Copy all files and folders using msbuild

Question

Just wondering if someone could help me with some msbuild scripts that I am trying to write. What I would like to do is copy all the files and sub folders from a folder to another folder using msbuild.

{ProjectName}
      |----->Source
      |----->Tools
              |----->Viewer
                       |-----{about 5 sub dirs}

What I need to be able to do is copy all the files and sub folders from the tools folder into the debug folder for the application. This is the code that I have so far.

<ItemGroup>
    <Viewer Include="..\$(ApplicationDirectory)\Tools\viewer\**\*.*" />
</ItemGroup>

<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
    <Copy SourceFiles="@(Viewer)" DestinationFolder="@(Viewer->'$(OutputPath)\\Tools')" />
</Target>

The build script runs but doesn't copy any of the files or folders.

Thanks

score 175 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 30 '13 at 16:06

175

I was searching help on this too. It took me a while, but here is what I did that worked really well.

<Target Name="AfterBuild">
    <ItemGroup>
        <ANTLR Include="..\Data\antlrcs\**\*.*" />
    </ItemGroup>
    <Copy SourceFiles="@(ANTLR)" DestinationFolder="$(TargetDir)\%(RecursiveDir)" SkipUnchangedFiles="true" />
</Target>

This recursively copied the contents of the folder named antlrcs to the $(TargetDir).

answered Mar 30 '13 at 16:06

Rodolfo Neuber

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Yes, this is the best answer. The same as recommended here on msdn blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/msbuild/archive/2005/11/07/490068.aspx – Karsten May 21 '14 at 13:37
26

The trick seems to be that adding `%(RecursiveDir)` to the destination folder will recreate the directory structure. Otherwise the output is flat. This is the Best Answer. – JB. Mar 26 '15 at 15:00
1

Need to be put at the **bottom** of the .fsproj file, or it doesn't take. – Henrik Feb 07 '18 at 21:33
The key moment here that worked for me is moving variable declaration (__) under AfterBuild target. In my case it was declared in the outer scope and didn't work. – Shpand Apr 08 '20 at 05:53
1

This is great idea! I have found `%(RecursiveDir)` in _MSBuild well-known item metadata_: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/msbuild/msbuild-well-known-item-metadata?view=vs-2019 – kenjiuno Sep 14 '20 at 10:37
1

`PropertyGroup` and `ItemGroup` elements that are direct children of the `Project` element are evaluated before any targets are executed. `PropertyGroup` and `ItemGroup` elements that are within a `Target` are not evaluated until the target is executed. For a `Copy` that is executed `AfterBuild` for files produced by the build, you want the delayed evaluation provided by a target -- because otherwise the `ItemGroup` will be evaluated before the files exist. – Jonathan Dodds Jul 29 '22 at 01:41

brock.holum · Answer 2 · 2008-09-23T12:41:39.497

I think the problem might be in how you're creating your ItemGroup and calling the Copy task. See if this makes sense:

<Project DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" ToolsVersion="3.5">
    <PropertyGroup>
        <YourDestinationDirectory>..\SomeDestinationDirectory</YourDestinationDirectory>
        <YourSourceDirectory>..\SomeSourceDirectory</YourSourceDirectory>
    </PropertyGroup>

    <Target Name="BeforeBuild">
        <CreateItem Include="$(YourSourceDirectory)\**\*.*">
            <Output TaskParameter="Include" ItemName="YourFilesToCopy" />
        </CreateItem>

        <Copy SourceFiles="@(YourFilesToCopy)"
                DestinationFiles="@(YourFilesToCopy->'$(YourDestinationDirectory)\%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')" />
    </Target>
</Project>

`CreateItem` task is deprecated. regex has the alternative. https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/s2y3e43x.aspx — Ray Cheng, Mar 03 '15 at 19:07
Moving the `ItemGroup` _into_ the `Target` should also do the trick. — 0xC0000022L, Jun 28 '22 at 16:32

score 35 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 03 '10 at 01:05

35

I'm kinda new to MSBuild but I find the EXEC Task handy for situation like these. I came across the same challenge in my project and this worked for me and was much simpler. Someone please let me know if it's not a good practice.

<Target Name="CopyToDeployFolder" DependsOnTargets="CompileWebSite">
    <Exec Command="xcopy.exe  $(OutputDirectory) $(DeploymentDirectory) /e" WorkingDirectory="C:\Windows\" />
</Target>

answered Jan 03 '10 at 01:05

Denzil Brown

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I dare ask the question the other way round. Is there any reason ever to use the log filling msbuild copy task? – bernd_k Feb 26 '12 at 15:56
4

Potentially. If you have a build farm (Jenkins, TeamCity etc), the agent service may run under a different account that doesn't have xcopy in the path. You can try things like %windir%\system32 in the path, but even this doesn't work some times. – Andrew dh Feb 07 '13 at 06:46
That's the solution that worked for me. Also I did not need setting the WorkingDirectory. – Aebsubis Jan 22 '15 at 11:36
FYI, I need to add /Y to suppress the file/folder override prompt. Also if $(DeploymentDirectory) is a folder, leaving a "\" after the path will remove the prompt: "destination is folder or file?" – Hoàng Long Sep 14 '15 at 09:20
7

I know this issue doesn't come up often, but my main reason to use the `Copy` task instead of a command is compatibility. I've build on Linux using Mono before, and obviously `xcopy` doesn't work there. – GregRos Aug 18 '16 at 11:25
Don't forget to quote the paths if they could contain spaces. Mine looks like this: . (/d - copy if newer, /y - overwrite without prompting, /e - copy empty subdirectories, /i - assume destination is a directory.) – mhenry1384 Jul 06 '17 at 14:40

score 14 · Answer 4 · edited Jun 11 '13 at 13:01

14

<Project DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" ToolsVersion="3.5">
    <PropertyGroup>
        <YourDestinationDirectory>..\SomeDestinationDirectory</YourDestinationDirectory>
        <YourSourceDirectory>..\SomeSourceDirectory</YourSourceDirectory>
    </PropertyGroup>

    <Target Name="BeforeBuild">
        <CreateItem Include="$(YourSourceDirectory)\**\*.*">
            <Output TaskParameter="Include" ItemName="YourFilesToCopy" />
        </CreateItem>

        <Copy SourceFiles="@(YourFilesToCopy)"
                DestinationFiles="$(YourFilesToCopy)\%(RecursiveDir)" />
    </Target>
</Project>

\**\*.* help to get files from all the folder. RecursiveDir help to put all the file in the respective folder...

edited Jun 11 '13 at 13:01

Michael Haren

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answered Oct 30 '12 at 09:33

amit thakur

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Destination files refers to 1 items and sourcefiles refers to 33 items. They must have the same number of items. Ugh.. msbuild can be awesome, but such a poorly documented piece of junk sometimes. – The Muffin Man Apr 26 '14 at 19:37
`CreateItem` task is deprecated. regex has the alternative. https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/s2y3e43x.aspx – Ray Cheng Mar 03 '15 at 19:03

score 4 · Answer 5 · edited Jun 28 '16 at 21:15

This is the example that worked:

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

   <ItemGroup>
      <MySourceFiles Include="c:\MySourceTree\**\*.*"/>
   </ItemGroup>

   <Target Name="CopyFiles">
      <Copy
        SourceFiles="@(MySourceFiles)"
        DestinationFiles="@(MySourceFiles->'c:\MyDestinationTree\%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')"
       />
    </Target>

</Project>

source: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/3e54c37h.aspx

score 3 · Answer 6 · edited Jan 05 '21 at 12:24

3

Did you try to specify concrete destination directory instead of

DestinationFolder="@(Viewer->'$(OutputPath)\\Tools')" ?

I'm not very proficient with advanced MSBuild syntax, but

@(Viewer->'$(OutputPath)\\Tools')

looks weird to me. Script looks good, so the problem might be in values of $(ApplicationDirectory) and $(OutputPath)

Here is a blog post that might be useful:

How To: Recursively Copy Files Using the <Copy> Task

edited Jan 05 '21 at 12:24

Wai Ha Lee

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answered Sep 23 '08 at 05:33

aku

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+1 for the link, which is more concise that the accepted answer from zXen. – bernd_k Feb 26 '12 at 15:54

score 3 · Answer 7 · answered Oct 20 '16 at 14:28

3

This is copy task i used in my own project, it was working perfectly for me that copies folder with sub folders to destination successfully:

<ItemGroup >
<MyProjectSource Include="$(OutputRoot)/MySource/**/*.*" />
</ItemGroup>

<Target Name="AfterCopy" AfterTargets="WebPublish">
<Copy SourceFiles="@(MyProjectSource)" 
 OverwriteReadOnlyFiles="true" DestinationFolder="$(PublishFolder)api/% (RecursiveDir)"/>

In my case i copied a project's publish folder to another destination folder, i think it is similiar with your case.

answered Oct 20 '16 at 14:28

nzrytmn

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None of the other answers work out of the box on Sdk type projects because "AfterBuild" does not get called. Setting the "AfterTargets" dependency as you did is the appropriate way to get a target to trigger after another in 'modern' msbuild. In my case I used AfterTargets="Build" to copy some dlls to another folder. – neoscribe Feb 07 '22 at 20:58

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Apr 26 '10 at 14:28

1

Personally I have made use of CopyFolder which is part of the SDC Tasks Library.

http://sdctasks.codeplex.com/

answered Apr 26 '10 at 14:28

Johan

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score 1 · Answer 9 · edited Jul 23 '19 at 12:43

The best way to recursively copy files from one directory to another using MSBuild is using Copy task with SourceFiles and DestinationFiles as parameters. For example - To copy all files from build directory to back up directory will be

<PropertyGroup>
<BuildDirectory Condition="'$(BuildDirectory)' == ''">Build</BuildDirectory>
<BackupDirectory Condition="'$(BackupDiretory)' == ''">Backup</BackupDirectory>
</PropertyGroup>

<ItemGroup>
<AllFiles Include="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)/$(BuildDirectory)/**/*.*" />
</ItemGroup>

<Target Name="Backup">
<Exec Command="if not exist $(BackupDirectory) md $(BackupDirectory)" />
<Copy SourceFiles="@(AllFiles)" DestinationFiles="@(AllFiles-> 
'$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)/$(BackupDirectory)/%(RecursiveDir)/%(Filename)% 
(Extension)')" />
</Target>

Now in above Copy command all source directories are traversed and files are copied to destination directory.

score 1 · Answer 10 · answered Apr 28 '23 at 16:41

1

Using the attribute CopyToPublishDirectory may work for some uses cases with project item Content or None. CopyToOutputDirectory also exists.

<ItemGroup>
    <Content Include="script\**;external\**" Exclude="external\otherstuff\**;external\results_*\**;external\logs\**" CopyToPublishDirectory="Always" />
</ItemGroup>

Refs:
CopyToPublishDirectory
Content Project Item
MSBuild include pathspec

answered Apr 28 '23 at 16:41

Fredrick

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It works! The one drawback is you see this (rubbish)content in "Solution Explorer". – Vincent Jun 14 '23 at 12:11

Sergei Ozerov · Answer 11 · 2019-09-27T20:10:03.647

If you are working with typical C++ toolchain, another way to go is to add your files into standard CopyFileToFolders list

<ItemGroup>
  <CopyFileToFolders Include="materials\**\*">
    <DestinationFolders>$(MainOutputDirectory)\Resources\materials\%(RecursiveDir)</DestinationFolders>
  </CopyFileToFolders>
</ItemGroup>

Besides being simple, this is a nice way to go because CopyFilesToFolders task will generate appropriate inputs, outputs and even TLog files therefore making sure that copy operations will run only when one of the input files has changed or one of the output files is missing. With TLog, Visual Studio will also properly recognize project as "up to date" or not (it uses a separate U2DCheck mechanism for that).

I tried this in a Visual Studio project, which is an msbuild file under the hood. Turns out that Visual Studio is more restrictive and doesn't allow wildcards in project items. — UweBaemayr, Apr 07 '22 at 14:11

Copy all files and folders using msbuild

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