using visual studio team services to build a solution containing multiple web apps and deploy these web apps to azure

Question

My team uses Visual Studio Team Services to manage our source code in a TFS repository. The solution contains multiple web apps. I am trying to configure Continuous Integr

Answer 1

To test your situation I used Visual Studio 2015 and created 3 new web projects in the same solution and checked into VSTS. I then created a new build using the Azure Website deployment template. Many people miss that we have Build and Deployment templates on the Create New Build Definition dialog. The reason I use the Azure Website template is because I can never remember the msbuild arguments to pass in. You can simply delete the Azure Web App Deployment task if you are going to use RM.

One change I always make to the msbuild arguments is the PackageLocation. I always change mine to $(BuildConfiguration). That way I can build both Debug and Release at the same time should I desire.

/p:DeployOnBuild=true /p:WebPublishMethod=Package /p:PackageAsSingleFile=true /p:SkipInvalidConfigurations=true /p:PackageLocation="$(BuildConfiguration)"

Finally I change my Copy and Publish Build Artifacts task to search for just “**\*.zip”. Leave the Copy Root empty and run your build. When your build completes you will have one zip per project under the [ProjectName]/[Configuration]/projectName.zip when you explore your artifacts.

If you have further questions you can ping me on Twitter @DonovanBrown