ASP.NET Web Application Build Output - How do I include all deployment files?

Question

When I build my ASP.NET web application I get a .dll file with the code for the website in it (which is great) but the website also needs all the .aspx files and friends, and these need to be placed in the correct directory structure. How can I get this all in one directory as the result of each build? Trying to pick the right files out of the source directory is a pain.

The end result should be xcopy deployable.

Update: I don't want to have to manually use the Publish command which I'm aware of. I want the full set of files required by the application to be the build output - this means I also get the full set of files in one place from running MSBuild.

Answer 1

Have you tried right clicking the website in Solution Explorer and clicking 'Publish Website'?

Answer 2

ASP.NET doesn't have real xcopy deployment for new sites. It depends on having a virtual directory/Application in IIS. However, once that virtual directory is created you can use xcopy for updates.

Answer 3

You can Publish Web site..If you want to automate your deployment, you need to use some script.

Answer 4

Build --> Publish

A dialog box will appear that will guide you through the process.

Answer 5

For the automated building you describe in the update, I would recommend you look into MSBuild and CruiseControl.NET

Answer 6

One solution appears to be Web Deployment Projects (WDPs), an add-on for Visual Studio (and msbuild) available that builds a web project to a directory and can optionally merge assemblies and alter the web.config file. The output of building a WDP is all the files necessary to deploy the site in one directory.

More information about Web Deployment Projects:

1. Announcement on webdevtools MSDN blog for WDP 2008
2. ScottGu introduction to WDP 2005

The only disadvantage to this solution is the requirement on an add-on which must be available on the build machine. Still, it's good enough for now!

Answer 7

Have you tried using the aspnet_compiler.exe in your .net framework directory? I'm pretty sure you can create a "deploy ready" version of a web application or web site.

Answer 8

The _CopyWebApplication target on MSBuild will do exactly what you need. The catch is that only the main assembly will be copied to the bin folder and that's why a copy task is needed to also copy any other file on the bin folder.

I was trying to post the sample script as part of this post but wasn't able to.

Please take a look at this article on my blog that describes how to create a MSBuild script similar to the one you need.