Build and publish web site project with VS 2012 and TFS 2010 - asp.net

I am using VS 2012 and TFS 2010. I am trying to build a website project (NOT a web application project) and deploy it to a test web server.
When files get checked in, I want TFS to build the website and push it over to a test server (uncompiled).
I have found many posts indicating that I should use a web deployment project, but that doesn't seem to be an option for VS 2012. I also found that VS 2012 is supposed to have better support for website project deployment (.pubxml) which I can get to work great from inside Visual Studio, but the TFS 2010 build wants a project or solution file.
I am new to TFS so I may be missing something obvious here.

Solution from the OP:
I figured out my issue. There was a file create called website.publishproj that I needed to put into source control before turning on gated check-ins. I could then use that file for "Items to build". TFS is at least now attempting to build the website. It looks like I have some more configuration issues to get through.

Related

Publish ASP.NET Website does not work with MS Build but works with Visual Studio 2013

I am having a bit of trouble with attempting to File Deploy a series of ASP.NET Websites from a single solution using MSBuild. I have created publish profiles for each website and have named the profiles the same as I can only provide a single profile name to MS build.
If I choose Publish on a single site using Visual Studio 2013 I get the build output I expect and in the location I expect. However, if I use MSBuild on the solution file using the following command (which may be incorrect) I do not get any files published to the locations I expect.
msbuild MySolution.sln /p:DeployOnBuild=true;PublishProfile=Debug
note: I am using the Developer Command Prompt for VS2013 to get access to MSBuild.
any direction is greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

Web Deployment tools for Visual Studio 2013

I am responsible for supporting a relatively complex Website project written with .NET 3.5.
Previously I was using Web Deployment Project with Visual Studio 2010 to deploy this website but at the moment I have only access to Visual Studio 2013.
As far as I know, there is no longer such a tool to be used for deployment in Visual Studio 2013 and I do want to compile the code before deploying to the production server. As mentioned earlier, the project is a bit complex and this would not be easy to be converted to a Web Application.
Any idea?
Unless I missed it, unsure what the issue is - in VS2013, Publish is what you are looking for (either WebSite or Application).
What exactly do you mean by "none of the (vs 2013 publish) options worked"? What is/was the issue?
In one of your comments, you state you want to "pre-compile" (aka "don't want to upload .cs source files) and that's a setting in Publish.
You can Publish to your local file system: "Custom" -> File System:
This extension still exists for Visual Studio 2013: http://www.iis.net/downloads/microsoft/web-deploy
Little bit confused with the question because you are keep referring about website rather web application.
If you are looking to convert web site to web app then you need to follow this: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/vstudio/aa983476(v=vs.100).aspx
Otherwise, if you are referring about the deployment project. Yes, it is no longer available.
I'd a very similar situation like you and Since 2013 I have stopped using any deployment project, instead I have started using Publish that creates a deployment package for you on a Network , FTP, Local Drive or even on Azure.
Here is a nice guide from Microsoft
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd465323(v=vs.110).aspx
If you still want to go for Deployment Project, then you would need to go for "Installshield" limited edition,which is free (http://samirvaidya.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/how-to-enable-installshield-le-for.html).
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/2kt85ked(v=vs.110).aspx

asp.net Attempting to create publish settings in vs 2012 gives strange error

I recently updated my asp.net 3.5 web project from Visual Studio 2010 to Visual Studio 2012. Every time I try to create publish settings it says the following:
{There are errors in web.config. Please correct these errors and try again.
The first error is: "Web.config appears to be in invalid state. Please correct it and try again."}
I have been unable to determine what this means. I have no errors in my web.config that it is telling me about. I have search for this error and have come up with nothing.
Can someone please help me out?
I should also mention this entire project resides on a mapped drive. I am still able to open the project and publish it in Visual Studio 2010 but can't even create the publish settings in Visual Studio 2012.
I think the below steps would help you out.
Before performing publish make sure the project is changed to Release mode.
Do not perform publish as a website. Try and publish your website to a file system.
create a virtual directory and point that virtual directory to the published folder.
The above mentioned steps worked for me.

Incremental web publishing and preview changes with Visual Studio 2012 to local file system or FTP

I'm trying to set up a publishing workflow for an ASP.NET site I'm working on. It will be located in a shared/network folder and I would like to publish from Visual Studio 2012.
I have seen that VS 2012 has some improvements when publishing a site, like previewing changes and incremental deployment but all the tutorials I have seen so far are showing Windows Azure, for example:
http://www.techbubbles.com/aspnet/web-publishing-features-in-visual-studio-2012/
Does VS 2012 support change previews and incremental publishing to local file system or FTP or only just for Azure ?
If not, are there any alternatives ?
You can also get these features using a web deploy publishing profile pointed at a IIS instance on your network. Here's the relevant MSDN article.

Can't find the Publish Website Option in Visual Studio 2012 Express Web

I created an Empty Website (not a project) using File > New Website > Aps.net Empty Web Site. Usually when I click on Build, there is an option to "Publish Web Site". However, I don't see it here. All I can see is build and rebuild solution. What am I doing wrong? Even when I right click on the website, it just gives me an option to Build, but not Publish. I previously was using VS 2010, and it has the Publish option.
Publishing is only support for web application projects, not web site projects.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd547590.aspx
I don't know if this is true in all cases, but I just uninstalled VS 2012 Web Express, deleted the contents in the Microsoft Visual Studio 11 folder, and then installed the Professional version instead. Maybe the Express version doesn't have this, but after installing the Professional version, I do have the "Publish Web Site" option.
I believe this problem can be solved by downloading and installing the relevant Web Publish Update from this web page:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/jj161045
I had the same problem in Visual Web Developer 2010 Express. When I installed the update, the option to "Publish Web Site" became available to me.
EDIT: You may find that when you click "Publish Web Site", you get an error like this:
the imported project "C:\ProgramFiles\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v11.0\WebSites\microsoft.website.publishing.
targets" was not found. Confirm that the path in the declaration is correct, and that the file exists on disk.
I solved this problem by going into "website.publishproj" (found in the Solution Explorer with my website open), and "hardwiring" the WebPublishTargetsVersion element like this:
<WebPublishTargetsVersion>10.5</WebPublishTargetsVersion>
For some reason, the existing code was returning 11.0, instead of 10.5.
Hardwiring it like this might cause problems later if you update your version. So do it with caution.

Resources