dotnet publish for ASP.NET Core MVC doesn't correctly handle wwwroot folder

Question

I have a simple github actions deployments:

    build:
      ..
      runs-on: ubuntu-latest
      steps:
        - uses: actions/checkout@v4

        - name: Set up .NET Core
          uses: actions/setup-dotnet@v4
          with:
            dotnet-version: ${{ env.DOTNET_VERSION }}

        - name: Build with dotnet
          working-directory: ./${{ matrix.value }}
          run: dotnet build --configuration Release

        - name: dotnet publish
          working-directory: ./${{ matrix.value }}
          run: dotnet publish -c Release -o ${{env.DOTNET_ROOT}}/${{ matrix.value }}/${{ env.APP_NAME }}

        - name: Upload artifact for deployment job
          uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3
          with:
            name: .net-ui
            path: ${{env.DOTNET_ROOT}}/${{ matrix.value }}/${{ env.APP_NAME }}

when in the next job I'm going to deploy these changes via:

  - name: Deploy to Azure Web App
    id: deploy-to-webapp
    uses: azure/webapps-deploy@v2
    with:
      app-name: ${{ env.AZURE_APP_NAME }}
      package: ${{ env.AZURE_APP_PACKAGE_PATH }}

UPDATE: I just noticed that wwwroot folder with css and js files are copied to azure. My server side files placed in the C:\home\site\wwwroot:

C:\home\site\wwwroot>ls
Humanizer.dll
Microsoft.AspNetCore.Razor.Language.dll
Microsoft.Bcl.AsyncInterfaces.dll
..
web.config
wwwroot

and inner wwwroot folder is:

C:\home\site\wwwroot\wwwroot>ls     # pay attention on doubled `wwwroot`
UI.styles.css
css
favicon.ico
js
lib

however lib folder doesn't have all files:

C:\home\site\wwwroot\wwwroot\lib>ls    
bootstrap
jquery
jquery-validation
jquery-validation-unobtrusive

where locally I have also microsoft folder with signalr dependencies (dependency files themself are not under git though, but microsoft folder is under the git => all this behavior is default though). I assume I need to restore this somehow.

Another strange part is that some files presented locally (/lib/jquery/dist/jquery.min.js), are not copied on the azure server even though the folder where they are placed has been copied:

C:\home\site\wwwroot\wwwroot\lib\jquery>ls
LICENSE.txt     # pay attention no "dist" folder

Given the above, these files are not visible in the browser and gives this error:

    GET https://azureapp.eastus-01.azurewebsites.net/lib/jquery/dist/jquery.min.js
    [HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found 351ms

How can I fix handling static files (css/js)? Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

The issue is with your yml file dotnet publish step.

My dotnet publish looks like below:

- name: dotnet publish
run: dotnet publish -c Release -o ${{env.DOTNET_ROOT}}/myapp

• All the static files which are under wwwroot local folder are handled with the dotnet publish and included by default in the deployed folder.

• My .csproj looks simple and is default.

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Web">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>net8.0</TargetFramework>
    <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
    <ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings>
  </PropertyGroup>
</Project>

• Push the root folder (where you have Controllers) of the application to GitHub .

My complete Workflow file:

name: Build and deploy ASP.Net Core app to Azure Web App - CoreMVC20Sep

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Set up .NET Core
        uses: actions/setup-dotnet@v4
        with:
          dotnet-version: '8.x'

      - name: Build with dotnet
        run: dotnet build --configuration Release

      - name: dotnet publish
        run: dotnet publish -c Release -o ${{env.DOTNET_ROOT}}/myapp

      - name: Upload artifact for deployment job
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: .net-app
          path: ${{env.DOTNET_ROOT}}/myapp

  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    needs: build
    environment:
      name: 'Production'
      url: ${{ steps.deploy-to-webapp.outputs.webapp-url }}
    permissions:
      id-token: write 

    steps:
      - name: Download artifact from build job
        uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: .net-app
      
      - name: Login to Azure
        uses: azure/login@v2
        with:
          client-id: ${{ secrets.AZUREAPPSERVICE_CLIENTID_********** }}
          tenant-id: ${{ secrets.AZUREAPPSERVICE_TENANTID_********** }}
          subscription-id: ${{ secrets.AZUREAPPSERVICE_SUBSCRIPTIONID_********** }}

      - name: Deploy to Azure Web App
        id: deploy-to-webapp
        uses: azure/webapps-deploy@v3
        with:
          app-name: 'CoreMVC20Sep'
          slot-name: 'Production'
          package: .          

• I am able to see the dist folder when I run dotnet publish command in local as well.

Deployment:

Able to access the files which are under site/wwwroot/wwwroot/lib/jquery/dist folder.

How can I fix handling static files (css/js)?

Check this MSDoc to access any static files from a specific folder.