Right now in my msbuild script is a task to delete a folder
<RemoveDir Directories="$(Bin)"/>
However I'd rather delete the contents of the folder but leave the folder be (in case someone has the folder open in Windows Explorer). How can I do that?
This will remove all files and subfolders:
<Target Name="CleanFolder">
<PropertyGroup>
<TargetFolder>c:\clean</TargetFolder>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<FilesToClean Include="$(TargetFolder)\**\*"/>
<Directories Include="$([System.IO.Directory]::GetDirectories('$(TargetFolder)', '*', System.IO.SearchOption.AllDirectories))"
Exclude="$(TargetFolder)"/>
</ItemGroup>
<Delete Files="#(FilesToClean)" ContinueOnError="true"/>
<RemoveDir Directories="#(Directories)" />
</Target>
It would also be good to drop open connections using the openfiles tool:
openfiles /disconnect /ID *
Download and install the msbuild extension pack then use
<MSBuild.ExtensionPack.FileSystem.Folder TaskAction="RemoveContent" Path="$(Bin)" />
Related
Inside my csproj I have a pre-build event where I run the build of Vue js project. It outputs to a "dist" folder, and that is loaded by an cshtml file.
In the csproj file I have a reference to the dist folder and I tell it to copy to publish directory:
<ItemGroup>
<Content Include="dist\**" CopyToPublishDirectory="Always" />
</ItemGroup>
On publish, MsBuild seems to be trying to copy the files in the dist folder that exist before the pre-build event starts. Is there an way to get MsBuild to copy the contents of the folder after the pre-build event?
In order to support all possible publish mechanisms that tooling (VS etc.) supports, I suggest setting it up similar to how the in-box angular template works:
<Target Name="PublishDistFiles" AfterTargets="ComputeFilesToPublish">
<ItemGroup>
<DistFiles Include="dist\**" />
<ResolvedFileToPublish Include="#(DistFiles->'%(FullPath)')" Exclude="#(ResolvedFileToPublish)">
<RelativePath>%(DistFiles.Identity)</RelativePath>
<CopyToPublishDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToPublishDirectory>
</ResolvedFileToPublish>
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
You can add a step to do it manually using the Copy task
<Target Name="MyCopyStep" AfterTargets="AfterPublish">
<ItemGroup>
<MyDistFiles Include="dist\**" />
</ItemGroup>
<Copy SourceFiles="#(MyDistFiles)" DestinationFiles="#(MyDistFiles->'$(PublishDir)\dist\%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')"/>
</Target>
I would like to avoid hard coding the dll and folder names in the AfterClean target, is there a dynamic way to do this? Ideally it would only delete the files and folders created by the Copy in the AfterBuild target.
I tried to simplify this by changing the DestinationFolder to include a subdirectory in the OutputPath. The AfterClean target would only have to remove that subdirectory at this point. However, some of the library's DLLImport paths don't take that subdirectory into consideration which results in a crash.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<Target Name="AfterBuild">
<ItemGroup>
<NativeLibs Include="$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)..\lib\native\**\*.*" />
</ItemGroup>
<Copy SourceFiles="#(NativeLibs)" DestinationFolder="$(OutputPath)\%(RecursiveDir)" />
</Target>
<Target Name="AfterClean">
<Delete Files="$(OutputPath)\LumiAPI.dll" />
<Delete Files="$(OutputPath)\LumiCore.dll" />
<Delete Files="$(OutputPath)\LumiInOpAPI.dll" />
<RemoveDir Directories="$(OutputPath)\SPM" />
<RemoveDir Directories="$(OutputPath)\plugin" />
</Target>
</Project>
Project Structure:
src
ConsumingProject
ConsumingProject.csproj
ConsumingProject.sln
packages
my-project.5.7.0.12
build
lib
native
plugin
VenusDvc.dll
SPM
sSPM_1.bin
LumiAPI.dll
LumiCore.dll
LumiInOpAPI.dll
net45
my-project.5.7.0.12.nupkg
Essentially I want to delete all the files and folders that were copied from the native folder to the output of the project (ie LumiAPI.dll, LumiCore.dll, SPM (folder), eSPM_1.bin, etc). However I want it to be generic enough so that if I add another folder to the native directory, it will delete those folders/files as well.
Use a seperate target which lists input and output files, then use that list in both other targets. Note this uses the DestinationFiles attribute from the Copy task instead of DestinationFolders. And it might print some messages about non-existing directories being passed to RemoveDir because the top directory gets removed already before child directories.
update since you don't want to remove the root output directory as it still has files, figured applying the 'only remove output directory if it's empty' principle for any destination directory is probably the safest way to go. Credits go to the answer here.
<Target Name="GetMyOutputFiles">
<ItemGroup>
<NativeLibs Include="$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)..\lib\native\**\*.*" />
<!--Now add some metadata: output dir and output file-->
<NativeLibs>
<DestinationDir>$(OutputPath)\%(RecursiveDir)</DestinationDir>
<Destination>$(OutputPath)\%(RecursiveDir)%(FileName)%(Extension)</Destination>
</NativeLibs>
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
<Target Name="AfterBuild" DependsOnTargets="GetMyOutputFiles">
<!--Copy one-to-one-->
<Copy SourceFiles="#(NativeLibs)" DestinationFiles="#(NativeLibs->'%(Destination)')" />
</Target>
<Target Name="AfterClean" DependsOnTargets="GetMyOutputFiles">
<Delete Files="#(NativeLibs->'%(Destination)')" />
<!--Find number of files left in each destination directory-->
<ItemGroup>
<NativeLibs>
<NumFiles>0</NumFiles>
<!--Condition is to avoid errors when e.g. running this target multiple times-->
<NumFiles Condition="Exists(%(DestinationDir))">$([System.IO.Directory]::GetFiles("%(DestinationDir)", "*", System.IO.SearchOption.AllDirectories).get_Length())</NumFiles>
</NativeLibs>
</ItemGroup>
<!--Only remove empty directories, use 'Distinct' to skip duplicate directories-->
<RemoveDir Directories="#(NativeLibs->'%(DestinationDir)'->Distinct())" Condition="%(NumFiles)=='0'" />
</Target>
I want to remove folder from my deployment folder.
I'm using removedir task.
<ItemGroup>
<FolderToExcludefromDeploymentFolder Include="$(SourceDir)\Support" />
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="BeforeBuild" BeforeTargets="Build">
<RemoveDir Condition="Exists('$(sourceDir)\Support')" Directories="#(FolderToExcludefromDeploymentFolder)" />
</Target>
In that case i get a folder in the solution tree.
In case of trying to delete the folder i get this error and the itemgroup element will automatically will be removed.
How can i fix this?
The only way I could fix this issue is to move all problematic properties to BeforeBuild target and set them as DefineConstants.
<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
<PropertyGroup>
<SourceDir>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)..\..\..\Example</SourceDi>
<FolderToExclude>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)..\..\..\Example\Support</FolderToExclude>
<DefineConstants>$(DefineConstants);SourceDir=$(SourceDir);FolderToExclude=$(FolderToExclude)</DefineConstants>
</PropertyGroup>
<RemoveDir Condition="Exists('$(sourceDir)\Support')" Directories="#(FolderToExclude)" />
</Target>
This solution worked for me but didn't find the reason behind this.
I have a AfterBuild target that I would like to use for multiple projects in a solution. Is there a way that I can put that target into a .targets file and reference the file in each project.
Below is what I tried which does not seem to work.
Project File:
<Import Project="..\debug.targets"/>
.Targets File:
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<Target Name="AfterBuild">
<PropertyGroup>
<WebsiteDirectory>C:\Inetpub\wwwroot</WebsiteDirectory>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<output Include=".\**\*.dll" Exclude=".\**\obj\**" />
<output Include=".\**\*.pdb" Exclude=".\**\obj\**" />
<output Include=".\**\*.svc" />
<output Include=".\**\*.xap" />
<output Include=".\**\*.aspx" />
<output Include=".\**\*.js" />
<output Include=".\**\*.config" />
</ItemGroup>
<PropertyGroup>
<VirtualDirectoryPath>$(WebsiteDirectory)\$(RootNamespace)</VirtualDirectoryPath>
</PropertyGroup>
<copy SourceFiles="#(output)" DestinationFiles="#(output->'$(VirtualDirectoryPath)\%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')" />
</Target>
Use this
<Import Project="$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)\debug.targets"/>
$(MSBuildThisFile) = The current project file.
$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory) = The directory that contains current project file.
Relative paths in project files are difficult to use depending on what is invoking the project file. Using msbuild directly and the relative path will resolve to the project file. Use VS and the relative path will use the solution file as the base path.
Using $(MSBuildThisFileDirectory) will force the relative path to use a pre-determined beginning path. All you need to do is fill in the rest of the relative path.
What you are doing is fundamentally correct, but ensure that your Import statement is the last Import in the project file.
To verify that the target is being invoked correctly, run msbuild in diag mode from the command line and note the output regarding your target.
msbuild myproj.proj /v:diag
In the process of cleaning up the folder/file structure on a project I inherited, I'm running into a problem with organizing the required external libraries. I want to keep them in their own .\dll\ folder, but they're not being copied to the build directory properly. They should be in the root build directory, but they're being moved to a subfolder instead.
My .csproj file contains the following xml:
<Project>
<ItemGroup>
<None Include="dlls\libraryA.dll">
<CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
</None>
</ItemGroup>
</Project>
Then, on build, the libraryA.dll file is copied to the bin\Debug\dll\ folder, but I want it in the bin\Debug\ folder.
I tried this and msbuild always wants to copy the files using their directory path, but there is a workaround...
Edit the csproj file and after this line:
<Import Project="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets" />
Add these lines:
<PropertyGroup>
<PrepareForRunDependsOn>$(PrepareForRunDependsOn);MyCopyFilesToOutputDirectory</PrepareForRunDependsOn>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="MyCopyFilesToOutputDirectory">
<Copy SourceFiles="#(None)" DestinationFolder="$(OutDir)" />
</Target>
The copy of the output files happens in the PrepareForRun target. This adds your own target to the list of targets that are executed as part of PrepareForRun.
This example copies all items in the None item group. You could create your own item group (e.g. MyFiles) and do the copy on that item group if you have other "None" files you don't want copied. When I tried this I had to change the item group name by editing the csproj file directly. Visual Studio did not allow me to set the item group of a file from the UI, but after I edited the csproj and changed it, Visual Studio displayed my custom item group name correctly.
If you only want to change it for one file, it may be easier to use the property:
<None Include="dlls\libraryA.dll">
<Link>%(Filename)%(Extension)</Link>
<CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
</None>
Including content files in .csproj that are outside the project cone
This approach works
If you need to force copy of a specific file/nuget package into an asp.net core project (2.2), add at the end of your csproj :
<!-- Force copy MathNet because we need it in compilation -->
<Target Name="EnsureNuGetPackageBuildImports" BeforeTargets="Build">
<PropertyGroup>
<ErrorText>This project references NuGet package(s) that are missing on this computer. The missing file is {0}.</ErrorText>
</PropertyGroup>
<Error Condition="!Exists('..\packages\MathNet.Numerics.4.8.1\lib\netstandard2.0\MathNet.Numerics.dll')" Text="$([System.String]::Format('$(ErrorText)', '..\packages\MathNet.Numerics.4.8.1\lib\netstandard2.0\MathNet.Numerics.dll'))" />
</Target>
<ItemGroup>
<ContentWithTargetPath Include="..\packages\MathNet.Numerics.4.8.1\lib\netstandard2.0\MathNet.Numerics.dll">
<CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
<TargetPath>MathNet.Numerics.dll</TargetPath>
</ContentWithTargetPath>
</ItemGroup>
In SDK-style csproj you can write something like:
<Target Name="CopyFilesTargetName" AfterTargets="Build">
<Copy SourceFiles="$(OutDir)\dlls\Some.dll;$(OutDir)\dlls\SomeOther.dll" DestinationFolder="$(OutDir)" />
</Target>
You can also use <Move instead of <Copy to move files