MSBuild: copy whole folder

Trying to copy a whole folder, but when I do this:

<Copy SourceFiles="$(TargetDir)\*.*" DestinationFolder="$(BuildOutput)\SomeDir" />

the copy attempts to do this: copy c:\source\. c:\destination\SomeDir\. and fails with illegal characters error

Specify your ItemGroup for SourceFiles explicitly.

<ItemGroup>
    <_CopyItems Include="$(TargetDir)\*.*" />
</ItemGroup>
<Copy
    SourceFiles="@(_CopyItems)"
    DestinationFolder="$(BuildOutput)\SomeDir"
    />

Note that _CopyItems is an item type, so it's referenced using '@' symbol rather than '$'.

Copying files can be done with the following code snippet which handles antivirus programs and subdirectories

  <ItemGroup>
        <SomeAppStuff Include="$(SolutionDir)\ProjectXXX\bins\**\*.*" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <Copy 
      SourceFiles="@(SomeAppStaff)" 
      DestinationFolder="$(OutputPath)\%(RecursiveDir)" 
      SkipUnchangedFiles="true"
      OverwriteReadOnlyFiles="true" 
      Retries="3"
      RetryDelayMilliseconds="300"/>

Specifying $(OutputPath)\%(RecursiveDir) will ask Copy task to respect subfolders, so it will place subfolders of source directory to subfolders of target directories.

SkipUnchangedFiles will increase build speed on computers with enough memory, because Windows optimizes IO for frequently used files when there's enough RAM.

Retries and RetryDelayMilliseconds handles issues related a) Compressed NTFS file system, when builds fails in seldom cases b) Antivirus Software with SSD drives.

If you put the folder in the root of your c# project then you can simple put this in your csproj.

<ItemGroup>
    <None Update="FolderToCopy\**\*.*">
      <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
    </None>
</ItemGroup>

I have only tested in the 2017 version of csproj, but I assume it's backwards compatible. Could be wrong on that though

Looking at the MSDN documentation, I believe the SourceFiles parameter requires an ITaskItem[] value. See MSDN MSBuild Copy Task

The last example on the above link is to do a recursive copy from one directory to another, maintaining the folder structure.

Succeeded to accomplish this task like this

<Target Name="AfterBuild">
  <ItemGroup>
    <SomeDir Include="$(SolutionDir)\SomeOtherProject\SomeDir\**\*" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <Copy 
    SourceFiles="@(SomeDir)" 
    DestinationFiles="@(SomeDir->'$(OutDir)\SomeDir\%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')" 
    SkipUnchangedFiles="true" 
    OverwriteReadOnlyFiles="true" 
    Retries="3" 
    RetryDelayMilliseconds="300" />

For me what worked was this:

• kept folder structure

• copied all files within the folder

• works for any folder, doesn't have to be in the project or the same project folder

  <_CopyItems Include="**." />

legend:

• <path relative to project>: this could be any path, using ..\ for going above the proj folder works
• <output folder>: folder you want the whole file structure to be dropped into, excluding the source folder.
• $(OutDir) will be bin\Debug or whatever build mode you have, if you want something else, change that.

The best solution for me was to use the magic XCOPY as I had to copy all files and sub directories

<Target Name="PostBuild" AfterTargets="PostBuildEvent">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <FilesSource>$(ProjectDir)\lib</FilesSource>
    <FilesDestination Condition=" '$(SolutionName)' == 'any name a' ">$(ProjectDir)\..\..\Something\lib</FilesDestination>
    <FilesDestination Condition=" '$(SolutionName)' == 'the top solution name' ">$(SolutionDir)\Something\lib</FilesDestination>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <Error Condition=" '$(FilesDestination)' == '' " Text="Lib not delivered. To disable this message, remove the 'Target' tag from the project file" />
  <Exec Command="RD /S /Q &quot;$(FilesDestination)&quot;" />
  <Exec Command="XCOPY &quot;$(FilesSource)&quot; &quot;$(FilesDestination)&quot; /E /I /H /R /K /Y" />
  <Exec Command="RD /S /Q &quot;$(FilesSource)&quot;" />
</Target>

This build event is fired once build succeed, it cleans the FilesDestination folder then it copies all files with directory structure from FilesSource to FilesDestination and then it delete the FilesSource folder to keep everything "bien propre" :)

NOTE

For FilesDestination, make sure you use the Condition attribute or remove it to have the copy process to its end

In Visual Studio 15.4+, there's a feature that makes this easier - you can set LinkBase or Link to control the destination path:

<ItemGroup>
  <Content Include="FolderToCopy\**" LinkBase="FolderInOutput\" CopyToOutputDirectory="Always" />
</ItemGroup>

source: https://github.com/dotnet/msbuild/issues/2949#issuecomment-362823310