how can i get the abs publish dir in csproj?

[liesauer]

because of the changes between 2.x and 3.x, i can not find a compatible formula to calcute the right abs publish dir.

i have tried $(PublishDir) and $([System.IO.Path]::GetFullPath('$(PublishDir)')), but it always be wrong in some situations(build with 2.x sdk or build with 3.x sdk, with or without -o option, -o option is absolute dir or relative dir)

but i have realized that the dir output by sdk always be right, so how can i get this dir in my .csproj file?

[ViktorHofer]

Is this question related to the runtime repo at all? Should we move it instead into dotnet/toolset?

[liesauer]

em, you are right. but tons of dotnet repos just make us confused and dotnet/core-setup just merge into runtime recently

[am11]

@liesauer, you can try adding a target in your csproj, and take advantage of MSBuild's ItemGroup, which provides file related metadata and resolves path implicitly:

<Target Name="MyCustomPrePublishTarget" AfterTargets="PrepareForPublish">
  <ItemGroup>
    <PublishDir Include="$(PublishDir)" />
  </ItemGroup>

  <Message Importance="High" Text="Absolute PublishDir is: %(PublishDir.FullPath)" />
</Target>

and then try different things:

# in same directory as project, with relative output
dotnet publish my.csproj -o ./myoutput

# in different directory than project file, with relative output
dotnet publish path/to/my.csproj -o another/path/to/output

# absolute path to project and relative path to output
# vice-versa
# both absolute

and look for Absolute PublishDir is: .... message in output. This MyCustomPrePublishTarget target will run just before the actual publish target and will have PublishDir set to the value of -o (unchanged). We can also change/overwrite its value in this target based on some condition, for instance:

<Target Name="MyCustomPrePublishTarget" AfterTargets="PrepareForPublish">
  <ItemGroup>
    <PublishDir Include="$(PublishDir)" />
  </ItemGroup>

  <PropertyGroup>
    <PublishDir>%(PublishDir.FullPath)</PublishDir>
    <PublishDir Condition=" $(PublishDir.Contains('unwanted')) ">some/default/path</PublishDir>
  </PropertyGroup>
</Target>

dotnet publish -o /temp/unwanted/test
# will publish in <current-working-directory>/some/default/path

dotnet publish -o /temp/different/path
# will publish in /temp/different/path

[liesauer]

@am11 thanks!

this really solve my problem perfectly

  <ItemGroup>
    <PublishDir Include="$(PublishDir)" />
  </ItemGroup>

  <PropertyGroup>
    <MyAbsPublishDir>%(PublishDir.FullPath)</MyAbsPublishDir>
  </PropertyGroup>