I have an ASP.NET web project (.Net 4.5, Visual Studio 2015).
The solution uses the XAML builds, not the newer web builds. Some of the builds deploy the application directly to the IIS server using a file copy.
We do not use the Publish action from Visual Studio to publish the project.
In the .csproj file of the ASP.NET project, the following import statement was added to add an additional .targets file:
<Import Project="CSADeploy.targets" Condition="Exists('CSADeploy.targets')" />
<Target Name="AdditionalTargets">
<!-- ... -->
</Target>
In this target file the files are copied.
Here is a short excerpt from the .targets file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
</Target>
<Target Name="AfterBuild">
I would like the code that is deployed to the server to be precompiled for deployment either Deployment Only or Deployment with updateable UI is fine. I know there is a checkbox in the Publish action to precompile but I can't use that. I must use the existing XAML builds with the targets file and possibly instruction in the .csproj file.
I also know that I can use the Aspnet_compiler.exe tool on the server once the file are deployed. But I must do it before the file are copied because I do not have access to this server and I want to prevent adding a manual action to the build process.
How can I precompile the ASP.NET pages for deployment so that they are deployed correctly in my scenario?
You could create a .pubxml file for your project then check in to TFS, in the .pubxml file, set precompileBeforePublish to True.
<PropertyGroup>
......
<PrecompileBeforePublish>True</PrecompileBeforePublish>
</PropertyGroup>
In the xaml build definition, add these msbuild arguments:
/p:deployOnBuild=true /p:publishProfile=***.pubxml
Then in TFS xaml build, it will do precompile before deploy.
Related
I have a solution with A LOT of web projects (80+). I'm using WDP to deploy my projects to the environments, so I have a script that builds a web deploy package for each project and then each package is published.
Each package is deployed without deleting what is already there and each package can override duplicate files. It works but the deployment is quite slow.
I have a strong suspicion that having one package with all the file would be a lot faster, since from the looks of it a lot of the time is spent on the setup of the connection to the server and not much on the deployment itself (probably because many files are not updated)
Is there a way to build a single WDP from multiple web projects in visual studio solution or using MSBuild and a couple of scripts?
Thanks
Is there a way to build a single WDP from multiple web projects in visual studio solution or using MSBuild and a couple of scripts?
Since you have a script that builds a web deploy package for each project, you can try to deploy those project to the local folder, you can think of this an “intermediate publish folder”. From there you can construct a zip task to all packages to one zip file, then publish/copy this zip file to publish directly.
To accomplish this, you can create a .csproj file with following code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="14.0" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props" Condition="Exists('$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props')" />
<PropertyGroup>
<OutputType>Library</OutputType>
</PropertyGroup>
<Import Project="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets" />
<Target Name="Zip" AfterTargets="Build">
<CreateItem Include="YourLocalPublishFolder\*.*" >
<Output ItemName="ZipFiles" TaskParameter="Include"/>
</CreateItem>
<Zip ZipFileName="YourZipFile.zip" WorkingDirectory="YourPublishFolder" Files="#(ZipFiles)" />
With this .csproj file, all .zip are compressed into a package to the publish folder, do not need to publish each project to the publish folder.
Note: Need import the MSBuildTasks.targets to the .csproj file, which including Zip target.
Hope this helps.
I have created a publishing profile for my web page, and I can successfully publish using the web deploy interface in Visual Studio (right click project, deploy etc). It builds the project on my local PC, and copies the files across to destination IIS server.
But now I am trying to create a MSBuild command, which should do the same, but it is only building the solution, not copying it across to the server.
My MSbuild command looks like this, and I run it from the solution source directory
msbuild "test.co.za.sln" p:DeployOnBuild=true /p:PublishProfile="test.co.za" /p:UserName="domain\test" /p:Password="test"
Is there anything wrong with my build command? As you can see in the screenshot, it is building successfully, but no files are being copied across. Which makes me wonder if the publishing profile is executed at all.
I have tried various combinations of publishprofile paths, full paths, with extensions, without, nothing seems to copy my files accross.
My publishing profile looks like this App_Data\Publishprofile\test.co.za.pubxml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup>
<WebPublishMethod>MSDeploy</WebPublishMethod>
<LastUsedBuildConfiguration>Debug</LastUsedBuildConfiguration>
<SiteUrlToLaunchAfterPublish>http://test.co.za</SiteUrlToLaunchAfterPublish>
<LaunchSiteAfterPublish>True</LaunchSiteAfterPublish>
<MSDeployServiceURL>test.co.za</MSDeployServiceURL>
<DeployIisAppPath>test.co.za</DeployIisAppPath>
<SkipExtraFilesOnServer>True</SkipExtraFilesOnServer>
<MSDeployPublishMethod>WMSVC</MSDeployPublishMethod>
<UserName>domain\test</UserName>
<_SavePWD>True</_SavePWD>
</PropertyGroup>
</Project>
EDIT: This is an existing classic ASP website which I added to a solution, it doesn't contain a ".csproj" file, just a "website.publishproj", which doesn't seem to execute
It doesn't look like you are passing in the VisualStudioVersion property. You should include that. The value will either be 11.0, 12.0, or 14.0 based on the version of Visual Studio you are using. You should likely pass in a value for Configuration as well but it's not required. I've blogged about why this is important at http://sedodream.com/2012/08/19/VisualStudioProjectCompatabilityAndVisualStudioVersion.aspx.
You can find the docs for asp.net command line publishing at http://www.asp.net/mvc/tutorials/deployment/visual-studio-web-deployment/command-line-deployment
Looks like my "website.publishingproj" is never being built when I run the msbuild command. Not sure why, #Sayed do you perhaps know?
I had to create a targets file next to my solution called "after.solutionName.sln.targets" and copy the code from this answer : https://stackoverflow.com/a/15138373/1184603
<!--?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?-->
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<Target Name="Deploy Website" AfterTargets="Build">
<Message Text="Starting Website deployment" Importance="high">
</Message>
<MSBuild Projects="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\MyWebs\website.publishproj"
BuildInParallel="true" />
</Target>
</Project>
It now publishes correctly from my msbuild script.
I want Visual Studio to precompile my ASP.NET application which is used as an Azure web role payload. So I've found this post that explains how to call aspnet_compiler to validate views.
I tried to add the following to "post-build event" of my ASP.NET application:
call "%VS100COMNTOOLS%\vsvars32.bat"
aspnet_compiler -v / -p $(ProjectDir)
or alternatively this (application name specified explicitly):
call "%VS100COMNTOOLS%\vsvars32.bat"
aspnet_compiler -v /ASP.NET-Application-ProjectNameHere -p $(ProjectDir)
In both cases when the build runs I see the following in the build output:
Setting environment for using Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 x86 tools.
Utility to precompile an ASP.NET application
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
and clearly no precompilation happens because if I change any .aspx or .cshtml file "Build Action" to "None" it doesn't get to the Azure service package and the view no longer opens once the package is deployed to Azure.
How do I setup aspnet_compiler for precompiling from within Visual Studio?
If you want to use Asp.NET Compiler within your Visual Studio / msbuild then you can add
AspNetCompiler Task to your project file (.csproj/.vbproj) and set MvcBuildViews to true.
Example:
<Project>
<PropertyGroup>
<MvcBuildViews>true</MvcBuildViews>
</PropertyGroup>
<!-- ... -->
<Target Name="PrecompileWeb" AfterTargets="build" Condition="'$(MvcBuildViews)'=='true'">
<Message Text="Starting AspNetCompiler for $(ProjectDir)" Importance="high" />
<AspNetCompiler
VirtualPath="temp"
PhysicalPath="$(WebProjectOutputDir)"
Force="true"
/>
</Target>
<!-- ... -->
</Project>
You may also set TargetPath attribute to specify destination directory.
AfterTargets="build" is similar to "post-build event". See Target Build Order for more.
Integrate ASPX compilation into Visual Studio
One of the principles I insist on is to always try my build on a clean environment and simulate installation as if it was done by QA. Lately I've noticed that I keep falling on errors hidden deep in the aspx files. So, why not using the old and familiar aspnet_compiler.exe tool? It is located at C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727 and it is quite easy to use.
As a VS add-ins freak I've started thinking on an amazing add-in that will integrate to the VS and will listen to build events and display the results at the output pane. Heck, why not add some coffee serving capabilities?
It took me about 10 minutes of googling to stumble on this blog. Mike Hadlow had a genius in its simplicity idea. Use the POST BUILD EVENT!
All I need to do is put the following line in the post build event: C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_compiler.exe -v / -p "$(ProjectDir)\"
Now, All that is left is to make the process of adding this line to each and every web project in our team to be automatic.
I have just the add-in for that :)
enter link description here
The answer from Matej was helpful for me, but I was not able to use it as-is and still get it to work for both local builds within Visual Studio and automated builds via TFS.
I had to add some extra msbuild settings. Actually, there were 2 different scenarios that I had. One project was an Web App that built into the _PublishedWebsites folder and one was an MVC Web App that did not build into the _PublishedWebsites folder.
First, add the following if it is not already in your project file:
<PropertyGroup>
<MvcBuildViews>true</MvcBuildViews>
</PropertyGroup>
For the one WITH _PublishedWebsites:
<Choose>
<When Condition="'$(BuildingInsideVisualStudio)' == true">
<PropertyGroup>
<AspNetCompilerPhysicalPath>$(ProjectDir)</AspNetCompilerPhysicalPath>
</PropertyGroup>
</When>
<Otherwise>
<PropertyGroup>
<AspNetCompilerPhysicalPath>$(WebProjectOutputDir)</AspNetCompilerPhysicalPath>
</PropertyGroup>
</Otherwise>
</Choose>
<Target Name="PrecompileWeb" AfterTargets="build" Condition="'$(MvcBuildViews)'=='true'">
<!-- aspnet_compiler.exe needs to be run on the folder that has the aspx files and the "bin" subfolder.
When running locally, the value needs to be the project directory, which is $(ProjectDir).
When running the TFS build, the value needs to be (BuildFolder)\(ProjectName)\_PublishedWebsites\(ProjectName).
The $(AspNetCompilerPhysicalPath) will hold the correct value for both types of builds.
-->
<Message Text="Starting AspNetCompiler for $(ProjectName) at $(AspNetCompilerPhysicalPath)" Importance="high" />
<AspNetCompiler
VirtualPath="/"
PhysicalPath="$(AspNetCompilerPhysicalPath)"
TargetPath="$(AspNetCompilerPhysicalPath)\bin_precompile"
Force="true"
/>
</Target>
For the one WITHOUT _PublishedWebsites:
<Choose>
<When Condition="'$(BuildingInsideVisualStudio)' == true">
<PropertyGroup>
<AspNetCompiler_CopyFilesFirst>false</AspNetCompiler_CopyFilesFirst>
</PropertyGroup>
</When>
<Otherwise>
<PropertyGroup>
<AspNetCompiler_CopyFilesFirst>true</AspNetCompiler_CopyFilesFirst>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<AllOutputFiles Include="$(OutDir)\\**\*.*" />
</ItemGroup>
</Otherwise>
</Choose>
<Target Name="PrecompileWeb" AfterTargets="build" Condition="'$(MvcBuildViews)'=='true'">
<!-- aspnet_compiler.exe needs to be run on the folder that has the cshtml files and the "bin" subfolder. I could not find a setting that was appropriate for both.
When running locally, the value needs to be the project directory, which is $(ProjectDir).
When running the TFS build, there is no folder that matches both of those criteria.
So first we will copy the output into the source code folder's "bin" subfolder,
then run it against the source $(ProjectDir), the same as if we were building locally.
-->
<Message Text="Before running AspNetCompiler, copy files from $(OutDir) to $(ProjectDir)\bin" Importance="high" />
<Exec Command="( robocopy.exe /mir $(OutDir) $(ProjectDir)\bin ) ^& IF %25ERRORLEVEL%25 LEQ 1 exit 0" Condition="'$(AspNetCompiler_CopyFilesFirst)'=='true'" />
<Message Text="Starting AspNetCompiler for $(ProjectName) at $(ProjectDir)" Importance="high" />
<AspNetCompiler
VirtualPath="/"
PhysicalPath="$(ProjectDir)"
TargetPath="$(ProjectDir)\bin_precompile"
Force="true"
/>
</Target>
When I create a deployment package web.config is changed, but I don't understand this part:
I have two web.config transformation files, web.debug.config and web.release.config.
Are these transformation files only available or working when we make a web deployment or make a deployment package? Are the web.config transformations not used when the project runs locally from visual studio (e.g. via IIS Express)?
You are correct.
Config transformations are applied when you deploy or run a deployment package.
They do not transform on compilation.
If you need the transformed config file during compilation, you can get it by editing the project file (.csproj) and adding the below code.
<Target Name="AfterBuild">
<TransformXml Source="$(SolutionDir)WCFServices\Web.config"
Transform="$(SolutionDir)WCFServices\Web.Release.config"
Destination="$(OutDir)WebRelease.config"
StackTrace="true" />
</Target>
Multiple TransformXml tags can be added to get all the required config files. Also, This can be done before or after build.
You can invoke it using MSBuild and an extension called SlowCheetah.
There is an other VS extension called Configuration Transform good for this. If you don't want to install it, but to achieve this, just follow the examples shown in the demo solution to add different build config files and add some new MSBuild tasks in the project files. The download link for the demo solution can be found on the extension's Visual Studio Gallery webpage. This approach doesn't require any extra packages since MSBuild uses XSLT to do the XML tranformation.
Below are the MSBuild tasks added into a project file from the demo solution. In my case, when I followed it for a VS2015 ASP.NET MVC project, I didn't have to put <UsingTask TaskName="TransformXml" AssemblyFile=... in.
<UsingTask TaskName="TransformXml" AssemblyFile="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v$(VisualStudioVersion)\Web\Microsoft.Web.Publishing.Tasks.dll" />
<Target Name="AfterCompile" Condition="Exists('App.$(Configuration).config')">
<!--Generate transformed app config in the intermediate directory-->
<TransformXml Source="App.config" Destination="$(IntermediateOutputPath)$(TargetFileName).config" Transform="App.$(Configuration).config" />
<!--Force build process to use the transformed configuration file from now on.-->
<ItemGroup>
<AppConfigWithTargetPath Remove="App.config" />
<AppConfigWithTargetPath Include="$(IntermediateOutputPath)$(TargetFileName).config">
<TargetPath>$(TargetFileName).config</TargetPath>
</AppConfigWithTargetPath>
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
<!--Override After Publish to support ClickOnce AfterPublish. Target replaces the untransformed config file copied to the deployment directory with the transformed one.-->
<Target Name="AfterPublish">
<PropertyGroup>
<DeployedConfig>$(_DeploymentApplicationDir)$(TargetName)$(TargetExt).config$(_DeploymentFileMappingExtension)</DeployedConfig>
</PropertyGroup>
<!--Publish copies the untransformed App.config to deployment directory so overwrite it-->
<Copy Condition="Exists('$(DeployedConfig)')" SourceFiles="$(IntermediateOutputPath)$(TargetFileName).config" DestinationFiles="$(DeployedConfig)" />
</Target>
Here is the way I applied in my .csproj file, quite simple:
<Target Name="AfterBuild" Condition="Exists('Web.$(Configuration).config')">
<Exec Command="attrib -R Web.config" />
<TransformXml Source="Web.config" Transform="Web.$(Configuration).config" Destination="Web.config" StackTrace="true" />
</Target>
Also there is a good post on this.
Further, for web.config transformation, Since VS2012 we can add a publish profile - Publish.pubxml (ProjectFolder/Properties/PublishProfiles/Publish.pubxml) to do a FileSystem publish, thus the web.config transformation will happen by default then. Below is a sample
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup>
<WebPublishMethod>FileSystem</WebPublishMethod>
<SiteUrlToLaunchAfterPublish />
<publishUrl Condition="$(OutDir) != ''">$(OutDir)\_PublishedWebsites\$(ProjectName)</publishUrl> <!-- For MSBuild -->
<publishUrl Condition="$(OutDir) == ''">$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)..\..\_PublishedWebsite\</publishUrl> <!-- For Visual Studio...cant use $(ProjectName) -->
<DeleteExistingFiles>True</DeleteExistingFiles>
</PropertyGroup>
</Project>
I've upgraded from ASP.NET MVC Beta to 1.0 and did the following changes to the MVC project (as descibed in the RC release notes):
<Project ...>
...
<MvcBuildViews>true</MvcBuildViews>
...
<Target Name="AfterBuild" Condition="'$(MvcBuildViews)'=='true'">
<AspNetCompiler VirtualPath="temp" PhysicalPath="$(ProjectDir)\..\$(ProjectName)" />
</Target>
...
</Project>
While the build runs fine on our local dev boxes, it fails under TFS 2008 Build with "Could not load type 'xxx.MvcApplication'", see below build log:
...
using "AspNetCompiler" task from assembly "Microsoft.Build.Tasks.v3.5, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a".
Task "AspNetCompiler"
Command:
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_compiler.exe -v temp -p D:\Builds\xxx\Continuous\TeamBuild\Sources\UI\xxx.UI.Dashboard\\..\xxx.UI.Dashboard
The "AspNetCompiler" task is using "aspnet_compiler.exe" from "C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_compiler.exe".
Utility to precompile an ASP.NET application
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
/temp/global.asax(1): error ASPPARSE: Could not load type 'xxx.UI.Dashboard.MvcApplication'.
The command exited with code 1.
Done executing task "AspNetCompiler" -- FAILED.
...
MVC 1.0 is installed on TFS and the solution compiles when built within a Visual Studio instance on the same TFS server.
How can I resolve this TFS Build issue?
Actually, there's a better solution to this problem. I've tested it with VS/TFS 2010 but it should also work with VS/TFS 2008.
<Target Name="AfterBuild" Condition="'$(MvcBuildViews)'=='true'">
<AspNetCompiler VirtualPath="temp" PhysicalPath="$(WebProjectOutputDir)" />
</Target>
I'm going to work with the MVC team to update their project template to to use this approach along with a custom target (rather than overriding AfterBuild).
I've published a blog post on How to Turn on Compile-time View Checking for ASP.NET MVC projects in TFS Build 2010.
The problem stems from the fact that the AspNetCompiler MSBuild task used within the AfterBuild target of an ASP.NET MVC project expects to reference the dll's in the bin folder of the Web project.
On a desktop build the bin folder is where you would expect it under your source tree.
However TFS Teambuild compiles the output of your source to a different directory on the build server. When the AspNetCompiler task starts it cannot find the bin directory to reference the required DLL and you get the exception.
Solution is to modify the AfterBuild target of the MVC Project to be as follows:
<Target Name="AfterBuild" Condition="'$(MvcBuildViews)'=='true'">
<AspNetCompiler Condition="'$(IsDesktopBuild)' != 'false'" VirtualPath="temp" PhysicalPath="$(ProjectDir)\..\$(ProjectName)" />
<AspNetCompiler Condition="'$(IsDesktopBuild)' == 'false'" VirtualPath="temp" PhysicalPath="$(PublishDir)\_PublishedWebsites\$(ProjectName)" />
</Target>
This change enables you to compile Views on both the desktop, and the TFS build server.
Jim Lamb's solution didn't work for us when I built our web .csproj with
/p:UseWPP_CopyWebApplication=true;PipelineDependsOnBuild=False
because the target was being executed AfterBuild and the application has not been copied into the WebProjectOutputDir yet. (BTW, I pass those properties to the web project build cos I want the build to create a OutDir folder with only my binaries and cshtml files suitable for zipping, ie not an in-place build)
To get around this issue and honour the intent of his original target, I did the following:
<PropertyGroup>
<OnAfter_WPPCopyWebApplication>
MvcBuildViews;
</OnAfter_WPPCopyWebApplication>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="MvcBuildViews" Condition="'$(MvcBuildViews)'=='true'">
<AspNetCompiler VirtualPath="temp" PhysicalPath="$(WebProjectOutputDir)" />
</Target>
I assume you meant you changed the following setting in the .csproj file:
<MvcBuildViews>true</MvcBuildViews>
The setting you posted in your question shouldn't be touched.
If it works on your local machine, then obviously you can pre-build an ASP.NET MVC application.
I think you need to track down what's different between your TFS build environment and your local VS machines. Maybe it's using a different version of MsBuild or something.
Try performing both builds with verbose output and compare the two to see what's different.
We are still testing this out, but it appears that you can move the false/true from the tag set, into the property group for your DEBUG build version, you can still set it to true and MSBuild will compile (assuming MSBuild TfsBuild.proj file is setup to use something other than debug configuration). You will need to edit the csproj file using Notepad to accomplish this.
<Project DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" ToolsVersion="3.5">
<PropertyGroup>
<Configuration Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == '' ">Debug</Configuration>
<MvcBuildViews>true</MvcBuildViews>
....
You need to move the MVCBuildViews tag from the default property group above, to the debug configuration property group (below). Again, when we get the TFS / MSBuild setup, I'll try to post the step we added to our TFSBuild.proj file in TFS.
<PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|AnyCPU' ">
<MvcBuildViews>true</MvcBuildViews>
<DebugSymbols>true</DebugSymbols>
....
This problem seems similar to the one talked about here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/aaronhallberg/archive/2007/07/02/team-build-and-web-deployment-projects.aspx
it seems the invocation of aspnet_compiler.exe fails to locate the binaries because the are not in the bin folder of the MVC project on the build machine. I haven't worked out a solution yet.
The accepted answer didn't work for me. The $(PublishDir) parameter did not point to the correct location. Instead I had to use:
<Target Name="AfterBuild" Condition="'$(MvcBuildViews)'=='true'">
<AspNetCompiler Condition="'$(IsDesktopBuild)' != 'false'" VirtualPath="temp" PhysicalPath="$(ProjectDir)\..\$(ProjectName)" />
<AspNetCompiler Condition="'$(IsDesktopBuild)' == 'false'" VirtualPath="temp" PhysicalPath="$(OutDir)\_PublishedWebsites\$(ProjectName)" />
</Target>
I had some old folders in my source control that were not visible in the Solution.
You cannot pre-build an ASP.NET MVC application.