Azure pipelin: how to publish ASP.NET MVC app in normal file structure

Question

I have a solution with multiple projects. I want to obtain (in artifacts) project UserUi.csproj, which is an ASP.NET MVC app (with references to other libraries inside the solution), ready to be copied to a server.

By running this yml:

trigger:
  - master

pool:
  vmImage: "windows-latest"

variables:
  solution: "**/*.sln"
  buildPlatform: "Any CPU"
  buildConfiguration: "Release"

steps:
  - task: NuGetToolInstaller@1

  - task: NuGetCommand@2
    inputs:
      restoreSolution: "$(solution)"

  - task: VSBuild@1
    inputs:
      solution: "$(solution)"
      msbuildArgs: '/p:DeployOnBuild=true /p:WebPublishMethod=FileSystem  /p:PackageAsSingleFile=true /p:SkipInvalidConfigurations=true /p:PackageLocation="$(build.artifactStagingDirectory)\UserUi"'
      platform: "$(buildPlatform)"
      configuration: "$(buildConfiguration)"

  - task: VSTest@2
    inputs:
      platform: "$(buildPlatform)"
      configuration: "$(buildConfiguration)"

  - task: PublishBuildArtifacts@1
    inputs:
      PathtoPublish: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)\UserUi'
      ArtifactName: 'drop'
      publishLocation: 'Container'

I'm getting weird "deploy" files, and UserUi.deploy.zip file which contains proper files, but in a path:

UserUi.zip\Content\D_C\a\1\s\4. SampleLayer\UserUi\obj\Release\Package\PackageTmp

Why is that? How can I get just one zip (or normal folder) with PackageTmp contents inside?

I will need to publish this (copy to specified folder) artifacts by using Azure agent installed on server, but with this structure I can't.

Answer 1

I can reproduce the same situation when using the VSBuild and same arguments.

How can i just have a one zip (or normal folder) with PackageTmp contents inside?

To meet your requirement, you can add the following vsbuild argument to directly put the outputs to artifacts folder:

/p:DeployOnBuild=true /p:DeployDefaultTarget=WebPublish /p:WebPublishMethod=FileSystem /p:publishUrl="$(build.artifactStagingDirectory)\\UserUi"

In this case, the PackageTmp contents inside will show in a normal folder.

Update:

i'm getting all of the projects - except the UserUi... i need to have file structure like Bin, Content, fonts, Scripts, Views, favicon.ico, Global.asax, Web.config

To solve this issue, we need to remove the VSBuild argument: /p:DeleteExistingFiles=True. Then it will add the required files to the artifacts.

VSbuild argument:

/p:DeployOnBuild=true /p:DeployDefaultTarget=WebPublish /p:WebPublishMethod=FileSystem /p:publishUrl="$(build.artifactStagingDirectory)\\UserUi"

YAML sample:

trigger:
  - master

pool:
  vmImage: "windows-latest"

variables:
  solution: "**/*.sln"
  buildPlatform: "Any CPU"
  buildConfiguration: "Release"

steps:
  - task: NuGetToolInstaller@1

  - task: NuGetCommand@2
    inputs:
      restoreSolution: "$(solution)"

  - task: VSBuild@1
    inputs:
      solution: "$(solution)"
      msbuildArgs: '/p:DeployOnBuild=true /p:DeployDefaultTarget=WebPublish /p:WebPublishMethod=FileSystem /p:publishUrl="$(build.artifactStagingDirectory)\\UserUi"'
      platform: "$(buildPlatform)"
      configuration: "$(buildConfiguration)"

  - task: VSTest@2
    inputs:
      platform: "$(buildPlatform)"
      configuration: "$(buildConfiguration)"

  - task: PublishBuildArtifacts@1
    inputs:
      PathtoPublish: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)\UserUi'
      ArtifactName: 'drop'
      publishLocation: 'Container'

Result: it will contain the bin ,fonts, scripts and other files.