msbuild to copy to multiple locations defined in item metadata - msbuild

Question

I have an item with metadata I want to copy to perform some actions on and the result to occur in multiple locations,
for example, I want to copy the file to multiple locations:
<ItemGroup>
<MyItem Include="myFile.txt">
<Out>c:\blah;c:\test</Out>
</MyItem>
</ItemGroup>
how would I setup a target to create c:\blah and c:\test if they dont exist, then copy myFile.txt to c:\blah\myFile.txt and c:\test\myFile.txt
I also want to get the list of full output paths (c:\blah\myFile.txt and c:\test\myFile.txt) if I want to clean them during a clean.

Answer 1

If you dont want to change the structure of you ItemGroup, you need to handle that you have a nested ItemGroup (the MetaDataElement Out). Therefor you will need to batch the ItemGroup MyItem to the target and inside you can batch Out. I made a small example project:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project DefaultTargets="CopyFiles" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" ToolsVersion="3.5">
<ItemGroup>
<MyItem Include="myFile.txt">
<Out>c:\blah;c:\test</Out>
</MyItem>
<MyItem Include="myFile2.txt">
<Out>c:\blah2;c:\test2</Out>
</MyItem>
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="CopyFiles"
Inputs="%(MyItem.Identity)"
Outputs="%(MyItem.Identity)\ignore_this.msg">
<PropertyGroup>
<File>%(MyItem.Identity)</File>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<Folders Include="%(MyItem.Out)" />
</ItemGroup>
<Message Text="%(Folders.Identity)\$(File)" />
</Target>
</Project>
The Output will be:
Project "D:\TEMP\test.proj" on node 1 (default targets).
CopyFiles:
c:\blah\myFile.txt
c:\test\myFile.txt
CopyFiles:
c:\blah2\myFile2.txt
c:\test2\myFile2.txt
Done Building Project "D:\TEMP\test.proj" (default targets).
Build succeeded.
0 Warning(s)
0 Error(s)

Answer 2

What you want to do is a concept called MSBuild Batching.
It allows you to divide item lists into different batches and pass each of those batches into a task separately.
<Target Name="CopyFiles">
<ItemGroup Label="MyFolders">
<Folder Include="c:\blah" />
<Folder Include="C:\test" />
</ItemGroup>
<Copy SourceFiles="myFile.txt" DestinationFolder="%(Folder.Identity)\">
<Output TaskParameter="CopiedFiles" ItemName="FilesCopy" />
</Copy>
</Target>

Answer 3

How about this:
<Target Name="CopyFiles">
<!--The item(s)-->
<ItemGroup>
<MyItem Include="myFile.txt"/>
</ItemGroup>
<!--The destinations-->
<ItemGroup>
<MyDestination Include="c:\blah"/>
<MyDestination Include="c:\test"/>
</ItemGroup>
<!--The copy-->
<Copy SourceFiles="#(MyItem)" DestinationFolder="%(MyDestination.FullPath)" />
<ItemGroup>
<FileWrites Include="%(MyDestination.FullPath)\*" />
</ItemGroup>
<!--The output -->
<Message Text="FileWrites: #(FileWrites)" Importance="high"/>
</Target>