy each of my 15 project's output files such as:
COPY /Y $(SolutionDir)Project1\bin\$(ConfigurationName)\*.exe $(SolutionDir)Deploy
COPY /Y $(SolutionDir)Project2\bin\$(ConfigurationName)\*.exe $(SolutionDir)Deploy
...
COPY /Y $(SolutionDir)Project15\bin\$(ConfigurationName)\*.exe $(SolutionDir)Deploy
There is another apparent problem with doing it this way. As you can see I took advantage of the $(SolutionDir) and $(ConfigurationName) macros but I had to hard-code each project name.
I didn't see any macros like $(AllProjects), $(AllProjectDirs), etc.
Also, it appears that command line commands for Makefile projects are for building, not post-build events, so I gave up on this idea altogether.
I then tried using a Visual Studio Installer project. After adding the project to my solution I right-clicked the project and saw that there was an Add->Project Output... option. This brought up a dialog allowing me to add one of my other project's Primary Output. I repeated this for each of my other projects and rebuilt.
What resulted was an .MSI file in the output folder. I then opened installer project properties and changed the Package files option to As loose uncompressed files and rebuilt. The output folder now contained all my project's EXE and DLL files!
Most people would be satisfied at this point and move on but I am the kind of person who likes to find the best way to do things.
There was one thing I didn't like about using the installer project option, the fact that, besides copying the files from all my projects, it also created an MSI file (which I don't need) and I didn't see any option tell it not to create one.
Can anyone recommend a another/better way to accomplish my goal of copying all project output files to a single folder?
Thank you.
P.S. I was thinking I could just make a batch file to search and copy all the EXE and DLL files to the Deploy folder but I would have to run the batch file outside of the Visual Studio IDE and also hard-code the configuration folder (Debug or Deploy).
Can't you just change the Output Directory of the C++ projects? See How to: Change the Build Output Directory.
On the menu bar, choose Project, Properties.
Expand the Configuration Properties node, and choose General.
Change the Output Directory value to the new output directory.
If you want both options, you can also create multiple configurations for your VS projects and solutions, similar to the standard "Debug" and "Release" ones. Create a new configuration from one of the existing ones, then change the output directory and save. Now you can just switch the configuration at the solution level to build into another directory. See this link for detailed steps:
How to: Create and Edit Configurations
I've got a series of .NET 4 based web applications (WCF and Web) within the same solution, but need to selectively publish, from the command line.
I've tried various things so far, MSBuild, aspnet_compiler, but nothing, to date has worked.
I need to be able to specify the Project, not the solution, have any transforms run and have the output redirected to a folder...basically mimick the right mouse click 'Publish' option, using the File System.
In addition to all of this, I'd like to leave the projects alone - not adding msbuild files all over the place, as this is a specific build, and not necessarily related to the project.
Stuff I've tried:
Publish ASP.NET MVC 2 application from command line and Web.config transformations
Equivalent msbuild command for Publish from VS2008
Save the following script as publishProject.bat
rem publish passed project
rem params: %configuration% %destDir% %srcDir% %proj%
#echo off
SET DestPath=d:\projects\Publish\%2
SET SrcPath=d:\projects\Src\%3\
SET ProjectName=%4
SET Configuration=%1
RD /S /Q "%DestPath%" rem clear existed directory
:: build project
MSBuild "%SrcPath%%ProjectName%.vbproj" /p:Configuration=%Configuration%
:: deploy project
::/t:TransformWebConfig
MSBuild "%SrcPath%%ProjectName%.vbproj" /target:_CopyWebApplication /property:OutDir=%DestPath%\ /property:WebProjectOutputDir=%DestPath% /p:Configuration=%Configuration%
xcopy "%SrcPath%bin\*.*" "%DestPath%\bin\" /k /y
echo =========================================
echo %SrcPath%%3.vbproj is published
echo =========================================
I call it from another batch file
#echo off
rem VS2010. For VS2008 change %VS100COMNTOOLS% to %VS90COMNTOOLS%
call "%VS100COMNTOOLS%\vsvars32.bat"
SET ex=.\publishProject.bat Release
call %ex% KillerWebApp1 KillerWebApp1\KillerWebApp1 KillerWebApp1
call %ex% KillerWebApp2 KillerWebApp2\KillerWebApp2 KillerWebApp2
call %ex% KillerWebApp3 KillerWebApp3\KillerWebApp3 KillerWebApp3
call %ex% KillerWebApp4 KillerWebApp4\KillerWebApp4 KillerWebApp4
EDIT:
Code above works for most cases but not for all. I.e. we use another asp .net application and link it as virtual folder in IIS. For this situation VS2008 worked fine with code above but VS2010 also copy files from virtual directory while deploying. The following code works properly also in VS2010 (solution was found here)
Add to your project file (*.csproj, *.vbproj)
<Target Name="PublishToFileSystem" DependsOnTargets="PipelinePreDeployCopyAllFilesToOneFolder">
<Error Condition="'$(PublishDestination)'==''" Text="The PublishDestination property must be set to the intended publishing destination." />
<MakeDir Condition="!Exists($(PublishDestination))" Directories="$(PublishDestination)" />
<ItemGroup>
<PublishFiles Include="$(_PackageTempDir)\**\*.*" />
</ItemGroup>
<Copy SourceFiles="#(PublishFiles)" DestinationFiles="#(PublishFiles->'$(PublishDestination)\%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')" SkipUnchangedFiles="True" />
</Target>
Change publishProject.bat to:
rem publish passed project
rem params: %configuration% %destDir% %srcDir% %proj%
#echo off
SET DestPath=d:\projects\Publish\%2
SET SrcPath=d:\projects\Src\%3\
SET ProjectName=%4
SET Configuration=%1
:: clear existed directory
RD /S /Q "%DestPath%"
:: build and publish project
MSBuild "%SrcPath%%ProjectName%.vbproj" "/p:Configuration=%Configuration%;AutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStrings=False;PublishDestination=%DestPath%" /t:PublishToFileSystem
I know this is an old question, but I just learned something, so I decided I'd share: While it is 100% true that the "_CopyWebApplication" target exists and works, as of .NET 4.0 it has been superseded by the "_WPPCopyWebApplication" target in Microsoft.Web.Publishing.targets, which supports new features like web.config transformation syntax, etc.
Have you checked out WebDeploy?
This should do all the steps you need to have - it can bundle up a web app into a deployable file (a ZIP, basically), and there's an "engine" on the server that can interpret that deployable package and do all the heavy lifting for you.
Also see Scott Hanselman's Web Deployment Made Awesome: If You're Using XCopy, You're Doing It Wrong blog post - very enlightening!
My solution for CCNET with the Web.config transformation:
<tasks>
<msbuild>
<executable>C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\MSBuild.exe</executable>
<workingDirectory>E:\VersionesCC\Trunk_4\SBatz\Gertakariak_Orokorrak\GertakariakMS\Web</workingDirectory>
<projectFile>GertakariakMSWeb2.vbproj</projectFile>
<targets>Build</targets>
<timeout>600</timeout>
<logger>C:\Program Files\CruiseControl.NET\server\ThoughtWorks.CruiseControl.MSBuild.dll</logger>
<buildArgs>
/noconsolelogger /p:Configuration=Release /v:diag
/p:DeployOnBuild=true
/p:AutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStrings=false
/p:DeployTarget=Package
/p:_PackageTempDir=E:\Aplicaciones\GertakariakMS2\Web
</buildArgs>
</msbuild>
</tasks>
I have a few VS 2010 C# projects that are shared between several solutions. I would like these projects to build to the directory of the solutions they are open in. How do I do this?
I considered setting up different build configurations (Debug_Xsln, debug_Ysln, Release_Xsln...) but wasn't sure if there was a better way.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/42x5kfw4(v=VS.100).aspx
You can use a postbuild event with xcopy and the macro $(SolutionName) or $(SolutionDir) to copy the compiled files into the correct folder.
Go into properties for the project, build events tab, and in Post Build event command line enter something like this:
xcopy "$(ProjectDir)bin\$(ConfigurationName)\*.*" "$(SolutionDir)$(ProjectName)\bin\$(ConfigurationName)" /i /d /y
The benefit of this method is you can copy the build output of one project to multiple locations
OR
(as Ziplin discovered)
If you only have one location you want the build output to go, you can use the macros above to set the output path, like this:
$(SolutionDir)$(ProjectName)\bin\$(ConfigurationName)
just go to the project properties on the build tab and set your macroed location as the output path
On a successful build, I wish to copy the contents of the output directory to a different location under the same "base" folder. This parent folder is a relative part and can vary based on Source Control settings.
I have listed a few of the Macro values available to me ...
$(SolutionDir) = D:\GlobalDir\Version\AppName\Solution1\build
$(ProjectDir) = D:\GlobalDir\Version\AppName\Solution1\Version\ProjectA\
I want to copy the Output Dir contents to the following folder :
D:\GlobalDir\Version\AppName\Solution2\Project\Dependency
The base location "D:\GlobalDir\Version\AppName" needs to be fetched from one of the above macros. However, none of the macro values list only the parent location.
How do I extract only the base location for the post build copy command ?
Here is what you want to put in the project's Post-build event command line:
copy /Y "$(TargetDir)$(ProjectName).dll" "$(SolutionDir)lib\$(ProjectName).dll"
EDIT: Or if your target name is different than the Project Name.
copy /Y "$(TargetDir)$(TargetName).dll" "$(SolutionDir)lib\$(TargetName).dll"
If none of the TargetDir or other macros point to the right place, use the ".." directory to go backwards up the folder hierarchy.
ie. Use $(SolutionDir)\..\.. to get your base directory.
For list of all macros, see here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/c02as0cs.aspx
You could try:
$(SolutionDir)..\..\
I think this is related, but I had a problem when building directly using msbuild command line (from a batch file) vs building from within VS.
Using something like the following:
<PostBuildEvent>
MOVE /Y "$(TargetDir)something.file1" "$(ProjectDir)something.file1"
start XCOPY /Y /R "$(SolutionDir)SomeConsoleApp\bin\$(ConfigurationName)\*" "$(ProjectDir)App_Data\Consoles\SomeConsoleApp\"
</PostBuildEvent>
(note: start XCOPY rather than XCOPY used to get around a permissions issue which prevented copying)
The macro $(SolutionDir) evaluated to ..\ when executing msbuild from a batchfile, which resulted in the XCOPY command failing. It otherwise worked fine when built from within Visual Studio. Confirmed using /verbosity:diagnostic to see the evaluated output.
Using the macro $(ProjectDir)..\ instead, which amounts to the same thing, worked fine and retained the full path in both build scenarios.
Would it not make sense to use msbuild directly? If you are doing this with every build, then you can add a msbuild task at the end? If you would just like to see if you can’t find another macro value that is not showed on the Visual Studio IDE, you could switch on the msbuild options to diagnostic and that will show you all of the variables that you could use, as well as their current value.
To switch this on in visual studio, go to Tools/Options then scroll down the tree view to the section called Projects and Solutions, expand that and click on Build and Run, at the right their is a drop down that specify the build output verbosity, setting that to diagnostic, will show you what other macro values you could use.
Because I don’t quite know to what level you would like to go, and how complex you want your build to be, this might give you some idea. I have recently been doing build scripts, that even execute SQL code as part of the build. If you would like some more help or even some sample build scripts, let me know, but if it is just a small process you want to run at the end of the build, the perhaps going the full msbuild script is a bit of over kill.
Hope it helps
Rihan
I solved my problem by reinstall VS and then download .Net Core (3.x and 2.x) sdk packages
Here is my post build script
Creates the custom path for my own. Including library and version.
Copies the .dll (target file)
Copies the *.md files.
script:
md c:\_References\$(ProjectName)\$(AssemblyVersion)
xcopy $(ProjectDir)$(OutDir)$(TargetFileName) c:\_References\$(ProjectName)\$(AssemblyVersion) /y
xcopy $(ProjectDir)*.md c:\_References\$(ProjectName)\$(AssemblyVersion) /y
I would like to implement a post build event that performs the following actions
A relative path copy of the DLL output (1 file, not all the debug jazz)
A register the output DLL to GAC
How is this done?
Does that do you want?
copy $(TargetPath) $(TargetDir)..\..\someFolder\myoutput.dll
regasm $(TargetPath)
(Entered into the field for post-build step under project properties)
Enter following into "Project properties->Build events->Post build events command line:"
xcopy "$(TargetPath)" "target path" /Y && regasm "$(TargetPath)"
or add following snippet to project (e.g. csproj) file
<PropertyGroup>
<PostBuildEvent>xcopy "$(TargetPath)" "target path" /Y && regasm "$(TargetPath)"</PostBuildEvent>
</PropertyGroup>
Note that it is recommended to add "" around copy command arguments to avoid problems with paths containing whitespaces. Also note that multiple commands can be combined using &&
Are you sure you want to do this as part of a compile? I would recommend using project references in solutions rather than the GAC if you can avoid it. Copying files is one thing, but registering in the GAC is fairly intrusive and you may want to consider the other environments your code is compiled in. Things like other developers' machines, and test environments/build servers etc. If you have a build server really you should be using something like NAnt with some sort of continuous integration server.
I had to same issue and I struggled a bit to make it works.
In my case, I wanted to do the other way around which is copying the SDL dll into my output folder.
copy "$(SolutionDir)SDL\lib\x86\SDL.dll" "$(SolutionDir)$(Configuration)\"
Note that, $(Configuration) will be your output folder (e.g. Debug or Release).
The quotes was what I was missing, apparently you need them when the right hand side end with a \. Thus, it might be safer to always use them.
Hope to save someone else a 5 minutes!
P.S. I use Visual Studio 2010
you may want to look at MS Build. Its what we use here at work.
CodeProject Link &
MSDN Ref
For step 2 in the question I seem to prefer the following:
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\bin\gacutil" /f /i $(TargetPath)
Note: this requires the Windows SDK to be installed on your development machine.
More info on the available macros, such as $(TargetPath), on MSDN.
Ran into a related issue. The answers here helped (thanks!).
My scenario was in debugging an MEF-reliant application I needed to have the related DLLs in a particular location. I ran into issue with overwriting the prior build so did need to add a delete to the script.
delete $(SolutionDir)FileService\$(ProjectName).dll
copy $(TargetPath) $(SolutionDir)FileService\$(ProjectName).dll
Hope that helps someone, too!
This question is old. The easiest way is to add something like this on your .csproj file. For example I am running some tests on a virtual machine and its nice to have it sent to it after I compile:
<Project>
...
<!-- Upload to virtual machine -->
<Target Name="rsync" AfterTargets="Build">
<Exec Command="C:\Windows\System32\wsl.exe rsync -azv -e 'ssh -i /path/to/my/private/key' --delete /mnt/c/repos/MyProject/bin/Debug/net7.0/ root#vm.ublux.com:/usr/share/foo/" />
</Target>
</Project>