How to run Visual Studio post-build events for debug build only

Question

How can I limit my post-build events to running only for one type of build   I m using the events to copy DLL files to a local IIS virtual directory  but I don t want this happening on the build server in release mode

User · Answer

You can pass the configuration name to the post-build script and check it in there to see if it should run.

Pass the configuration name with $(ConfigurationName).

Checking it is based on how you are implementing the post-build step -- it will be a command-line argument.

User · Answer

Add your post build event like normal  Then save your project  open it in Notepad  or your favorite editor   and add condition to the PostBuildEvent property group  Here s an example    lt PropertyGroup Condition      Configuration       Debug    gt       lt PostBuildEvent gt start gpedit lt  PostBuildEvent gt   lt  PropertyGroup gt

User · Answer

In Visual nbsp Studio nbsp 2012 you have to use  I think in Visual nbsp Studio nbsp 2010  too   if   Configuration     Debug xcopy     ConfigurationName  was listed as a macro  but it wasn t assigned     Compare  Macros for Build Commands and Properties

User · Answer

Visual nbsp Studio nbsp 2015  The correct syntax is  keep it on one line    if    ConfigurationName     My Debug CFG    xcopy    TargetDir test1 tmp     TargetDir test xml   y  else   xcopy    TargetDir test2 tmp     TargetDir test xml   y    No error 255 here

User · Answer

As of Visual Studio 2019  the modern  csproj format supports adding a condition directly on the Target element    lt Target Name  PostBuild  AfterTargets  PostBuildEvent  Condition     Configuration       Debug   gt       lt Exec Command  nswag run nswag json    gt   lt  Target gt    The UI doesn t provide a way to set this up  but it does appear to safely leave the Configuration attribute in place if you make changes via the UI

User · Answer

Pre- and Post-Build Events run as a batch script  You can do a conditional statement on   ConfigurationName    For instance  if   ConfigurationName     Debug xcopy something somewhere

User · Answer

Alternatively  since the events are put into a batch file and then called   use the following  in the Build event box  not in a batch file    if   ConfigurationName     Debug goto  debug   release signtool exe      xcopy      goto  exit   debug   Debug items in here   exit   This way you can have events for any configuration  and still manage it with the macros rather than having to pass them into a batch file  remember that  1 is   OutputPath   etc

User · Answer

FYI  you do not need to use goto  The shell IF command can be used with round brackets   if   ConfigurationName     Debug     copy    TargetDir myapp dll   c  delivery bin   y   copy    TargetDir myapp dll config   c  delivery bin   y   ELSE     echo  why  Microsoft  why

User · Answer

This works for me in Visual Studio 2015   I copy all DLL files from a folder located in a library folder on the same level as my solution folder into the targetdirectory of the project being built   Using a relative path from my project directory and going up the folder structure two steps with      lib  MySolutionFolder      MyProject  Lib  if   ConfigurationName     Debug   xcopy  Y    ProjectDir       lib   dll     TargetDir     ELSE  echo  Not Debug mode  no file copy from lib

User · Answer

Like any project setting  the buildevents can be configured per Configuration  Just select the configuration you want to change in the dropdown of the Property Pages dialog and edit the post build step

[visual-studio] How to run Visual Studio post-build events for debug build only

Examples related to visual-studio

Examples related to build-process