How to Publish Web with msbuild?

📢 How to Publish Web with msbuild? 🚀

So, you've built a sweet Web Application Project in Visual Studio 2010 and now you want to publish it using msbuild on your TeamCity build server? No worries, I got you covered! 🎉

You might have tried using the "Publish" target with msbuild, but discovered it's mainly for ClickOnce deployments. But fear not! I've got a solution for you that will help you achieve the same deployment goodness without the need for any add-ins. 💪

Let's dive right into it! Here's what you need:

1️⃣ Open up your Project.csproj file and add the following custom target:

<Target Name="Deploy">
    <MSBuild Projects="$(SolutionFile)" 
             Properties="Configuration=$(Configuration);DeployOnBuild=true;DeployTarget=Package" 
             ContinueOnError="false" />
    <Exec Command="&quot;$(ProjectPath)\obj\$(Configuration)\Package\$(ProjectName).deploy.cmd&quot; /y /m:$(DeployServer) -enableRule:DoNotDeleteRule" 
          ContinueOnError="false" />
</Target>

2️⃣ Build and deploy your project using the following command:

msbuild Project.csproj /t:Deploy /p:Configuration=Deploy

💡 Let me break it down for you:

• The custom "Deploy" target kicks off the deployment process.

• The "MSBuild" task is used to build the project with the specified configuration and set "DeployOnBuild" and "DeployTarget" properties to "true" and "Package" respectively.

• The "Exec" task runs the deployment command generated by the build process. 🚚

By following these steps, you'll be able to compile your Web Application Project, remove any unnecessary files, perform web.config transformations, and copy the output to the specified location. 🌐✨

🔥 Now, you're ready to publish your web with msbuild like a pro! 🔥

But wait, there's more! Have you encountered any issues or got any questions along the way? I'm here to help! Leave a comment below or reach out to me on social media. Let's solve those problems together! 🙌

🚀 Happy publishing and keep building amazing web applications! 🌟