I am using Flex and I am tired of having to manually place files in the right folders whenever I want to do a publish. I'd like to do a publish when the build suceeds.
Is there a quick way, using Nant (not my current build tool of choice), to automate this? I have a virtual directory on my PC which is my hosting directory.
Thanks
NAnt has a copy task that will let you do this. Just specify the files and folders you want to copy and the target folder.
If you also build your Flex app with NAnt, you could automatically do the build and the file/folder copy.
An example:
<copy todir="${build.dir}">
<fileset basedir="bin">
<include name="*.dll" />
</fileset>
</copy>
http://nant.sourceforge.net/release/latest/help/tasks/copy.html
Related
I have an application setup with the following Package/Publish Web settings:
Only files needed to run this application
(unchecked) Exclude generated debug symbols
(checked) Exclude files from the App_Data folder
(checked) Include all databases configured in Package/Publish SQL tab - note I do not have any databases configured
(unchecked) include IIS settings as configured in IIS Express
In the project, I have an App_Data folder setup, primarily to handle application logs.
The behavior I'd like to see (and expect) is the following:
On initial deploy to a brand new server, the application is copied and an App_Data folder is created with write permissions assigned for the application.
On subsequent deployments, the App_Data folder is ignored because it already exists and the "Exclude files from the App_Data folder" is checked.
However, msdeploy does not appear to do step #1 (step 2 is fine if I create the folder manually). I've been unable to find any documentation on the web besides this unanswered so question that seems to confirm the behavior I see.
How do I get msdeploy to create App_Data and assign permissions on initial deployment in this scenario?
Getting App_Data deployed when starting from scratch
#tdykstra got this part right. To get App_Data out there (and ACLs set automatically), I did the following:
Adding a placeholder file in App_Data
Set the build action to content on the placeholder (my placeholder file has text in it to let people stumbling across it know why it's there).
Unchecked "Exclude files from the App_Data folder" on the Package/Publish Web tab of the project properties in VS 2010
This gets my App_Data folder created and ready for use on the server. However, it will result in all my files getting deleted whenever I republish. This is problem #2 in my question above, and pretty closely resembles this other SO question/answer.
Preventing data on the server from being deleted on subsequent publish events
There are two mechanisms in MsDeploy that can get confused (at least I confused them):
Excluding files
MsDeploy skip rules
These can both be used to solve the problem, depending on the scenario:
#tdykstra's solution will likely work if you:
Know the names of the files in App_Data in advance (e.g. a sqllite database)
Have the files included in the App_Data folder in your project
The use MsDeploy skip rules to tell MsDeploy to completely skip all deletes on the server for that directory and files in that directory. This solves the problem in all cases, but is much more involved.
Implementing MsDeploy skip rules
To implement skip rules you'll have to abandon the right-click, Deploy option in VS 2010 in favor of right-click, Package, go into a command line, re-jigger a batch file and run a command line). If you're willing to put up with this experience (I am, because I'm automating it all through a CI process), here are the details:
Edit the project file and add the following. Note that the AbsolutePath argument is a regular expression, so you can get way fancy:
<Target Name="AddCustomSkipRules">
<ItemGroup>
<MsDeploySkipRules Include="SkipDeleteAppData">
<SkipAction>Delete</SkipAction>
<ObjectName>filePath</ObjectName>
<AbsolutePath>$(_Escaped_PackageTempDir)\\App_Data\\.*</AbsolutePath>
<XPath>
</XPath>
</MsDeploySkipRules>
<MsDeploySkipRules Include="SkipDeleteAppData">
<SkipAction>Delete</SkipAction>
<ObjectName>dirPath</ObjectName>
<AbsolutePath>$(_Escaped_PackageTempDir)\\App_Data\\.*</AbsolutePath>
<XPath>
</XPath>
</MsDeploySkipRules>
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
Package, do not deploy the project. This will create a zip file and .cmd file in the target directory (defined by "Location where package will be created" on the Package/Publish Web Tab). By default, this is obj\Debug\Package (or obj\Release\Package)
Deploy the site using the the resulting command file
In my testing, you must package and run the command file. The project file tweaks will tell msbuild to put the necessary -skip rule into the command file. However, using the "publish" feature straight from VS 2010 doesn't seem to run the command file (see the warning on this walkthrough)...it calls msdeploy directly and doesn't seem to honor the project file skip rules. I believe this is the difference between VS using msbuild -T:Package and msbuild -T:MsDeployPublish to build the project, but I have not tested this.
Finally, the command file isn't quite correct, at least in VS 2010 SP1. There's a great description of what goes wrong in this SO answer, but basically, VS (or maybe the /t:Package target is a better culprit) sets up the command file to publish to the machine without specifying a site. To fix that, you'll need to somehow get "?site=sitename" (probably this is ?site=Default+Web+Site, for a full URL of https://machine:8172/MsDeploy.axd?site=Default+Web+Site) onto the end of the computerName argument.
The problem I had was that the command file (batch file) has a hard time with using site= anything on the command line since it mis-parses the command line argument (even if escaped). I don't see a way around this problem other than modifying the cmd file directly, but for testing I copied the msdeploy.exe output I saw from my failed test run and modified that to call msdeploy.exe directly without the script.
Now that it's working, my intention is to work this into my CI build processes. What I'll be doing for the final solution is:
Change my build script to use /T:Package (right now it's /T:MsDeploy)
Have a scripted search/replace routine alter the generated cmd deployment script
Run the altered deployment script
This really should be easier.
Update
Here's the scripted search/replace routine I've come up with in PowerShell:
(Get-Content "project.deploy.cmd")
-replace('^set _ArgComputerName=$'
,"set ArgComputerName=https://server:8172/MsDeploy.axd?Site=Default+Web+Site")
| Out-File -Encoding ascii deploy.cmd
Once that is run, deploy.cmd can be called (without the /M option) and it will work as expected.
Web Deploy won't create a folder if there are no files to copy to it. One workaround in your scenario would be to not use the Exclude files from the App_Data folder check box, put a dummy file in App_Data (such as a .txt file with nothing in it), and specify file exclusion rules for whatever else you have in the App_Data folder (such as your .sdf file).
On excluding individual files (you can use wildcards), see the first question in the deployment FAQ on MSDN:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee942158.aspx#can_i_exclude_specific_files_or_folders_from_deployment
On using the dummy file method for causing a folder to be created, see Making Sure that the Elmah Folder gets Deployed in this tutorial:
http://www.asp.net/web-forms/tutorials/deployment-to-a-hosting-provider/deployment-to-a-hosting-provider-configuring-project-properties-4-of-12
I managed to get it working when using the Publish Web dialog from within Visual Studio. Note: it works for any folder and not only App_Data.
This is the basic .pubxml profile:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--
This file is used by the publish/package process of your Web project. You can customize the behavior of this process
by editing this MSBuild file. In order to learn more about this please visit http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=208121.
-->
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup>
<AfterAddIisSettingAndFileContentsToSourceManifest>AddCustomSkipRules</AfterAddIisSettingAndFileContentsToSourceManifest>
<WebPublishMethod>MSDeploy</WebPublishMethod>
<LastUsedBuildConfiguration>Local</LastUsedBuildConfiguration>
<LastUsedPlatform>Any CPU</LastUsedPlatform>
<SiteUrlToLaunchAfterPublish />
<ExcludeApp_Data>False</ExcludeApp_Data>
<MSDeployServiceURL>localhost</MSDeployServiceURL>
<DeployIisAppPath>SuperCoolAwesomeAppName</DeployIisAppPath>
<RemoteSitePhysicalPath />
<SkipExtraFilesOnServer>False</SkipExtraFilesOnServer>
<MSDeployPublishMethod>InProc</MSDeployPublishMethod>
<EnableMSDeployBackup>False</EnableMSDeployBackup>
<UserName />
<_SavePWD>False</_SavePWD>
<LaunchSiteAfterPublish>True</LaunchSiteAfterPublish>
</PropertyGroup>
<PropertyGroup>
<UseMsDeployExe>true</UseMsDeployExe>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="CreateEmptyFolders">
<Message Text="Adding empty folders to Files" />
<MakeDir Directories="$(_MSDeployDirPath_FullPath)\Files\Folder 1" />
<MakeDir Directories="$(_MSDeployDirPath_FullPath)\Files\Folder 2" />
<MakeDir Directories="$(_MSDeployDirPath_FullPath)\Files\Folder 3\Test"/>
</Target>
<Target Name="AddCustomSkipRules" DependsOnTargets="CreateEmptyFolders">
<Message Text="Adding Custom Skip Rules" />
<ItemGroup>
<MsDeploySkipRules Include="SkipFilesInFilesFolder">
<SkipAction>Delete</SkipAction>
<ObjectName>filePath</ObjectName>
<AbsolutePath>$(_DestinationContentPath)\\Files\\.*</AbsolutePath>
<Apply>Destination</Apply>
</MsDeploySkipRules>
<MsDeploySkipRules Include="SkipFoldersInFilesFolders">
<SkipAction></SkipAction>
<ObjectName>dirPath</ObjectName>
<AbsolutePath>$(_DestinationContentPath)\\Files\\.*\\*</AbsolutePath>
<Apply>Destination</Apply>
</MsDeploySkipRules>
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
</Project>
Here's a detailed post explaining it:
Using MsDeploy publish profile .pubxml to create an empty folder structure on IIS and skip deleting it with MsDeploySkipRules
Summarizing and simplifying Emil and Leniel answers in a concise one, if you just want to allow App_Data deploy for adds and updates, but prevents deletes, add this to your .pubxml.
<Project>
...
<PropertyGroup>
<UseMSDeployExe>true</UseMSDeployExe>
<ExcludeApp_Data>False</ExcludeApp_Data>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="AddCustomSkipRules"
AfterTargets="AddIisSettingAndFileContentsToSourceManifest">
<Message Text="Adding Custom Skip Rules" />
<ItemGroup>
<MsDeploySkipRules Include="SkipDeleteAppData">
<SkipAction>Delete</SkipAction>
<ObjectName>filePath</ObjectName>
<AbsolutePath>App_Data\\.*</AbsolutePath>
</MsDeploySkipRules>
<MsDeploySkipRules Include="SkipDeleteAppData">
<SkipAction>Delete</SkipAction>
<ObjectName>dirPath</ObjectName>
<AbsolutePath>App_Data</AbsolutePath>
</MsDeploySkipRules>
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
</Project>
<UseMSDeployExe>true</UseMSDeployExe> is really needed or it will fail complaining Unrecognized skip directive 'skipaction'.
When i set the output folder in FDT, this is always REALTIVE to the project folder, even if it has a forward slash...
ex: /Users/paolo/deploy will create the folder in /User/paolo/my_project/Users/paolo/deploy
first.... WHY?????
second: is there a way to set this folder as ABSOLUTE?
many thanx
The reason is to enable multiple developers to develop on the same project. The path is saved in the project. If you share the project via CVS/SVN other developers would need to have the same path. Absolute paths are a bad idea when developing in a team.
I don't know if there is a way to force an absolute path, but I doubt it.
Edit:
I remember there was the possibility to attach an ant script to an run configuration to be executed each time the project is build. You might be able to write the ant script such that it copies the output files to an absolute directory.
In your launch configuration there is a tab for Ant tasks. Add a post-compile ant script, here's an example:
<project name="copy files">
<property name="from" value="../bin"/>
<property name="to" value="/Users/username/deploy>
<target name="Copy All">
<copy todir="${to}" >
<fileset dir="${from}">
<exclude name="Test.swf"/>
</fileset>
</copy>
</target>
</project>
Apparently, DNN installations do not like to be precompiled (they won't be able to find any localized strings then). Our installation is safely put in SVN, which means I cannot just copy the whole directory. To publish everything, I need to copy the whole website directory without the SVN files and directories. So far, I've been messing with good old DOS commands, which is time consuming and error prone.
Can someone help me to an MS-Built script or step to do just this? Or can I do this using default Visual Studio 2010 commands?
Note: this is a website, not a web application.
Just svn export the directory from source control, which will give you a clean copy without the .svn stuff in it.
Visual Studio -> Solution Explorer -> <web site> -> <right click> -> Publish Web Site or Copy Web Site
If you are ever interested in automating this with MSBuild then you can do that with something like the following.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<ItemGroup>
<FilesToCopy Include="**\*"
Exclude="**\.svn\**"/>
</ItemGroup>
<PropertyGroup>
<Dest>C:\temp\dest\</Dest>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="CopyFiles">
<Message Text="FilesToCopy: #(FilesToCopy)"/>
<MakeDir Directories="$(Dest)"/>
<Copy SourceFiles="#(FilesToCopy)"
DestinationFiles="#(FilesToCopy->'$(Dest)%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')"/>
</Target>
</Project>
So when I create the FilesToCopy item I exclude all the files under any .svn folder. Then I just perform the copy inside the CopyFiles target.
How can I build an ASP.NET web application from the command line?
Try this in a .bat file, replace v4.0.30319 with the appropriate version:
CD C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319
msbuild "C:\inetpub\wwwroot\MyWebSite.sln"
Take a look at the devenv.exe /Build switch, you give it a solution file to build, e.g.
devenv.exe "C:\Documents and Settings\someuser\MySolution.sln" /build DEBUG
If you have more complex build requirements then look into MSBuild.
This is a round about way to do it, but you can use the MSBuild task as part of an msbuild project:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="3.5" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<ItemGroup>
<Solutions Include="*.sln" />
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="Build" >
<MSBuild BuildInParallel="true" Projects="#(Solutions)" RebaseOutputs="true" />
</Target>
built with msbuildprojectname.proj from the command line.
This may seem like overkill, but you can then add extra stuff into the project (like restarting websites, zipping files, Virtual machine control even!, code coverage) that can help you setup and test the project.
As dumb as I might look, I have used "aspnet_compiler.exe" for compiling/deploying projects
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/msbuild/thread/2ca80dfd-b7d7-4e09-98ff-891b1570f4db
To build a solution directly,
msbuild mysolution.sln
You'll find MSBuild in the Microsoft.NET folder in your Windows directory.
You may also want to pre-compile your Web site. Instructions for that are on MSDN here. If you use the Web Deployment project node (detailed at the bottom) then the deployment will happen automatically when you run msbuild on the solution file.
I've created an AIR application, but it uses an external SWF for extra functionality. I want that SWF to be included in the install, but currently it's not. Is there anyway I can get FlexBuilder or any other tool to include this extra file in the installer? I've tried manually adding the file (as a .air file is just a zip file in disguise), but there must be hash checks inside the file.
If you place the SWF file in your application's src directory it will give you the option to include in the installer (previously I tried putting it in the application's root folder).
If you are working in Flash, go to File>Adobe AIR 2.0 Settings. At the bottom of the dialgoue box is a list of included files. Add your SWF to that list.
What if you wanted to add a text file instead to the installer using Flex Builder? I tried to add it using the export release build wizard, but I don't see the text file generated in the application directory...any ideas?
I would add a custom builder, under project -> properties -> builders
I use something like the following for one of my projects that I want to package some mxml and as files with so that the compiler doesn't try to compile them on export. Save the xml below as something like copy_files.xml and add a new Ant Builder to your project. Under the targets tab of the builder I have mine set to run the copy-files target on every clean.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project name="SampleProject">
<target name="copy-files" description="Copy Source Files">
<copy todir="bin-debug/sources">
<fileset dir="sources" >
<include name="**/*.*" />
</fileset>
</copy>
<copy todir="bin-release/sources">
<fileset dir="sources" >
<include name="**/*.*" />
</fileset>
</copy>
</target>
</project>