How to create copying items from property values? - msbuild

Question

Let's say I have a list of sub paths such as
<PropertyGroup>
<subPaths>$(path1)\**\*; $(path2)\**\*; $(path3)\file3.txt; </subPaths>
</PropertyGroup>
I want to copy these files from folder A to folder B (surely we already have all the sub folders/files in A). What I try was:
<Target Name="Replace" DependsOnTargets="Replace_Init; Replace_Copy1Path">
</Target>
<Target Name="Replace_Init">
<PropertyGroup>
<subPaths>$(path1)\**\*; $(path2)\**\*; $(path3)\file3.txt; </subPaths>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<subPathItems Include="$(subPathFiles.Split(';'))" />
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
<Target Name="Replace_Copy1Path" Outputs="%(subPathItems.Identity)">
<PropertyGroup>
<src>$(folderA)\%(subPathItems.Identity)</src>
<dest>$(folderB)\%(subPathItems.Identity)</dest>
</PropertyGroup>
<Copy SourceFiles="$(src)" DestinationFiles="$(dest)" />
</Target>
But the Copy task didn't work. It doesn't translate the **\* to files. What did I do wrong? Please help!

Answer 1

I don't think you can do something like that.
$(subPathFiles.Split(';')) returns a property where value are separated by semicolon, so this call is useless.
If you want to keep this mechanism you should use the task StringToItemCol from MSBuild Extension Pack :
<Target Name="Replace_Init">
<PropertyGroup>
<subPaths>$(path1)\**\*; $(path2)\**\*; $(path3)\file3.txt; </subPaths>
</PropertyGroup>
<MsBuildHelper TaskAction="StringToItemCol"
ItemString="$(subPaths)" Separator=";">
<Output TaskParameter="OutputItems" ItemName="subPathItems "/>
</MsBuildHelper>
</Target>
Otherwise, you could directly pass items with folderA and subPaths embedded :
<ItemGroup>
<subPathIt Include="$(folderA)\$(path1)\**\*"/>
<subPathIt Include="$(folderA)\$(path2)\**\*"/>
<subPathIt Include="$(folderA)\$(path3)\file3.txt" Condition="Exists('$(path3)\file3.txt')"/>
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="Replace_Copy1Path">
<Copy SourceFiles="#(subPathItems )"
DestinationFiles="$(folderB)\%(RecursiveDir)\%(Filename)%(Extension)" />
</Target>