[Gulp] Use gulp-msbuild to publish

 gulp    gulp-msbuild   yargs    ASP.NET Web Deploy

▌Introduction

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gulp-msbuild : msbuild plugin for gulp

yargs : parsing arguments and generating an elegant user interface

We will use gulp-msbuild and yargs to execute a web deploy of ASP.NET to remote server.

Notice that gulp-msbuild takes the benefits of msbuild commands and thus it can be used for integration of continuous delivery.

▌Environment

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▋gulp.js 3.9.1

▋gulp-msbuild 0.5.5

▋yargs 12.0.1

▋ASP.NET MVC5

▌Implement

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▋Install packages

$ npm install gulp-msbuild --save-dev

$ npm install yargs --save-dev

▋yargs

First let’s see an easy sample of using yargs to get the arguments in gulp command.

var gulp = require('gulp');

var argv = require('yargs').argv;

gulp.task("default", function () {

    console.log(`User=${argv.user}`);

    console.log(`Password=${argv.pwd}`);

})

Test it like following,

$ gulp --user=JB --pwd=123456

User=JB

Password=123456

$ gulp --user JB --pwd 123456

User=JB

Password=123456

$ gulp --user=JB

User=JB

Password=undefined

$ gulp --user=JB --pwd

User=JB

Password=true

$ gulp --user=JB --pwd=

User=JB

Password=

▋Publish files

An example for publishing all projects (which can be published) in a solution to specified folder.

var buildOptions = {

    outputDir: "./gulp_deploy",

    configuration: "Test" //Configuration name (組態名稱)

};

gulp.task("msbuild", function () {

    return gulp.src("./MyProject.sln")

        .pipe(msbuild({

            targets: ['Clean', 'Build'], //Clean and Build

            toolsVersion: 'auto', //the .NET Tools-Version, such as 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 3.5, 4.0, 12.0, 14.0, 15.0, 'auto'

            errorOnFail: true, //Cause the gulp task to fail

            stdout: true, //Show output of msbuild

            properties: {

                Optimize: true,

                DebugSymbols: true, 

                Configuration: buildOptions.configuration,

                OutDir: buildOptions.outputDir,

                UseWPP_CopyWebApplication: true,

                PipelineDependsOnBuild: false,

            },

        })

        );

});

Here are the descriptions of the properties.

Property name	Description	Value
Optimize	Optimize the compiler	boolean
DebugSymbols	Enable or disable generating PDB(.pdb) file	boolean
Configuration	Configuration name (組態名稱)
OutDir	Output publish files to specified directory
UseWPP_CopyWebApplication	Allow to leverage the web.config transformation	boolean
PipelineDependsOnBuild	Generate build files by projects	boolean

※Find more details about MSBUILD properties on Common MSBuild Project Properties.

$ gulp msbuild

Will results in the following files,

You can find the published web sites in _PublishedWebsites.

▋Deploy to remote server with web deploy

Before using this feature, make sure you had installed web deploy agent on remote server and create a web deploy profile in the ASP.NET project. See more information in Web Deployment Overview for Visual Studio and ASP.NET.

var buildOptions = {

    outputDir: "../gulp_deploy",

    publishProfile: "MyDeployProfile",

    configuration: "Test"

};

gulp.task("msbuild", function () {

    return gulp.src("./MyWebsite.csproj")

        .pipe(msbuild({

            targets: ['Clean', 'Build'],

            toolsVersion: 'auto', //the .NET Tools-Version

            errorOnFail: true, //Cause the gulp task to fail

            stdout: true, //Show output of msbuild

            properties: {

                Optimize: true,

                DebugSymbols: true,

                Configuration: buildOptions.configuration,

                Platform: "AnyCPU",

                //OutDir: buildOptions.outputDir, //Optional when deploying

                UseWPP_CopyWebApplication: true,

                PipelineDependsOnBuild: false,

                DeployOnBuild: true, //Trigger the deploy

                PublishProfile: buildOptions.publishProfile,

                EnableMSDeployAppOffline: true,

                AllowUntrustedCertificate: true, //For Web deploy

                UserName: argv.user, //User name

                Password: argv.pwd //Password

            },

        })

        );

});

Property name	Description	Value
DeployOnBuild		true
PublishProfile	Profile name
EnableMSDeployAppOffline	Enable APP offline rule. Make sure placing App_Offline.htm in the root directory of your web application but exclude it from .csproj.	boolean
AllowUntrustedCertificate	Allow untrusted certificate.	true
UserName	The user name for publish profile
Password	The password for publish profile

Tips. Notice that you can set the above information in the publish profiles as well.

For example,

<PropertyGroup>

    <EnableMSDeployAppOffline>True</EnableMSDeployAppOffline>

</PropertyGroup>

Finally, we can trigger a web deploy to remote server like this,

$ gulp msbuild --user=jb --pwd=xxxxx

▌Reference

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▋[Gulp][.Net Web Application][CI] 透過 Gulp:gulp-msbuild 進行 Build Project

▋Web Deploy - Publish with MsBuild

▋Taking an Application Offline before Publishing