Adding umbraco folders to build with MsBuild

If I use msbuild to build my project, all the folders not included in my solution are not deployed. Is there a way of deploying the umbraco and umbraco_client folders using msbuild? I have tried using Targets like:

https://gist.github.com/aaronpowell/6695293

How can we include the files created by ajaxmin in the msdeploy package created by MSBuild

https://blog.samstephens.co.nz/2010/10/18/msbuild-including-extra-files-multiple-builds/

But hey are not being copied to the output folder. Am I missing anything?

Solution

You can use a msbuild target(run after the build ends) in which it calls the msbuild copy task to copy necessary files or folders to output folder. Use AfterTargets="build" to let the target run after the build.

A target script which works in my machine looks like this:

<Target Name="Copyumbraco" AfterTargets="build">
    <ItemGroup>
      <UmbracoFiles Include="$(ProjectDir)**\umbraco\**\*" />
      <Umbraco_ClientFiles Include="$(ProjectDir)**\umbraco_client\**\*" />
    </ItemGroup>
    <Copy SourceFiles="@(UmbracoFiles)" DestinationFolder="$(OutputPath)\%(RecursiveDir)"/>
    <Copy SourceFiles="@(Umbraco_ClientFiles)" DestinationFolder="$(OutputPath)\%(RecursiveDir)"/>
  </Target>

Using $(ProjectDir) property to define the path, so Msbuild can find those two folders if they are in project folder as you mentioned in comment.

The \%(RecursiveDir) set the msbuild copy task to copy the files to destination path with original folder structure. If what you want to just copy all files to Output folder, you don't need to set it, then the script should be:

<Target Name="Copyumbraco" AfterTargets="build">
    <ItemGroup>
      <UmbracoFiles Include="$(ProjectDir)**\umbraco\**\*" />
      <Umbraco_ClientFiles Include="$(ProjectDir)**\umbraco_client\**\*" />
    </ItemGroup>
    <Copy SourceFiles="@(UmbracoFiles)" DestinationFolder="$(OutputPath)"/>
    <Copy SourceFiles="@(Umbraco_ClientFiles)" DestinationFolder="$(OutputPath)"/>
  </Target>

Add the target script into the your project's project file(xx.csproj), make sure you place the script in the format below, then it can work when you use msbuild to build the project.

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Web">

  ...

  <Target Name="Copyumbraco" AfterTargets="build">
   ...
  </Target>
</Project>

In addition:

For normal projects like console app, class library, the $(OutputPath) represents the output path. But for web site project, we can use $(WebProjectOutputDir) , hint from Mario!