VS2008 post-build event batch file

Question

I'm trying to execute a batch file to move a bunch of files around after a build so I've created a post-build event that looks like this:

$(ProjectDir)CopyPlugins.bat $(ConfigurationName)

The problem is that when Visual Studio tries to run the event I get the error that the process exited with code 9009

The problem appears to be that VS puts the entire line in quotes so that the command it runs is:

"C:\Users\kdmurray\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\Runner\Runner\CopyPlugins.bat Debug"

Of course what I intended it to do was a very subtle variation, changing the location of the closing quotation mark.

"C:\Users\kdmurray\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\Runner\Runner\CopyPlugins.bat" Debug

Is there any way around this rather annoying "help" that VS provides?

Answer 1

If you're trying to do complicated post-build copying it might be worth looking at the MSBuild Community Tasks project. It has a task that wraps RoboCopy.exe which might be a cleaner way to accomplish your task.

Generally I make a separate "build" project that is empty and does nothing but execute pre/post build steps. It works quite well.

Answer 2

I think you might just need quotes around the path to the batch script, i.e. your post-build event should be:

"$(ProjectDir)CopyPlugins.bat" $(ConfigurationName)

This worked for me for a C# project located in a directory with a space in its path.

Answer 3

Create two more batch files that just executes the first with different arguments.

CopyPlugins-debug.bat Call CopyPlugins.bat debug

CopyPlugins-release.bat Call CopyPlugins.bat release

And in VS post-build event "$(ProjectDir)CopyPlugins-$(ConfigurationName).bat"