xcopy with MsBuild

Pelle picture Pelle · May 9, 2012 · Viewed 7.3k times · Source

I have a really simple build script that looks like this:

<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" ToolsVersion="4.0" DefaultTargets="Bundle">

<ItemGroup>
    <BuildArtifacts Include="..\_buildartifacts" />
    <Application    Include="..\_application" />
</ItemGroup>

<Target Name="Clean">
    <RemoveDir Directories="@(BuildArtifacts)" />
    <RemoveDir Directories="@(Application)" />
</Target>

<Target Name="Init" DependsOnTargets="Clean">
    <MakeDir Directories="@(BuildArtifacts)" />
    <MakeDir Directories="@(Application)" />
</Target>

<Target Name="Bundle" DependsOnTargets="Compile">
    <Exec Command="xcopy.exe %(BuildArtifacts.FullPath) %(Application.FullPath) /e /EXCLUDE:$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\files_to_ignore_when_bundling.txt" WorkingDirectory="C:\Windows\" />
</Target>

The problem is the Bundle target, only the %(BuildArtifacts.FullPath) gets extracted, %(BuildArtifacts.FullPath) is ignored when the scripts executes.

The command looks like this when executing:

xcopy.exe C:\@Code\blaj_buildartifacts /e /EXCLUDE:C:\@Code\blaj\files_to_ignore_when_bundling.txt" exited with code 4

As you can see, the destination path is not there, if I hard code the paths or just the destination path it all works. Any suggestion on what I am doing wrong here?

Update I managed to solve the problem, I removed the last part WorkingDirectory="C:\Windows\" And changed the script into this:

<Exec Command="xcopy.exe @(BuildArtifacts) @(Application) /e /EXCLUDE:$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\files_to_ignore_when_bundling.txt" />

and now it's working :)

Answer

Pelle picture Pelle · May 13, 2012

I managed to solve this. I've updated the question with the solution.

I removed the last part WorkingDirectory="C:\Windows\" And changed the script into this:

 <Exec Command="xcopy.exe @(BuildArtifacts) @(Application) /e /EXCLUDE:$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\files_to_ignore_when_bundling.txt" />

and now it's working :)