Invoking a post-build batch file in TFS 2010

The scenario: you are using TFS 2010 as your build server, and you would like to deploy files to a remote server upon successful build by invoking a batch file.

Do note that the following steps work great in conjunction with Visual Studio T4 Templates, whereby multiple .config files (e.g. Web.Dev.config, Web.Test.config) can be generated from a master template to reflect different connection strings, etc. Oleg Sych has a nice write-up on this. Hint: hand-edit your .csproj file and use the DependentUpon element to keep your project view clean in Visual Studio—multiple .tt files can be nested under the main .tt file.

1. Make a copy of DefaultTemplate.xaml and check it in. Let’s call it BatchFilePostBuild.xaml.
2. Open BatchFilePostBuild.xaml in the designer and add 2 new Arguments:
   • BatchFile (Direction = In, Argument type = String, Default value = [blank])
   • BatchFileArguments (Direction = In, Argument type = String, Default value = [blank])
3. Expand “Run On Agent”. Drag “InvokeProcess” from the Toolbox and place it after “Try Compile, Test, and Associate …”
4. In the Properties pane for InvokeProcess:
   

   Property	Value
   Arguments	BatchFileArguments
   EnvironmentVariables	New Dictionary(Of String, String) From {{"SourcesDirectory", SourcesDirectory}, {"BinariesDirectory", BinariesDirectory}}
   FileName	BatchFile.Replace("$(SourceDir)", SourcesDirectory)

5. Double-click InvokeProcess:
   • Drag “WriteBuildMessage” from the Toolbox and place it under stdOutput. Set Importance = High, Message = stdOutput.
   • Drag “WriteBuildWarning” from the Toolbox and place it under stdError. Set Message = stdError.
6. Save and check in BatchFilePostBuild.xaml.
7. In Team Explorer, create a new build definition, with its process template being BatchFilePostBuild.xaml.
8. In the Process tab, there will be 2 properties under Misc:
   

   Property	Value
   BatchFile	Here you can specify the path and file name to your batch file relative to $(SourceDir). Refer to the folder structures in the Workspace tab.
   BatchFileArguments	A list of arguments separated by spaces. In your batch file, they will be %1, %2, %3, and so on.

9. Create and check in your batch file. In this batch file you will be able to refer to %SourcesDirectory% and %BinariesDirectory%, in addition to %1, %2, %3, etc. above. Assuming %1 is the environment type (e.g. “Test”) and %2 is the server name, here are some useful commands:
   

   Clean target folder	del /s /q "\\%2\path\to\remote\folder\*"
   Copy directory structure	xcopy "%BinariesDirectory%\path\to\folder\*" "\\%2\path\to\remote\folder" /s /y
   Copy Web.Test.config to the Test server	copy /y "%BinariesDirectory%\_PublishedWebsites\MyProject\Web.%1.config" "\\%2\path\to\remote\folder\Web.config"
   Start remote Windows service	sc \\%2 start "My Windows Service"
   Stop remote Windows service	sc \\%2 stop "My Windows Service"
   Dirty wait for around 30 seconds	ping 127.0.0.1 -n 30 > NUL

4 June 2012 | .NET | Comments