Build events enable you to add actions either before or after the project build operation. In Umbraco, you use these events to trigger several XCOPY commands to transfer the compiled DLLs as well as any other files to your Umbraco installation. Without these actions, you would have to manually copy the compiled files to your Umbraco installation after every build in order to see the changes reflected on your website.
You manage build events in the project properties. To open the properties, simply double-click the Properties node in the Solution Explorer, as shown in Figure B-2.
After you're in the project Properties page, follow these steps to add the build events:
The variables preceded by a dollar ($) sign in Listing B-1 are known as macros in Visual Studio. You can select from a predefined list of macros by clicking on the Macros >> button in the Post-build Event Command Line dialog, and insert them into your command line.
LISTING B-1: XcopyCommands.txt
XCOPY “$(ProjectDir)bin$(TargetName).*” “<install root>in” /Y XCOPY “$(ProjectDir)usercontrols*.ascx” “<install root>usercontrols” /Y XCOPY “$(ProjectDir)css*.*” “<install root>css” /Y XCOPY “$(ProjectDir)dashboard*.*” “<install root>dashboard” /Y XCOPY “$(ProjectDir)scripts*.*” “<install root>scripts” /Y XCOPY “$(ProjectDir)xslt*.*” “<install root>xslt” /Y XCOPY “$(ProjectDir)masterpages*.master” “<install root>masterpages” /Y XCOPY “$(ProjectDir)config*.*” “<install root>config” /Y