Publish WebApplication using NAnt - build

Question

Is it possible to accomplish publish (as in Visual Studio publish on Web Application project) on solution using NAnt? I just can't find the solution.

Answer 1

They key is to use the built-in "_CopyWebApplication" target.
Here is what i do
<target name="compile" description="Compiles the project.">
<exec basedir="." program="${DotNetPath}msbuild.exe" commandline=" src/MyProject.Web/MyProject.Web.csproj /nologo
/t:Rebuild
/t:ResolveReferences;_CopyWebApplication
/p:OutDir=../../output/build/bin/
/p:WebProjectOutputDir=../../output/build/
/p:Debug=${debug}
/p:Configuration=${configuration}
/v:m"
workingdir="." failonerror="true" />
</target>
with the dir structure of:
/project.build
/src/myprojct.sln
/src/myporject.web/myproject.web.csproj
/output
Edit: i also use this to use the YUI compression to compress my css and js
<target name="compress-js">
<foreach item="File" property="filename">
<in>
<items basedir="output/build/assets/javascript/">
<include name="/**/*.js" />
<exclude name="/**/*.min.js" />
<exclude name="/**/*.pack.js" />
</items>
</in>
<do>
<exec basedir="." program="${JavaPath}java" commandline=" -jar S:\yuicompressor-2.4.1\build\yuicompressor-2.4.1.jar --type js --charset utf-8 -o "${filename}" "${filename}"" failonerror="true" />
</do>
</foreach>
</target>
<target name="compress-css" depends="combine-css">
<foreach item="File" property="filename">
<in>
<items basedir="output/build/assets/css/">
<include name="/**/*.css" />
<exclude name="/**/*.min.css" />
<exclude name="/**/*.pack.css" />
</items>
</in>
<do>
<exec basedir="." program="S:\Java\jdk1.6.0_11\bin\java" commandline=" -jar S:\yuicompressor-2.4.1\build\yuicompressor-2.4.1.jar --type css --charset utf-8 -o "${filename}" "${filename}"" failonerror="true" />
</do>
</foreach>
</target>

Answer 2

Using MSBuild beats the purpose of using NAnt, NAnt is something that replaces MSBuild, use the below to do a clean NAnt compilation of Web Application Projects as in VS 2003/2005/2008.
It works for me!
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<project name="MyTest" default="run">
<property name="basename" value="MyTest1x"/>
<property name="debug" value="false"/>
<property name="copytarget" value="c:\temp"/>
<target name="clean">
<delete>
<fileset basedir="${copytarget}">
<include name="bin/${basename}.dll"/>
<include name="**/*.???x"/>
<include name="Web.config"/>
</fileset>
</delete>
</target>
<target name="build">
<mkdir dir="${copytarget}/bin" />
<csc target="library" output="${copytarget}/bin/${basename}.dll" >
<sources>
<include name="*.cs"/>
</sources>
</csc>
</target>
<target name="run" depends="clean,build">
<copy todir="${copytarget}" overwrite="true">
<fileset basedir=".">
<include name="**/*.???x" />
<include name="Web.config" />
</fileset>
</copy>
</target>
</project>

Answer 3

I know this is an old question, but I just learned something, so I decided I'd share: While it is 100% true that the "_CopyWebApplication" target exists and works, as of .NET 4.0 it has been superseded by the "_WPPCopyWebApplication" target in Microsoft.Web.Publishing.targets, which supports new features like web.config transformation syntax, etc.
(reposting to all the similarly worded questions, so don't vote for this one :) )

Answer 4

Here is how you can do it using the MSBUILD task for nant:
<property name="debug" value="AutomatedDebug" />
<property name="configuration" value="Debug;TargetFrameworkVersion=v3.5" />
<msbuild project="src\WebApplication1\WebApplication1.csproj" failonerror="true">
<arg value="/nologo" />
<arg value="/t:Rebuild" />
<arg value="/t:ResolveReferences;_CopyWebApplication" />
<arg value="/p:OutDir=../../build/Debug/WebApplication/" />
<arg value="/p:WebProjectOutputDir=../../build/Debug/WebApplication-Deploy/" />
<arg value="/p:Debug=${debug}" />
<arg value="/p:Configuration=${configuration}" />
<arg value="/v:m" />
</msbuild>
This will compile the WebApplication into a deployable folder, just like using the "Publish" feature from within Visual Studio.