How to Publish Web with msbuild? - asp.net

Visual Studio 2010 has a Publish command that allows you to publish your Web Application Project to a file system location. I'd like to do this on my TeamCity build server, so I need to do it with the solution runner or msbuild. I tried using the Publish target, but I think that might be for ClickOnce:
msbuild Project.csproj /t:Publish /p:Configuration=Deploy
I basically want to do exactly what a web deployment project does, but without the add-in. I need it to compile the WAP, remove any files unnecessary for execution, perform any web.config transformations, and copy the output to a specified location.
My Solution, based on Jeff Siver's answer
<Target Name="Deploy">
<MSBuild Projects="$(SolutionFile)"
Properties="Configuration=$(Configuration);DeployOnBuild=true;DeployTarget=Package"
ContinueOnError="false" />
<Exec Command=""$(ProjectPath)\obj\$(Configuration)\Package\$(ProjectName).deploy.cmd" /y /m:$(DeployServer) -enableRule:DoNotDeleteRule"
ContinueOnError="false" />
</Target>

I got it mostly working without a custom msbuild script. Here are the relevant TeamCity build configuration settings:
Artifact paths: %system.teamcity.build.workingDir%\MyProject\obj\Debug\Package\PackageTmp
Type of runner: MSBuild (Runner for MSBuild files)
Build file path: MyProject\MyProject.csproj
Working directory: same as checkout directory
MSBuild version: Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0
MSBuild ToolsVersion: 4.0
Run platform: x86
Targets: Package
Command line parameters to MSBuild.exe: /p:Configuration=Debug
This will compile, package (with web.config transformation), and save the output as artifacts. The only thing missing is copying the output to a specified location, but that could be done either in another TeamCity build configuration with an artifact dependency or with an msbuild script.
Update
Here is an msbuild script that will compile, package (with web.config transformation), and copy the output to my staging server
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Project DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup>
<Configuration Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == '' ">Release</Configuration>
<SolutionName>MySolution</SolutionName>
<SolutionFile>$(SolutionName).sln</SolutionFile>
<ProjectName>MyProject</ProjectName>
<ProjectFile>$(ProjectName)\$(ProjectName).csproj</ProjectFile>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="Build" DependsOnTargets="BuildPackage;CopyOutput" />
<Target Name="BuildPackage">
<MSBuild Projects="$(SolutionFile)" ContinueOnError="false" Targets="Rebuild" Properties="Configuration=$(Configuration)" />
<MSBuild Projects="$(ProjectFile)" ContinueOnError="false" Targets="Package" Properties="Configuration=$(Configuration)" />
</Target>
<Target Name="CopyOutput">
<ItemGroup>
<PackagedFiles Include="$(ProjectName)\obj\$(Configuration)\Package\PackageTmp\**\*.*"/>
</ItemGroup>
<Copy SourceFiles="#(PackagedFiles)" DestinationFiles="#(PackagedFiles->'\\build02\wwwroot\$(ProjectName)\$(Configuration)\%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')"/>
</Target>
</Project>
You can also remove the SolutionName and ProjectName properties from the PropertyGroup tag and pass them to msbuild.
msbuild build.xml /p:Configuration=Deploy;SolutionName=MySolution;ProjectName=MyProject
Update 2
Since this question still gets a good deal of traffic, I thought it was worth updating my answer with my current script that uses Web Deploy (also known as MSDeploy).
<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" DefaultTargets="Build" ToolsVersion="4.0">
<PropertyGroup>
<Configuration Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == '' ">Release</Configuration>
<ProjectFile Condition=" '$(ProjectFile)' == '' ">$(ProjectName)\$(ProjectName).csproj</ProjectFile>
<DeployServiceUrl Condition=" '$(DeployServiceUrl)' == '' ">http://staging-server/MSDeployAgentService</DeployServiceUrl>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="VerifyProperties">
<!-- Verify that we have values for all required properties -->
<Error Condition=" '$(ProjectName)' == '' " Text="ProjectName is required." />
</Target>
<Target Name="Build" DependsOnTargets="VerifyProperties">
<!-- Deploy using windows authentication -->
<MSBuild Projects="$(ProjectFile)"
Properties="Configuration=$(Configuration);
MvcBuildViews=False;
DeployOnBuild=true;
DeployTarget=MSDeployPublish;
CreatePackageOnPublish=True;
AllowUntrustedCertificate=True;
MSDeployPublishMethod=RemoteAgent;
MsDeployServiceUrl=$(DeployServiceUrl);
SkipExtraFilesOnServer=True;
UserName=;
Password=;"
ContinueOnError="false" />
</Target>
</Project>
In TeamCity, I have parameters named env.Configuration, env.ProjectName and env.DeployServiceUrl. The MSBuild runner has the build file path and the parameters are passed automagically (you don't have to specify them in Command line parameters).
You can also run it from the command line:
msbuild build.xml /p:Configuration=Staging;ProjectName=MyProject;DeployServiceUrl=http://staging-server/MSDeployAgentService

Using the deployment profiles introduced in VS 2012, you can publish with the following command line:
msbuild MyProject.csproj /p:DeployOnBuild=true /p:PublishProfile=<profile-name> /p:Password=<insert-password> /p:VisualStudioVersion=11.0
For more information on the parameters see this.
The values for the /p:VisualStudioVersion parameter depend on your version of Visual Studio. Wikipedia has a table of Visual Studio releases and their versions.

I came up with such solution, works great for me:
msbuild /t:ResolveReferences;_WPPCopyWebApplication /p:BuildingProject=true;OutDir=C:\Temp\build\ Test.csproj
The secret sauce is _WPPCopyWebApplication target.

I don't know TeamCity so I hope this can work for you.
The best way I've found to do this is with MSDeploy.exe. This is part of the WebDeploy project run by Microsoft. You can download the bits here.
With WebDeploy, you run the command line
msdeploy.exe -verb:sync -source:contentPath=c:\webApp -dest:contentPath=c:\DeployedWebApp
This does the same thing as the VS Publish command, copying only the necessary bits to the deployment folder.

With VisualStudio 2012 there is a way to handle subj without publish profiles. You can pass output folder using parameters. It works both with absolute and relative path in 'publishUrl' parameter. You can use VS100COMNTOOLS, however you need to override VisualStudioVersion to use target 'WebPublish' from %ProgramFiles%\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v11.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets. With VisualStudioVersion 10.0 this script will succeed with no outputs :)
Update: I've managed to use this method on a build server with just Windows SDK 7.1 installed (no Visual Studio 2010 and 2012 on a machine). But I had to follow these steps to make it work:
Make Windows SDK 7.1 current on a machine using Simmo answer (https://stackoverflow.com/a/2907056/2164198)
Setting Registry Key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\VisualStudio\SxS\VS7\10.0 to "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\" (use your path as appropriate)
Copying folder %ProgramFiles%\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v11.0 from my developer machine to build server
Script:
set WORK_DIR=%~dp0
pushd %WORK_DIR%
set OUTPUTS=%WORK_DIR%..\Outputs
set CONFIG=%~1
if "%CONFIG%"=="" set CONFIG=Release
set VSTOOLS="%VS100COMNTOOLS%"
if %VSTOOLS%=="" set "PATH=%PATH%;%WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319" && goto skipvsinit
call "%VSTOOLS:~1,-1%vsvars32.bat"
if errorlevel 1 goto end
:skipvsinit
msbuild.exe Project.csproj /t:WebPublish /p:Configuration=%CONFIG% /p:VisualStudioVersion=11.0 /p:WebPublishMethod=FileSystem /p:publishUrl=%OUTPUTS%\Project
if errorlevel 1 goto end
:end
popd
exit /b %ERRORLEVEL%

found two different solutions which worked in slightly different way:
1. This solution is inspired by the answer from alexanderb [link]. Unfortunately it did not work for us - some dll's were not copied to the OutDir. We found out that replacing ResolveReferences with Build target solves the problem - now all necessary files are copied into the OutDir location.
msbuild /target:Build;_WPPCopyWebApplication /p:Configuration=Release;OutDir=C:\Tmp\myApp\ MyApp.csproj
Disadvantage of this solution was the fact that OutDir contained not only files for publish.
2. The first solution works well but not as we expected. We wanted to have the publish functionality as it is in Visual Studio IDE - i.e. only the files which should be published will be copied into the Output directory. As it has been already mentioned first solution copies much more files into the OutDir - the website for publish is then stored in _PublishedWebsites/{ProjectName} subfolder. The following command solves this - only the files for publish will be copied to desired folder. So now you have directory which can be directly published - in comparison with the first solution you will save some space on hard drive.
msbuild /target:Build;PipelinePreDeployCopyAllFilesToOneFolder /p:Configuration=Release;_PackageTempDir=C:\Tmp\myApp\;AutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStrings=false MyApp.csproj
AutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStrings=false parameter will guarantee that connection strings will not be handled as special artifacts and will be correctly generated - for more information see link.

this is my working batch
publish-my-website.bat
SET MSBUILD_PATH="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\MSBuild\15.0\Bin"
SET PUBLISH_DIRECTORY="C:\MyWebsitePublished"
SET PROJECT="D:\Github\MyWebSite.csproj"
cd /d %MSBUILD_PATH%
MSBuild %PROJECT% /p:DeployOnBuild=True /p:DeployDefaultTarget=WebPublish /p:WebPublishMethod=FileSystem /p:DeleteExistingFiles=True /p:publishUrl=%PUBLISH_DIRECTORY%
Note that I installed Visual Studio on server to be able to run MsBuild.exe because the MsBuild.exe in .Net Framework folders don't work.

You must set your environments
< WebSite name>
< domain>
and reference my blog.(sorry post was Korean)
http://xyz37.blog.me/50124665657
http://blog.naver.com/PostSearchList.nhn?SearchText=webdeploy&blogId=xyz37&x=25&y=7
#ECHO OFF
:: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5598668/valid-parameters-for-msdeploy-via-msbuild
::-DeployOnBuild -True
:: -False
::
::-DeployTarget -MsDeployPublish
:: -Package
::
::-Configuration -Name of a valid solution configuration
::
::-CreatePackageOnPublish -True
:: -False
::
::-DeployIisAppPath -<Web Site Name>/<Folder>
::
::-MsDeployServiceUrl -Location of MSDeploy installation you want to use
::
::-MsDeployPublishMethod -WMSVC (Web Management Service)
:: -RemoteAgent
::
::-AllowUntrustedCertificate (used with self-signed SSL certificates) -True
:: -False
::
::-UserName
::-Password
SETLOCAL
IF EXIST "%SystemRoot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727" SET FXPath="%SystemRoot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727"
IF EXIST "%SystemRoot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5" SET FXPath="%SystemRoot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5"
IF EXIST "%SystemRoot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319" SET FXPath="%SystemRoot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319"
SET targetFile=<web site fullPath ie. .\trunk\WebServer\WebServer.csproj
SET configuration=Release
SET msDeployServiceUrl=https://<domain>:8172/MsDeploy.axd
SET msDeploySite="<WebSite name>"
SET userName="WebDeploy"
SET password=%USERNAME%
SET platform=AnyCPU
SET msbuild=%FXPath%\MSBuild.exe /MaxCpuCount:%NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS% /clp:ShowCommandLine
%MSBuild% %targetFile% /p:configuration=%configuration%;Platform=%platform% /p:DeployOnBuild=True /p:DeployTarget=MsDeployPublish /p:CreatePackageOnPublish=False /p:DeployIISAppPath=%msDeploySite% /p:MSDeployPublishMethod=WMSVC /p:MsDeployServiceUrl=%msDeployServiceUrl% /p:AllowUntrustedCertificate=True /p:UserName=%USERNAME% /p:Password=%password% /p:SkipExtraFilesOnServer=True /p:VisualStudioVersion=12.0
IF NOT "%ERRORLEVEL%"=="0" PAUSE
ENDLOCAL

You can Publish the Solution with desired path by below code, Here PublishInDFolder is the name that has the path where we need to publish(we need to create this in below pic)
You can create publish file like this
Add below 2 lines of code in batch file(.bat)
#echo OFF
call "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\Common7\Tools\VsMSBuildCmd.bat"
MSBuild.exe D:\\Solution\\DataLink.sln /p:DeployOnBuild=true /p:PublishProfile=PublishInDFolder
pause

This my batch file
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\MSBuild.exe C:\Projects\testPublish\testPublish.csproj /p:DeployOnBuild=true /property:Configuration=Release
if exist "C:\PublishDirectory" rd /q /s "C:\PublishDirectory"
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\aspnet_compiler.exe -v / -p C:\Projects\testPublish\obj\Release\Package\PackageTmp -c C:\PublishDirectory
cd C:\PublishDirectory\bin
del *.xml
del *.pdb

For generating the publish output provide one more parameter.
msbuild example.sln /p:publishprofile=profilename /p:deployonbuild=true /p:configuration=debug/or any

you can use this command to publish web applications with Publish Profiles.
msbuild SolutionName.sln /p:DeployOnBuild=true /p:PublishProfile=PublishProfileName
This sample Publish Profile can create a release zip file with a version number that's in AssemblyInfo.cs File in the network path (create zip file and remove other published files with PowerShell command is optional).
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup>
<WebPublishMethod>FileSystem</WebPublishMethod>
<LastUsedBuildConfiguration>Release</LastUsedBuildConfiguration>
<LastUsedPlatform>Any CPU</LastUsedPlatform>
<SiteUrlToLaunchAfterPublish />
<LaunchSiteAfterPublish>True</LaunchSiteAfterPublish>
<ExcludeApp_Data>False</ExcludeApp_Data>
<Major>0</Major>
<Minor>1</Minor>
<Build>2</Build>
<Publish>C:\</Publish>
<publishUrl>$(Publish)</publishUrl>
<DeleteExistingFiles>True</DeleteExistingFiles>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="GetBuildUrl">
<PropertyGroup> <In>$([System.IO.File]::ReadAllText('$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs'))</In>
<TargetPath>\\NetworkPath\ProjectName</TargetPath>
<Pattern>^\s*\[assembly: AssemblyVersion\(\D*(\d+)\.(\d+)\.(\d+)\.(\d+)</Pattern>
<Major>$([System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex]::Match($(In), $(Pattern), System.Text.RegularExpressions.RegexOptions.Multiline).Groups[1].Value)</Major>
<Minor>$([System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex]::Match($(In), $(Pattern), System.Text.RegularExpressions.RegexOptions.Multiline).Groups[2].Value)</Minor>
<Build>$([System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex]::Match($(In), $(Pattern), System.Text.RegularExpressions.RegexOptions.Multiline).Groups[3].Value)</Build>
<Sub>$([System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex]::Match($(In), $(Pattern), System.Text.RegularExpressions.RegexOptions.Multiline).Groups[4].Value)</Sub>
<Publish>$(TargetPath)\$(Major).$(Minor).$(Build).$(Sub)\</Publish>
<publishUrl Condition=" '$(Publish)' != '' ">$(Publish)</publishUrl>
<publishUrl Condition=" '$(Publish)' == '' and '$(LastUsedBuildConfiguration)'!='' ">$(LastUsedBuildConfiguration)</publishUrl>
</PropertyGroup>
</Target>
<Target Name="BeforeBuild" DependsOnTargets="GetBuildUrl">
<Message Importance="High" Text="|" />
<Message Importance="High" Text=" ================================================================================================" />
<Message Importance="High" Text=" BUILD INFO " />
<Message Importance="High" Text=" Version [$(Major).$(Minor).$(Build)] found in [$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs] " />
<Message Importance="High" Text=" Build will be saved to [$(publishUrl)] " />
<Message Importance="High" Text=" =================================================================================================" />
<Message Importance="High" Text="|" />
</Target>
<Target Name="Zip" BeforeTargets="AfterBuild">
<Exec Command="PowerShell -command Compress-Archive -Path $(Publish) -DestinationPath $(Publish)Release.zip" />
<Exec Command="PowerShell -command Remove-Item -Recurse -Force $(Publish) -Exclude Release.zip" />
</Target>
</Project>

Related

Why is my custom MSBuild script not able to copy project references when invoked from Visual Studio?

I am trying to simplify the deployment for one of our web projects by supplying an installer that takes care of everything the application needs to be initialized. I've chosen the WiX toolset for this and created a custom build script following this and partly this tutorial. To reproduce the problem I am facing, you can download the sources of the first tutorial link.
My general goal is to be able to create an installer directly from Visual Studio. The tutorial describes how to write a build script that generates the installer. Basically I want to invoke this script by clicking "Build" within Visual Studio (2012, if it matters).
First I've added a WiX project to the solution (relocate it to the setup-directory!). I've added all the setup-files and the required WiX references (UI, Util, IIS, SQL). By simply invoking the build now, WiX complains about an undefined var.publishDir variable. So I ran the supplied build script using the following command inside the VS developer console:
msbuild /t:Build;CreateInstaller;DeleteTmpFiles build_setup.build
First this gave me an error 9009 (command not found) when trying to invoke the heat tool for harvesting. I fixed this by replacing the "$(WixPath)heat" call with "$(WiX)\bin\heat". After that everything worked as desired, so I started hooking into the build process of the .wixproj file in order to call the build script from there. I did this by defining the following build targets (right below the item groups):
<Target Name="Build">
<MSBuild Projects="build_setup.build" Targets="Build;CreateInstaller" Properties="" />
</Target>
<Target Name="Rebuild">
<MSBuild Projects="build_setup.build" Targets="Build;CreateInstaller;DeleteTmpFiles" Properties="" />
</Target>
<Target Name="Clean">
<MSBuild Projects="build_setup.build" Targets="DeleteTmpFiles" Properties="" />
</Target>
Also I checked, if the installer project is excluded from solution-wide builds inside the build configuration manager for all configurations (but especially Release|AnyCPU since this is the desired configuration for deployment). For sake of clarity I've fixed both MSBuild calls within the build_setup.build script and added my desired platform:
<!-- Define default target with name 'Build' -->
<Target Name="Build">
<!-- Compile whole solution in release mode -->
<MSBuild Projects="..\MyWeb\MyWeb.sln" Targets="ReBuild"
Properties="Configuration=Release;Platform=Any CPU" />
</Target>
<!-- Define creating installer in another target -->
<Target Name="CreateInstaller">
<RemoveDir Directories="$(PublishF)" ContinueOnError="false" />
<MSBuild Projects="..\MyWeb\MyWeb\MyWeb.csproj" Targets="ResolveReferences;_CopyWebApplication"
Properties="OutDir=$(Publish)bin\;WebProjectOutputDir=$(Publish);Configuration=Release;Platform=AnyCPU" />
<!-- ... -->
</Target>
Now when I invoke the build by right-clicking the installer project and "Build", the build is successfully triggered from Visual Studio - exactly what I want.
The problem begins with adding project references: I've added a new library project (defined a simple class in there, referenced the library from the website and created an instance of the library class there). As soon as I try to build the project from Visual Studio now, I get an error that the referenced assembly cannot be copied from the publish-directory, because it does not exist:
Microsoft.WebApplication.targets(175,5): error MSB3030: Could not copy file "...\WixWebDeploy\Setup\publish\bin\MyWeb.Model.dll" because it was not found.
The strange thing is, that everything works fine, if I invoke the build script from the developer console! Also this only affects project references (the project is published using the targets ResolveReferences and _CopyWebApplication). NuGet packages or static library references are copied without any problems.
I appreciate any ideas that point me into the right direction to tackle down this issue. For example I am interested in the difference between calling msbuild from console or Visual Studio (if there is any...). Thanks in advance!
I finally figured out how to fix this issue. The solution was to use OutputPath argument instead of OutDir call a command line script from MSBuild:
<Target Name="Build">
<Exec Command="echo Building solution with '$(MSBuildToolsPath)\msbuild'..." />
<!--<MSBuild Projects="build_setup.build" Targets="CreateInstaller" Properties="Configuration=Release;Platform=AnyCPU" />-->
<Exec Command="call build_setup.cmd $(MSBuildToolsPath) CreateInstaller" />
</Target>
<Target Name="Rebuild">
<Exec Command="echo Building solution with '$(MSBuildToolsPath)\msbuild'..." />
<!--<MSBuild Projects="build_setup.build" Targets="Build;CreateInstaller" Properties="" />-->
<Exec Command="call build_setup.cmd $(MSBuildToolsPath) Build CreateInstaller" />
</Target>
<Target Name="Clean">
<Exec Command="echo Building solution with '$(MSBuildToolsPath)\msbuild'..." />
<!--<MSBuild Projects="build_setup.build" Targets="DeleteTmpFiles" Properties="" />-->
<Exec Command="call build_setup.cmd $(MSBuildToolsPath) DeleteTmpFiles" />
</Target>
From the build_setup.cmd I call MSBuild again:
if [%1] == [] (
echo "Please supply the msbuild directory as first argument!"
exit 10
) else (
set MSBUildDir=%1
)
if [%2] == [] (
echo "You have to supply at least one of the following arguments: Build, CreateInstaller, DeleteTmpFiles!"
exit 11
) else if [%3] == [] (
echo "%MSBUildDir%\msbuild /t:%2 setup.build"
call %MSBUildDir%\msbuild /t:%2 setup.build
exit 0
) else if [%4] == [] (
echo "%MSBUildDir%\msbuild /t:%2;%3 setup.build"
call %MSBUildDir%\msbuild /t:%2;%3 setup.build
exit 0
) else (
echo "%MSBUildDir%\msbuild /t:%2;%3;%4 setup.build"
call %MSBUildDir%\msbuild /t:%2;%3;%4 setup.build
exit 0
)
This seams kinda redundant and maybe somebody got a better suggestion.

Copy Files after Publish events

I'm trying to copy reports with a "batch script" through MSBuild. I currently have a project that is targeting v3.5 in Visual Studio 2012.
I modified my website.publishproj and added:
<Target Name="MyTarget" AfterTargets="CopyAllFilesToSingleFolderForPackage" >
<Exec Command="echo ###################################### Copying Reports #################################" />
<Exec Command="xcopy.exe $(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\..\MoteurRapports $(PublishURL)\Rapports\ /S /E /H /EXCLUDE:$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\CopyRapportExclude.txt" />
</Target>
But when I publish it:
254 files(s) copied
**Deleting existing files...**
Publishing folder /...
Publishing folder AideHTML...
It deletes the files I just copied. Is there a target after the deletion that I can use with the publish wizard?
I believe you may need to add this argument to your msbuild cmd. That will keep it from "cleaning" any files it believes are not part of the deployment.
/p:SkipExtraFilesOnServer=True

Why does this call to aspnet_compiler not produce new .NET assemblies?

I'm trying to make Visual Studio precompile my ASP.NET application that will be deployed on Azure. I've added the following to my .csproj file:
<Target Name="AfterBuild">
<Message Text="Starting AspNetCompiler for $(ProjectDir)" Importance="high" />
<AspNetCompiler
VirtualPath="/"
PhysicalPath="$(ProjectDir)"
/>
</Target>
Now when I ask Visual Studio to prepare a service package the following appears in the build output:
Starting AspNetCompiler for [PathToMyProject]
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\aspnet_compiler.exe -v / -p [PathToMyProject]
If I plant an error in any of the view files that error is identified and breaks the build so clearly the precompilation is perfomed.
Yet I don't see any new .NET assemblies anywhere in the results.
How do I make ASP.NET compiler create the .NET assemblies for the views?
If you don't specify an output directory you should find the output in this folder:
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Temporary ASP.NET Files\root\some-random-id (try sorting on the date modified to find the latest directory).
When calling the aspnet_compiler.exe you can also append an output folder to the command:
aspnet_compiler -v "/" -p "C:\Projects\WebApplication1\WebApplication1" C:\CompileOutput
Here you see the output in my C:\CompiledOutput folder

How to get aspnet_compiler invoked from Visual Studio during build?

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>

ASP.NET MVC 1.0 AfterBuilding Views fails on TFS Build

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.

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