i want to make VS copy the .lib-file it created after the build process to a specific folder. So i went to the project config, post-build event, and entered the following command:
if exist $(TargetPath)
xcopy "$(TargetPath)" "C:\Users\Incubbus\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\My Libraries\z.lib" /Y
But instead of copying the process fails after i click "build" and i receive the following error:
error MSB3073: The command "if exist C:\Users\Incubbus\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\My Libraries\MyNetWorkProject\Debug\IncNetworkLibD.lib xcopy "C:\Users\Incubbus\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\My Libraries\MyNetWorkProject\Debug\IncNetworkLibD.lib" "C:\Users\Incubbus\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\My Libraries\z.lib" /Y
:VCEnd" exited with code 2.
I am also wondering about the :VCEnd in the command-string of the error message <- Maybe this is the reason? How to get this solved?
Any help and hints would be happily consumed :)...
partial solution:
EDIT: it looks like the renaming part (Inc.lib to z.lib) makes trouble, when xcopy asks whether this is a file or a directory...it works when i just copy the originally named file to a directory instead of copying renamed
Xcopy documentation says the following:
Specifying whether Destination is a file or directory If Destination does not contain an existing directory and does not end with a backslash (\), the following message appears:
Does destination specify a file name
or directory name on the target
(F = file, D = directory)?
Press F if you want the file or files to be copied to a file. Press D if you want the file or files to be copied to a directory.
You can suppress this message by using the /i command-line option, which causes xcopy to assume that the destination is a directory if the source is more than one file or a directory.
You need the opposite, but there is no such switch.
The solution is proposed here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/4283533/532647.
It is suggested to prepend the xcopy command with echo f | prefix, which basically does the following: it simulates a user pressing f key when xcopy asks.
So your command should look like:
if exist $(TargetPath)
echo f | xcopy "$(TargetPath)" "C:\Users\Incubbus\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\My Libraries\z.lib" /Y
Operator | just pipes the output of echo f (== f) into xcopy command and it is read when appropriate. More information about output redirection here: http://ss64.com/nt/syntax-redirection.html.
UPDATE: As Govert points out, this hack won't work under a localized version of Windows. However, another hack will work:
xcopy D:\file.zip c:\renamedFile.zip*
Appending destination file name with an asterisk * makes xcopy not ask whether destination is a file or a directory.