How to use MsBuild MsDeployPublish to target local file system?

Question

I\'m trying to replicate the Visual Studio 2010 \"Publish...\" command (applicable to Web Application projects) where I would in the UI choose Publish Method: \"File System\".

Answer 1

I gave up trying to get MSBuild to copy deployable web files (and not do anything else but that), so I scripted it in PowerShell and am really happy with the result. Much faster than anything I tried through MSBuild. Here's the gist (literally):

function copy-deployable-web-files($proj_path, $deploy_dir) {
  # copy files where Build Action = "Content" 
  $proj_dir = split-path -parent $proj_path
  [xml]$xml = get-content $proj_path
  $xml.Project.ItemGroup | % { $_.Content } | % { $_.Include } | ? { $_ } | % {
    $from = "$proj_dir\$_"
    $to = split-path -parent "$deploy_dir\$_"
    if (!(test-path $to)) { md $to }
    cp $from $to
  }

  # copy everything in bin
  cp "$proj_dir\bin" $deploy_dir -recurse
}