MsDeploySkipRules in wpp.targets not working with PublishProfiles - asp.net

Question

I am publishing my MVC project with the PublishProfile through visual studio, (through UI, right click project, publish) and ticking the option to clear the destination folder.
But I do not want a specific folder "Downloads" to be cleared
I have spent countless hours trying to make this work, I think I have the exact same code as the person explained here but it still deletes the Downloads folder
Also as example in the below I have the ExcludeFromPackageFiles of "favicon" which works if I deselect the deletion of the destination folder (just to show that my wpp targets is in fact running).
Below is my projectname.wpp.targets file
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<!-- this doesnt work -->
<PropertyGroup>
<AfterAddIisSettingAndFileContentsToSourceManifest>AddCustomSkipRules</AfterAddIisSettingAndFileContentsToSourceManifest>
</PropertyGroup>
<PropertyGroup>
<UseMsDeployExe>true</UseMsDeployExe>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="AddCustomSkipRules">
<Message Text="Adding Custom Skip Rules" />
<ItemGroup>
<MsDeploySkipRules Include="SkipErrorLogFolder1">
<SkipAction>Delete</SkipAction>
<ObjectName>filePath</ObjectName>
<AbsolutePath>ErrorLog</AbsolutePath>
</MsDeploySkipRules>
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
<!-- this works! -->
<ItemGroup>
<ExcludeFromPackageFiles Include="favicon.ico">
<FromTarget>ContactManager.Mvc.wpp.targets</FromTarget>
</ExcludeFromPackageFiles>
</ItemGroup>
</Project>
Any Ideas?

Answer 1

(1) The AbsolutePath value in your example is copy/pasted from my skip rule example. You need to change that value to the path of your Downloads folder.
<Target Name="AddCustomSkipRules">
<Message Text="Adding Custom Skip Rules" />
<ItemGroup>
<MsDeploySkipRules Include="SkipDownloadsFolder">
<SkipAction>Delete</SkipAction>
<ObjectName>filePath</ObjectName>
<AbsolutePath>Downloads</AbsolutePath>
</MsDeploySkipRules>
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
(2) You cannot use a custom skip rule when publishing from within Visual Studio. You must publish using MSBuild from a command prompt. The nature of my question was about combining the convenience of the publishing profile managed within VS, with the utility of a custom skip rule (which requires the command line), because as of VS 2012 Update 3, the limitation of the command line has not been lifted.
My MSBuild command looks like this:
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\MSBuild.exe My.Website.sln /p:Configuration=Release;DeployOnBuild=true;PublishProfile="Test Server - Web Deploy"
If I attempt to publish from within VS 2012, I get the following error, even though "-verb:sync" is clearly visible in the output:
2>Start Web Deploy Publish the Application/package to http://my.website.example.com/MSDEPLOYAGENTSERVICE ...
2>C:\Program Files (x86)\IIS\Microsoft Web Deploy V3\msdeploy.exe
-source:manifest='C:\inetpub\wwwroot\My.Website\obj\Release\Package\My.Website.SourceManifest.xml'
-dest:auto,ComputerName='http://my.website.example.com/MSDEPLOYAGENTSERVICE',UserName='...',Password="...",IncludeAcls='False',AuthType='NTLM'
-verb:sync
-disableLink:AppPoolExtension
-disableLink:ContentExtension
-disableLink:CertificateExtension
-skip:skipaction='Delete',objectname='filePath',absolutepath='ErrorLog'
-skip:objectname='dirPath',absolutepath='obj\\Release\\Package\\PackageTmp\\App_Data$'
-skip:objectname='dirPath',absolutepath='MyWebsite/\\App_Data$'
-setParamFile:"C:\inetpub\wwwroot\My.Website\obj\Release\Package\My.Website.Publish.Parameters.xml"
-retryAttempts=2
2>MSDEPLOY(0,0): Error : The verb must be specified by using the -verb argument.
2>MSDEPLOY(0,0): Error count: 1.