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Asked: 2026-05-20T11:56:46+00:00

Is there a generic way I can get a post-build event to copy the

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Is there a generic way I can get a post-build event to copy the built assembly, and any .config and any .xml comments files to a folder (usually solution relative) without having to write a post-build event on each project in a solution?

The goal is to have a folder that contains the last successful build of an entire solution.

It would be nice to use the same build solution over multiple solutions too, possibly enabling/ disabling certain projects (so don’t copy unit tests etc).

Thanks,
Kieron

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    You can set common OutputPath to build all projects in Sln in one temp dir and copy required files to the latest build folder. In copy action you can set a filter to copy all dlls without “test” in its name.

    msbuild.exe 1.sln /p:Configuration=Release;Platform=AnyCPU;OutputPath=..\latest-temp

    There exists more complicated and more flexible solution. You can setup a hook for build process using CustomAfterMicrosoftCommonTargets. See this post for example.
    Sample targets file can be like that:

     <Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
   <PropertyGroup>
     <BuildDependsOn>
       $(BuildDependsOn);
       PublishToLatest
     </BuildDependsOn>
   </PropertyGroup>

   <Target Name="PreparePublishingToLatest">
     <PropertyGroup>
       <TargetAssembly>$(TargetPath)</TargetAssembly>
       <TargetAssemblyPdb>$(TargetDir)$(TargetName).pdb</TargetAssemblyPdb>
       <TargetAssemblyXml>$(TargetDir)$(TargetName).xml</TargetAssemblyXml>
       <TargetAssemblyConfig>$(TargetDir)$(TargetName).config</TargetAssemblyConfig>
       <TargetAssemblyManifest>$(TargetDir)$(TargetName).manifest</TargetAssemblyManifest>
       <IsTestAssembly>$(TargetName.ToUpper().Contains("TEST"))</IsTestAssembly>
     </PropertyGroup>
     <ItemGroup>
       <PublishToLatestFiles Include="$(TargetAssembly)" Condition="Exists('$(TargetAssembly)')" />
       <PublishToLatestFiles Include="$(TargetAssemblyPdb)" Condition="Exists('$(TargetAssemblyPdb)')" />
       <PublishToLatestFiles Include="$(TargetAssemblyXml)" Condition="Exists('$(TargetAssemblyXml)')" />
       <PublishToLatestFiles Include="$(TargetAssemblyConfig)" Condition="Exists('$(TargetAssemblyConfig)')" />
       <PublishToLatestFiles Include="$(TargetAssemblyManifest)" Condition="Exists('$(TargetAssemblyManifest)')" />
     </ItemGroup>   
   </Target>

   <Target Name="PublishToLatest" 
           Condition="Exists('$(LatestDir)') AND '$(IsTestAssembly)' == 'False' AND  '@(PublishToLatestFiles)' != ''" 
           DependsOnTargets="PreparePublishingToLatest">

     <Copy SourceFiles="@(PublishToLatestFiles)" DestinationFolder="$(LatestDir)" SkipUnchangedFiles="true" />
   </Target>
 </Project>

    In that targets file you can specify any actions you want.

    You can place it here “C:\Program Files\MSBuild\v4.0\Custom.After.Microsoft.Common.targets” or here “C:\Program Files\MSBuild\4.0\Microsoft.Common.targets\ImportAfter\PublishToLatest.targets”.

    And third variant is to add to every project you want to publish import of custom targets. See How to: Use the Same Target in Multiple Project Files

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