VS 2010 pre-compile web sites with build process? - build

Question

VS 2010; TFS 2010; ASP.Net 4.0; Web Deployment Projects 2010;
I am using the build process templates in order to do one-click deploys (for dev and QA only). I want my sites to be pre-compiled. I can do it with the command line, using:
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\aspnet_compiler
-v /site_name
-p "C:\...\site_name"
-f "C:\...\site_name1"
and this works fine if I copy the files over from site_name1 to site_name...
but is there an option in the IDE for this?? It seems really silly to have to do this from the command line. I've read a lot about different options, but none seem applicable to building with the build definitions.

Answer 1

You can do this by adding the following to your .csproj file
<PropertyGroup>
<PrecompileVirtualPath>/whatever</PrecompileVirtualPath>
<PrecompilePhysicalPath>.</PrecompilePhysicalPath>
<PrecompileTargetPath>..\precompiled</PrecompileTargetPath>
<PrecompileForce>true</PrecompileForce>
<PrecompileUpdateable>false</PrecompileUpdateable>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="PrecompileWeb" DependsOnTargets="Build">
<Message Importance="high" Text="Precompiling to $(PrecompileTargetPath)" />
<GetFullPath path="$(PrecompileTargetPath)">
<Output TaskParameter="fullPath" PropertyName="PrecompileTargetFullPath" />
</GetFullPath>
<Message Importance="high" Text="Precompiling to fullpath: $(PrecompileTargetFullPath)" />
<GetFullPath path="$(PrecompilePhysicalPath)">
<Output TaskParameter="fullPath" PropertyName="PrecompilePhysicalFullPath" />
</GetFullPath>
<Message Importance="high" Text="Precompiling from fullpath: $(PrecompilePhysicalFullPath)" />
<AspNetCompiler PhysicalPath="$(PrecompilePhysicalPath)" VirtualPath="$(PrecompileVirtualPath)" TargetPath="$(PrecompileTargetPath)" Debug="true" Force="$(PrecompileForce)" Updateable="$(PrecompileUpdateable)" FixedNames="true" />
Then in TFS2010's default template
your build definition
Process tab
Advanced parameters section
MSBuild Arguments
set /target="PrecompileWeb"

Answer 2

As it currently stands, I can not find any IDE option to pre-compile websites using the build process templates. I would love to be proved wrong, as using the command line aspnet_compiler requires us (in our setup) to crack open the actual build process template, which we are trying to avoid.
I would love to be proved wrong! :)

Answer 3

We have a website that is stored in TFS2010 as a Web application. I use a MSBuild command to deploy from TFS2010. If you open your project in VS2010 Team Explorer you will see there is a "Builds" option. If you add a build and in the process tab use a build argument like ...:/p:DeployOnBuild=True /p:DeployTarget=MsDeployPublish /p:CreatePackageOnPublish=True /p:MSDeployPublishMethod=RemoteAgent /p:MSDeployServiceUrl=http://111.111.111.111/msdeployagentservice /p:DeployIisAppPath=MySiteNameInIIS /p:UserName=myDomain\BuildUser /p:Password=BuildUserPassword In the Process tab where it says "Items to Build" you just point it to your .sln file (might work with a .cspro but then the syntax changes slightly)
We have a TFS2010 server and I deploy a few of our sites to a dev, qa, pre-production or production IIS server. I do unit testing on the dev build and if the test fail then I do not deploy.
The MSBuild command does the pre-compile, would that work for you?

Answer 4

A setting for precompiling has been added. The following works in Visual Studio 2015
Open a solution
Right click on the project
Select "Publish..."
Go to settings, expand "File
Check "Precompile during Publishing"