how to rename for web deploy?

Question

I have a web application project:

As you can see, there are 3 robots.txt files - one for each environment. There're also 3 publish profiles.

Now, for each pubxml I want to pick the correct "robots.xxx.txt" file and rename it to "robots.txt". Ideally I would like to leverage MSBuild and keep the configuration within each pubxml file.

Each of the 3 publish profiles is using <WebPublishMethod>MSDeploy</WebPublishMethod>.

---

EDIT:

Just tried Richard Szalay answer, however to no avail. All 3 files are still copied to the output directory. This is what my publish profile looks like now

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
    <PropertyGroup>
        <WebPublishMethod>FileSystem</WebPublishMethod>
        <LastUsedBuildConfiguration>Release</LastUsedBuildConfiguration>
        <LastUsedPlatform>Any CPU</LastUsedPlatform>
        <SiteUrlToLaunchAfterPublish />
        <LaunchSiteAfterPublish>True</LaunchSiteAfterPublish>
        <PrecompileBeforePublish>True</PrecompileBeforePublish>
        <EnableUpdateable>True</EnableUpdateable>
        <DebugSymbols>False</DebugSymbols>
        <WDPMergeOption>DonotMerge</WDPMergeOption>
        <ExcludeApp_Data>True</ExcludeApp_Data>
        <publishUrl>C:\Temp\myproject</publishUrl>
        <DeleteExistingFiles>False</DeleteExistingFiles>
    </PropertyGroup>

    <ItemGroup>
        <MsDeployReplaceRules Include="robots">
            <ObjectName>filePath</ObjectName>
            <Match>robots\.debug\.txt</Match>
            <Replace>robots.txt</Replace>
        </MsDeployReplaceRules>
    </ItemGroup>
</Project>

Answer 1

I have no idea if this is technically the right way, but it works for me.

In your pubxml file, under the PropertyGroup node add this node:

<Target Name="MoveRobotsTxt" AfterTargets="GatherAllFilesToPublish">
  <Move Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|AnyCPU' " SourceFiles="obj\$(ConfigurationName)\Package\PackageTmp\robots.release.txt" DestinationFiles="obj\$(ConfigurationName)\Package\PackageTmp\robots.txt" />
  <Delete Files="obj\$(ConfigurationName)\Package\PackageTmp\robots.release.txt" />
</Target>

If you use more than just Release, you'll need to copy the Move command and change the Release|AnyCPU to your build name or use the special variable $(ConfigurationName).

As you don't have an existing robots.txt you want to replace only if it's the release version, you'll probably want:

<Target Name="MoveRobotsTxt" AfterTargets="GatherAllFilesToPublish">
  <Move SourceFiles="obj\$(ConfigurationName)\Package\PackageTmp\robots.$(ConfigurationName).txt" DestinationFiles="obj\$(ConfigurationName)\Package\PackageTmp\robots.txt" />
</Target>

The big ah-ha for me was realising the pubxml is just like a project file and you can use all the same commands that you use for msbuild.

While trying to solve this I saw there are a few changes between 2010 and 2012 which might explain why Richard's answer isn't working.

EDIT:

My original answer didn't work with MSBuild for some reason, the pipeline seems different between MSBuild and Visual Studio.

Also targets in the publish profile didn't get run. So I edited my project file adding this at the end after the commented out BeforeBuild/AfterBuild:

<Target Name="move_robots_in_msbuild"  AfterTargets="PipelinePreDeployCopyAllFilesToOneFolder">
  <Move Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == 'Live' " SourceFiles="obj\$(ConfigurationName)\Package\PackageTmp\robots.live.txt" DestinationFiles="obj\$(ConfigurationName)\Package\PackageTmp\robots.txt" />
  <Delete Files="obj\$(ConfigurationName)\Package\PackageTmp\robots.live.txt" />
</Target>
<Target Name="move_robots_in_visual_studio" AfterTargets="GatherAllFilesToPublish">
  <Move Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == 'Live' " SourceFiles="obj\$(ConfigurationName)\Package\PackageTmp\robots.live.txt" DestinationFiles="obj\$(ConfigurationName)\Package\PackageTmp\robots.txt" />
  <Delete Files="obj\$(ConfigurationName)\Package\PackageTmp\robots.live.txt" />
</Target>

Answer 2

What you need is a replace rule. Just add the following to your publish profile:

<ItemGroup>
  <MsDeployReplaceRules Include="robots">
    <ObjectName>filePath</ObjectName>
    <Match>robots\.debug\.txt</Match>
    <Replace>robots.txt</Replace>
  </MsDeployReplaceRules>
</ItemGroup>

If the file naming convention matches your publish profiles, you can alternatively create a single Robots.wpp.targets file in the root of your web application and use the following:

<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <ItemGroup>
    <MsDeployReplaceRules Include="robots">
      <ObjectName>filePath</ObjectName>
      <Match>robots\.$(PublishProfileName)\.txt</Match>
      <Replace>robots.txt</Replace>
    </MsDeployReplaceRules>
  </ItemGroup>
</Project>   

Answer 3

I had the same problem this morning but the two answers supplied above didn't work for me either.

Eventually I followed this article - http://www.asp.net/mvc/overview/deployment/visual-studio-web-deployment/deploying-extra-files

Then added this markup just before the </Project> tag in my debug, release and staging .pubxml files, renaming robots.release.txt appropriately:

  <Target Name="CustomCollectFiles">
    <ItemGroup>
      <_CustomFiles Include="robots.release.txt" />
      <FilesForPackagingFromProject Include="%(_CustomFiles.Identity)">
        <DestinationRelativePath>%(RecursiveDir)robots.txt</DestinationRelativePath>
      </FilesForPackagingFromProject>
    </ItemGroup>
  </Target>
  <PropertyGroup>
    <CopyAllFilesToSingleFolderForPackageDependsOn>
      CustomCollectFiles;
      $(CopyAllFilesToSingleFolderForPackageDependsOn);
    </CopyAllFilesToSingleFolderForPackageDependsOn>

    <CopyAllFilesToSingleFolderForMsdeployDependsOn>
      CustomCollectFiles;
      $(CopyAllFilesToSingleFolderForPackageDependsOn);
    </CopyAllFilesToSingleFolderForMsdeployDependsOn>
  </PropertyGroup>