How to create MSdeploy Package using MSBuild for all files in this project folder

Question

I'm trying to create a web deploy package using msbuild through command line. I have been searching all over and found the following command

 msbuild myproject.csproj /t:package

Though it works for me but it gives me only what visual studio gives us back when we create web deploy package through Packge/Publish Web tab with "only files needed to run this application" option selected from the drop down menu. But I want my web deploy package to look exactly the same as what I get when I select "All files in this project folder" option from the drop down menu. I have gone through links like this http://sedodream.com/2010/05/01/WebDeploymentToolMSDeployBuildPackageIncludingExtraFilesOrExcludingSpecificFiles.aspx.

But I wonder that do I really need to customize my .csproj file (the way its been described in that post) since all I want, is a command line (apparently more elaborate than the one I mentioned above) for msbuild that can imitate the "All files in this project folder" option that populates the "bin folder of web deploy package" with all the .dlls that are there in the original bin folder of my project and generate me a more comprehensive package.

Answer 1

In your commandline simply add /p:FilesToIncludeForPublish=AllFilesInProjectFolder to your msbuild invocation. While you're at it, you may also want to pass in a specific configuration to build /p:Configuration=Release

So:

 msbuild myproject.csproj /t:package /p:FilesToIncludeForPublish=AllFilesInProjectFolder /p:Configuration=Release

Tip: Many of these settings are stored in your project file. Open up your file in Notepad and compare the changes made when you have changed some settings. Any item that's in a <propertygroup> can usually be passed along through the commandline as well using the /p: parameter.