I have a Visual Studio Setup project where some of the deployed files are created by a pre-build event. However, when I build the project Visual Studio first does pre-build validation and then runs the pre-build event. Thus pre-build validation fails, with the error message "ERROR: Unable to find file ...".
Does anyone know a work-around for this?
(The details may not matter, but it is a Windows Installer for a Python app. The pre-build event calls PyInstaller which packages the py files as a single exe file. This exe file and some DLL's and resource files are then packaged by the Setup project as a Windows Installer.)
You must be able to use MSBuild Targets instead of a Prebuild Event. I am not sure about the specifics, but I guess the following link might explain your similar situation.
Edited - July 2017 (due to relocated link):
http://pradeepc.net/using-tfs-teambuild-to-build-setup-projects-in-visual-studio
Sample copied from that link is pasted below - you may want to edit to fit the need:
<Target Name="AfterDropBuild">
<Exec Command="devenv.exe MySolution.sln /Build "Release|Any CPU"" WorkingDirectory="$(SolutionRoot)" />
<ItemGroup>
<SetupFiles Include="$(SolutionRoot)/MySetup/Release/MySetup.msi" />
<SetupFiles Include="$(SolutionRoot)/MySetup/Release/Setup.exe" />
</ItemGroup>
<Copy SourceFiles="#(SetupFiles)" DestinationFolder="\Build-MachineBuild_Drop_FoldersMyProjectMSI$(BuildNumber)" />
<Copy SourceFiles="#(SetupFiles)" DestinationFolder="\Build-MachineBuild_Drop_FoldersMyProjectMSILatest_MSI" />
</Target>
Related
I want to execute a text template before my MSBuild project in Visual Studio. I have added the following to my project file:
<Target Name="TransformOnBuild" BeforeTargets="ResolveProjectReferences">
<PropertyGroup>
<_TransformExe>$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\..\Common7\IDE\TextTransform.exe</_TransformExe>
<_TextTransform>$(ProjectDir)AssemblyInfo.tt</_TextTransform>
<_TextTransformResult>$(ProjectDir)AssemblyInfo.cs</_TextTransformResult>
</PropertyGroup>
<Exec Command="del "$(_TextTransformResult)"" />
<Exec Command=""$(_TransformExe)" "$(_TextTransform)" -out "$(_TextTransformResult)"" />
</Target>
This simply deletes my AssemblyInfo.cs and regenerates it from AssemblyInfo.tt.
I use BeforeTargets="ResolveProjectReferences" because I need this file regenerated before any of the referenced projects get built.
Basically, this already works but I have noticed something strange: When I have this in my project file while Visual Studio is open, the AssemblyInfo.cs file constantly dissappears and then reappears. To me it looks like VS repeatedly executes my build target in the background. Of course I don't want it to behave like this. I want it to regenerate the file only when I start a build.
Is there any way to achieve my goal without generating constant CPU load and annoying file-wobbling in the explorer? Maybe a different base target than ResolveProjectReferences?
I use Visual Studio Professional 2022, Version 17.2.6
Update based on latest comments.
You could also try Condition="'$(DesignTimeBuild)' != 'true'".
Details/Background.
If you can live withit never being run inside Visual Studio, you can add this condition to the target element:
Condition="'$(BuildingInsideVisualStudio)' != 'true'"
Otherwise you can try this:
<Target Name="TransformOnBuild" BeforeTargets="ResolveProjectReferences"
Inputs="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)AssemblyInfo.tt"
Outputs="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)AssemblyInfo.cs">
<PropertyGroup>
<!-- ... -->
</Target>
You can learn more about Inputs/Outputs here. Basically, in this case, it means that the target will only be run, when AssemblyInfo.tt is newer than AssemblyInfo.cs.
Note that VS (for intellisence, etc.) will run targets in the background.
I am trying to publish a Visual stuido Project from another Project, to do this I have created a bat file which runs my MSBuild file. If you run this outside of Visual Studio it works correctly but when i tried to add it to Visual Studio's prebuild scripts it does not publish. I am getting this warning -
C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\bin\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(1820,5): warning MSB3247: Found confl
icts between different versions of the same dependent assembly. In Visual Studio, double-click this warning (or select
it and press Enter) to fix the conflicts; otherwise, add the following binding redirects to the "runtime" node in the a
pplication configuration file
My MSBuild file:
<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
<MSBuild
Projects="E:\Development\alyz\myAPI\View.API.sln"
Targets="View_API_Search"
Properties="DeployOnBuild=true;Configuration=Release;PublishProfile=InstallerPublish;WebPublishMethod=FileSystem;PublishURL=E:\Temp\installertemp\SearchAPI" />
</Target>
Visual Studio is saying that my project has built correctly but i can't work out why it's not publishing, any ideas?
Visual Studio is saying that my project has built correctly but i can't work out why it's not publishing, any ideas?
You can use another solution for this issue. Following is my publish target, you can check it:
<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
<Exec Command=""<YourMSBuild.exePath>\msbuild.exe" "<YourSolutionPath>\View.API.sln" /p:DeployOnBuild=true /p:PublishProfile=InstallerPublish.pubxml /p:Configuration=Release /p:PublishURL=E:\Temp\installertemp\SearchAPI"></Exec>
</Target>
With this target, the project/solution will be build and published when you build the project.
Hope this helps.
How can a .cmd script run from within a Visual Studio (2005, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2013 respectively) project's pre-link stage determine whether this is a full rebuild (Build.RebuildSolution/Build.RebuildOnlyProject) or "ordinary" build (Build.BuildSolution/Build.BuildOnlyProject)?
This is an external script (LuaJIT, if you must know) and I don't want to rebuild the library every single build of the project. Instead I'd like to limit the complete rebuild to situations where I choose exactly that option.
How can a .cmd script run from within a Visual Studio (2005, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2013 respectively) project's pre-link stage determine whether this is a full rebuild ... or "ordinary" build ... ?
I do not know if the exact thing that you are asking can be done - perhaps someone else knows how to do it. I will, however, suggest an alternate approach.
My approach is to remove the build of the Lua library from the pre-link step to a separate Visual Studio NMake project. If you create an NMake project, you will be able to know which type of build (build or rebuild) is occurring.
Note that later versions of Visual Studio simply refer to the project type as "Make". For discussion purposes here, I will refer to the project type as "NMake". I believe this is just a naming difference, and that the underlying build project remains the same between the two versions.
As a simple test, I created two Visual Studio applications: 1) an NMake project that calls a batch file to create a static library, and 2) a console application that consumes the library from step 1.
The NMake Project
In Visual Studio, if you create a new NMake project, you will see a dialog that allows you to provide MS-DOS commands:
As you can see, there are commands for: Build, Clean, Rebuild, and others. I don't have a screen shot of the above dialog with my commands, but here is my NMake project's properties:
My Build command just checks for the existence of the output file (lua.lib). If it does not exist, then it calls the rebuild.bat batch file. My Rebuild command always calls the batch file. My Clean command just deletes the output. I am not really sure what the Output command is used for, but I just filled in the path to the build output (lua.lib).
Now if you do a build, the lua.lib file will only be created if it is not there. If it is already there, nothing is done. If you do a rebuild, then a new lua.lib file is created.
The Console Application
In my console application, I added a reference to the NMake project - this way the NMake project is built prior to the console application. Here is the console application's reference page:
I also added the lua.lib file as an input during the application's link stage:
When the console application is built (during a build), it will build the NMake project if needed, and use the output (lua.lib) during the linker stage. When the console application is rebuilt (during a rebuild), it will also rebuild the NMake project.
Other Thoughts
My screen shots above only show the debug version of the properties. Your projects will have to account for the release version. There probably is a VS macro to handle this, but I am not sure since it has been ages since I've done anything with C/ C++.
In my testing above I use a single build batch file for both the build and rebuild. Obviously, you could do the same or you could use different batch files.
It may be a bit of a hack, but in .csproj file there are sections
<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
</Target>
<Target Name="AfterBuild">
</Target>
You can set an variable from BeforeBuild and retrieve it from cmd script. Later on reset this variable in AfterBuild and you should be good to go.
Ok, this is going to be a long one.
First of all - do not take my code 'as is' - it is terrible one with lots of hacks, I had no idea msbuild is so broken by default (it seems at work I have access to waaaay more commands that make life easier). And another thing - it seems vcxproj is broken at some poin - I was not able to integrate the way I wanted with only BeforeRebuild and AfterRebuild targets - I had to redefine hole Rebuild target (it is located in C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Microsoft.Common.targets)
So, the idea is the following: when a Rebuild is happening we create an anchor. Then, during PreLink stage we execute cmd which is able to use created anchor. If the anchor is in place - we deal with Rebuild, if there is no anchor - it is a simple Build. After Rebuild is done - we delete the anchor.
modifications in vcxproj file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project DefaultTargets="Build" ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
....
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|Win32'" Label="Configuration">
....
<PreLinkEventUseInBuild>true</PreLinkEventUseInBuild>
....
</PropertyGroup>
....
<ItemDefinitionGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|Win32'">
.....
<PreLinkEvent>
<Command>D:\PreLink\b.cmd</Command>
</PreLinkEvent>
.....
</ItemDefinitionGroup>
.....
<Target Name="BeforeRebuild">
<Exec Command="echo 2 > D:\PreLink\2.txt" />
</Target>
<Target Name="AfterRebuild">
<Exec Command="del D:\PreLink\2.txt" />
</Target>
<!-- This was copied from MS file -->
<PropertyGroup>
<_ProjectDefaultTargets Condition="'$(MSBuildProjectDefaultTargets)' != ''">$(MSBuildProjectDefaultTargets)</_ProjectDefaultTargets>
<_ProjectDefaultTargets Condition="'$(MSBuildProjectDefaultTargets)' == ''">Build</_ProjectDefaultTargets>
<RebuildDependsOn>
BeforeRebuild;
Clean;
$(_ProjectDefaultTargets);
AfterRebuild;
</RebuildDependsOn>
<RebuildDependsOn Condition=" '$(MSBuildProjectDefaultTargets)' == 'Rebuild' " >
BeforeRebuild;
Clean;
Build;
AfterRebuild;
</RebuildDependsOn>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target
Name="Rebuild"
Condition=" '$(_InvalidConfigurationWarning)' != 'true' "
DependsOnTargets="$(RebuildDependsOn)"
Returns="$(TargetPath)"/>
<!-- End of copy -->
</Project>
And the cmd looks like this:
if exist 2.txt (
echo Rebuild818181
) else (
echo Build12312312
)
The output from Output window:
1>Task "Exec" (TaskId:41)
1> Task Parameter:Command=D:\PreLink\b.cmd
1> :VCEnd (TaskId:41)
1> Build12312312 (TaskId:41)
Things to improve:
Use normal variables instead of external file (it seems MsBuild extension pack should do it)
Probably find a way to override only BeforeRebuild and AfterRebuild instead of the hole Rebuild part
It is much easier. Just add the following target to your build file or visual Studio Project
<Target Name="AfterRebuild">
<Message Text="AFTER REBUILD" Importance="High" />
<!--
Do whatever Needs to be done on Rebuild - as the message shows in VS Output
window it is only executed when an explicit rebuild is triggered
-->
</Target>
If you want a two step solution use this as a template:
<PropertyGroup>
<IsRebuild>false</IsRebuild>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="BeforeRebuild">
<Message Text="BEFORE REBUILD" Importance="High" />
<PropertyGroup>
<IsRebuild>true</IsRebuild>
</PropertyGroup>
</Target>
<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
<Message Text="BEFORE BUILD: IsRebuild: $(IsRebuild)" Importance="High" />
</Target>
Folks,
In a nutshell, I want to replicate this dialog:
It's a Visual Studio 2010 ASP.Net MVC project. If I execute this command, I get all the files I want, including the transformed web.configs in the "C:\ToDeploy" directory.
I want to replicate this on the command line so I can use it for a QA environment build.
I've seen various articles on how to do this on the command line for Remote Deploys, but I just want to do it for File System deploys.
I know I could replicate this functionality using nAnt tasks or rake scripts, but I want to do it using this mechanism so I'm not repeating myself.
I've investigated this some more, and I've found these links, but none of them solve it cleanly:
VS 2008 version, but no Web.Config transforms
Creates package, but doesn't deploy it..do I need to use MSDeploy on this package?
Deploys package after creating it above...does the UI really do this 2 step tango?
Thanks in advance!
Ok, finally figured this out.
The command line you need is:
msbuild path/to/your/webdirectory/YourWeb.csproj /p:Configuration=Debug;DeployOnBuild=True;PackageAsSingleFile=False
You can change where the project outputs to by adding a property of outdir=c:\wherever\ in the /p: section.
This will create the output at:
path/to/your/webdirectory/obj/Debug/Package/PackageTmp/
You can then copy those files from the above directory using whatever method you'd like.
I've got this all working as a ruby rake task using Albacore. I am trying to get it all done so I can actually put it as a contribution to the project. But if anyone wants the code before that, let me know.
Another wrinkle I found was that it was putting in Tokenized Parameters into the Web.config. If you don't need that feature, make sure you add:
/p:AutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStrings=false
I thought I'd post a another solution that I found, I've updated this solution to include a log file.
This is similar to Publish a Web Application from the Command Line, but just cleaned up and added log file. also check out original source http://www.digitallycreated.net/Blog/59/locally-publishing-a-vs2010-asp.net-web-application-using-msbuild
Create an MSBuild_publish_site.bat (name it whatever) in the root of your web application project
set msBuildDir=%WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319
set destPath=C:\Publish\MyWebBasedApp\
:: clear existing publish folder
RD /S /Q "%destPath%"
call %msBuildDir%\msbuild.exe MyWebBasedApp.csproj "/p:Configuration=Debug;PublishDestination=%destPath%;AutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStrings=False" /t:PublishToFileSystem /l:FileLogger,Microsoft.Build.Engine;logfile=Manual_MSBuild_Publish_LOG.log
set msBuildDir=
set destPath=
Update your Web Application project file MyWebBasedApp.csproj by adding the following xml under the <Import Project= tag
<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>
this works better for me than other solutions.
Check out the following for more info:
1) http://www.digitallycreated.net/Blog/59/locally-publishing-a-vs2010-asp.net-web-application-using-msbuild
2) Publish a Web Application from the Command Line
3) Build Visual Studio project through the command line
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>
On VS2012 and above, you can refer to existing publish profiles on your project with msbuild 12.0, this would be equivalent to right-click and publish... selecting a publish profile ("MyProfile" on this example):
msbuild C:\myproject\myproject.csproj "/P:DeployOnBuild=True;PublishProfile=MyProfile"
I've got a solution for Visual Studio 2012: https://stackoverflow.com/a/15387814/2164198
However, it works with no Visual Studio installed at all! (see UPDATE).
I didn't checked yet whether one can get all needed stuff from Visual Studio Express 2012 for Web installation.
A complete msbuild file with inspiration from CubanX
<Project ToolsVersion="3.5" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<Target Name="Publish">
<RemoveDir Directories="..\build\Release\Web\"
ContinueOnError="true" />
<MSBuild Projects="TheWebSite.csproj"
Targets="ResolveReferences;_CopyWebApplication"
Properties="Configuration=Release;WebProjectOutputDir=..\build\Release\Web;OutDir=..\build\Release\Web\bin\"
/>
</Target>
<Target
Name="Build"
DependsOnTargets="Publish;">
</Target>
</Project>
This places the published website in the Web..\build\Release folder
I am trying to configure TeamCity 5.0 to run "Publish" target on one of my projects.
When I load the solution in VS 2008 and click publish on the project the website is being build nicely - files on server appearing by themselves etc. Yet when I run the sln file via TeamCity Sln2008 runner the TeamCity returns:
[Project "Portal.csproj" (Publish target(s)):] Skipping unpublishable project.
Has anyone had the same problem?
Filip
You could create your own simple build file. For example:
<Project DefaultTargets="Build" ToolsVersion="3.5" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\MSBuildCommunityTasks\MSBuild.Community.Tasks.Targets"/>
<PropertyGroup>
<PackageFolder>C:\Builds\AppServer\Actual</PackageFolder>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="Build" DependsOnTargets="BeforeBuild">
<MSBuild Projects="TeamWork-AppServer.sln"
Targets="Rebuild"
Properties="Configuration=Debug;OutDir=$(PackageFolder)\;"></MSBuild>
</Target>
</Project>
Or you can use VS 2008 Web Deployment Project. Here is a great turtorial.
If it is a WebProject you can use the Microsoft.WebApplication.targets. Unless you have installed the windows SDK on your build agent you will need to copy the targets file into your source control and reference it from your web project by adding:
<Import Project="{path to your tools}\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" />
You can find the targets file here (depending on your os):
C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v9.0\WebApplications
Now you just need to update your msbuild task to reference the right targets:
<MSBuild Projects="{path to your web project file}"
Targets="Build;ResolveReferences;_CopyWebApplication"
Properties="Configuration=Release;Architecture=Any;WebProjectOutputDir={your web root};OutDir={your web root}\bin\" />
Here is how I modified the .csproj file for an ASP.NET MVC project to deploy via TeamCity 5.1.2. In the .csproj file, replace the AfterBuild target with this XML (If there are already commands in your existing AfterBuild, you will have to merge them into these targets):
<PropertyGroup>
<DeployTarget>0</DeployTarget>
<PublishTarget>0</PublishTarget>
<PublishFolder>..\Deployment\YourWebsiteName</PublishFolder>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="PublishProperties">
<CreateProperty Value="$(PublishFolder)">
<Output TaskParameter="Value" PropertyName="WebProjectOutputDir"/>
</CreateProperty>
<CreateProperty Value="$(PublishFolder)\bin\">
<Output TaskParameter="Value" PropertyName="OutDir"/>
</CreateProperty>
</Target>
<Target Name="WebPublish" DependsOnTargets="BeforeBuild;PublishProperties">
<RemoveDir Directories="$(PublishFolder)"
ContinueOnError="true" />
<CallTarget Targets="ResolveReferences;_CopyWebApplication" />
</Target>
<Target Name="Deploy" DependsOnTargets="WebPublish">
<CreateProperty Value="Path\To\Your\Server" Condition="$(DeployFolder) == ''">
<Output TaskParameter="Value" PropertyName="DeployFolder"/>
</CreateProperty>
<RemoveDir Directories="$(DeployFolder)" Condition="$(CleanDeploy) == 1" />
<ItemGroup>
<DeploymentFiles Include="$(PublishFolder)\**\*.*" />
</ItemGroup>
<Copy SourceFiles="#(DeploymentFiles)"
DestinationFolder="$(DeployFolder)\%(RecursiveDir)" />
</Target>
<Target Name="AfterBuild">
<CallTarget Targets="WebPublish" Condition="$(PublishTarget) == 1" />
<CallTarget Targets="Deploy" Condition="$(DeployTarget) == 1" />
</Target>
This script uses the $(PublishTarget) and $(DeployTarget) properties to trigger additional steps after your project is built. The PropertyGroup at the beginning sets the default values to 0, so the extra targets are not run. You can override the default in TeamCity by going to the Properties and Environment Variables page of your build configuration and adding System Properties names "PublishTarget" and "DeployTarget" and setting their value to 1.
The Publish target contains most of the magic. This makes a call to the Visual Studio _CopyWebApplication target to output the website to the PublishFolder. By default the publish folder is "..\Deployment\YourWebsiteName" relative to the project file, but this can also be overridden with a System Property. The Deploy target takes the files output by the Publish target and copies them to the DeployFolder. DeployFolder can be set with a System Property in TeamCity or you can replace the "Path\To\Your\Server" path in the Deploy target.
You could also skip the extra Deploy step by simply setting the PublishFolder to whatever your deployment destination is. This script depends on the "Microsoft.WebApplication.Build.Tasks.Dll" and "Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" files installed by Visual Studio, but you can simply copy the files from your developer workstation to the build server. The default location is "C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\WebApplications".
I have this same problem, here's what I've tried:
I have a solution file in Visual Studio 2010, committed to a Mercurial repository.
I have setup an FTP server for the root directory of the site to publish to, and publishing from within Visual Studio 2010 locally works nicely, it connects and uploads everything as expected, and the website works.
Now, I wanted to automate this on every push to the central Mercurial repository, and since I'm using TeamCity, I discovered that the field to specify the Target of the build, usually "Rebuild" can also take "Publish", so I specified "Rebuild;Publish", as per the documentation and help.
I have verified that after publishing in Visual Studio, and committing new files, a file named ProjectName.Publish.xml is accompanying my ProjectName.csproj file, and this file is pulled down into the server directory when TeamCity builds.
Yet, no publishing is done, and when I check the build log, it says:
[19:01:02]: [Project "Test.sln" (Rebuild;Publish target(s)):] Project "Test.UI.Web.csproj" (Publish target(s)):
[19:01:02]: [Project "Test.UI.Web.csproj" (Publish target(s)):] Skipping unpublishable project.
Exactly as the question here says.
Note that this is a development site, publishing just so that we can let more people test changes, so don't get into a discussion of whether this is actually a good idea or not.
Note: I do not care in which way the files are published, I just need the single TeamCity build-step to actually do it, so if anyone got a MSBuild-like solution that just sidesteps TeamCity, then I would be satisfied
Have you tried to execute Visual Studio directly, rather than relying on MSBuild to publish the project directly. MSBuild can't execute certain kinds of projects. I had a similar problem with getting MSI's built from within Team City.
I'm taking a guess at the exact commandline settings to this, since I don't know your exact setup.
<PropertyGroup>
<buildconfiguration>Release</buildconfiguration>
<DevEnv>C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.com</DevEnv>
</PropertyGroup>
<Exec Command="%22$(DevEnv)%22 /build $(buildconfiguration) $(teamcity_build_checkoutDir)\Test.sln /project Test.UI.Web.csproj"/>
If you're using the Team City solution runner as your build runner, you'll have to switch to MSBuild.
If you want to stay with the Team City runner, you could always try adding a project to your solution that will be the last one built, (or do it on the project that currently gets built last), and do the spawning trick as a post-build command line on the project.
Can TeamCity publish a Web project using the sln2008 build runner
Can TeamCity publish a Web project using the sln2008 build runner?
What type of project are you trying to publish?
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/msbuild/thread/7ec0d942-6354-41c3-9c97-7e7d1f461c29
Taken from above link:
What I discovered is that "Shared-addins" are not publishable
and are distinct and different from document and application level
VSTO addins, which are deployable.
When I rebuilt my application as an application level
VSTO addin, the publish option was available.
http://www.automise.com/Default.aspx?tabid=53&aft=9813
Taken from above link:
Assuming you're using Visual Studio 2008, we're unable to execute the web site
publish feature from FinalBuilder as it's partially implemented by the VS IDE.
You'll need to use to the MSBuild action to compile the application and then
use one of the other actions (FTP, File Copy, etc) in FinalBuilder to perform
the deployment. Visual Studio 2010 has fixed this problem by performing the
entire publish using MSBuild, see this post for more info:
http://www.finalbuilder.com/forums....&afv=topic
Two threads that might help
http://devnet.jetbrains.net/thread/280420;jsessionid=5E8948AE810FFFF251996D85E7EB3FE3
Visual Studio. Publish project from command line
For anyone using Web Application Projects in VS2010, I managed to get TeamCity to package the deliverables and then Web Deploy the package after successfully building the solution.
With a little tweaking, this had the same effect as hitting the 'Publish' button in VS.
My solution has a handful of projects, 1 of which is an ASP.NET MVC Web Application project. I build the solution, package the web app project, and msdeploy the package in 3 steps. I haven't figured out a (better|shorter|simpler|more elegant) way to do this.
I don't have VS installed on my TeamCity server, so I needed to grab both C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\Web and C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\Web Applications and put them both in the same spot on the TeamCity server (the second depends on the first). If you're working w/x64 machines, I'd grab them from both Program Files (x86) and Program Files. You also need to have Web Deploy installed on your machine and (I believe) IIS Management Service (i.e., something listening on https://yourservername:8172/MsDeploy.axd)
There are 3 build steps:
Visusal Studio (sln), Target=Rebuild, Configuration=Debug
MSBuild WebProject.csproj, Targets=Package Commandline=/p:PackageLocation=%teamcity.build.checkoutDir%\Debug.zip /p:Configuration=Debug
Commandline, Executable=%teamcity.build.checkoutDir%\Debug.deploy.cmd, Parameters=
/Y "-setParam:'IIS Web Application Name'='Default Web Site/PreCreatedAppInIis'"
In that last step, 'IIS Web Application Name' is an actual parameter name, don't change it. It's value can either be something like 'Default Web Site' or whatever you named your website in IIS and/or it can be an IIS application path below it. If the application doesn't exist, you may run into errors about the app pool not being configured correctly to host the application. Rather than investigate it, I just created an application in the appropriate app pool. In my case, I'm targeting ASP.NET 4.0 x64 where the default app pool is ASP.NET 2.0 x64.