How to extend target file to include registry settings for web project package

Web project package and deployment targets files are written with extensibility in mind. User can easily extend a property to include more functionalities in their package by using msbuild targets and properties.

If we check the Microsoft.Web.Publishing.targets file under “%Program Files%MSBuildMicrosoftVisualStudiov10.0Web”, we can see the following, which means if file $(WebPublishPipelineProjectName).wpp.targets exists in the project directory, we’ll import it automatically when build package or publish.

  <!--***************************************************************-->
  <!--To allow the Team build to have custom setting for the Web Application project without change the project file  -->
  <!--by default, if user have a file call $(WebPublishPipelineProjectName).wpp.targets, we will import these setting in before we start  -->
  <!--***************************************************************-->
  <PropertyGroup>
    <WebPublishPipelineCustomizeTargetFile Condition="'$(WebPublishPipelineCustomizeTargetFile)'==''">$(WebPublishPipelineProjectDirectory)$(WebPublishPipelineProjectName).wpp.targets</WebPublishPipelineCustomizeTargetFile>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <Import Project="$(WebPublishPipelineCustomizeTargetFile)" Condition="Exists($(WebPublishPipelineCustomizeTargetFile))"/>

Here’s steps to create a customized target file to include some registry keys in the web package by using msdeploy’s regKey provider. (The link contains the functionality and limitation of regKey provider)

1. Create a file WebApplicationName.wpp.targets in the same folder as your web project (e.g. if the project file is WebApplication1.vbproj, then name the file WebApplication1.wpp.targets) with following content:

<!--********************************************************************-->
<!-- Task CollectRegKeysForPackage -->
<!-- RegKey reference: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd569085(WS.10).aspx -->
<!--********************************************************************-->
<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <!--Targets get execute before this Target-->
    <OnBeforeCollectRegKeysForPackage Condition="'$(OnBeforeCollectRegKeysForPackage)'==''">
    </OnBeforeCollectRegKeysForPackage>
    <!--Targets get execute after this Target-->
    <OnAfterCollectRegKeysForPackage Condition="'$(OnAfterCollectRegKeysForPackage)'==''">
    </OnAfterCollectRegKeysForPackage>

    <CollectRegKeysForPackageDependsOn Condition="'$(CollectRegKeysForPackageDependsOn)'==''">
      $(OnBeforeCollectRegKeysForPackage);
      Build;
    </CollectRegKeysForPackageDependsOn>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <PropertyGroup>
    <IncludeRegKeyForMyProject Condition="'$(IncludeRegKeyForMyProject)'==''">False</IncludeRegKeyForMyProject>
    <MyRegKeyPath Condition="'$(MyRegKeyPath)'==''"></MyRegKeyPath>
    <AfterAddContentPathToSourceManifest Condition="'$(AfterAddContentPathToSourceManifest)'==''">
      $(AfterAddContentPathToSourceManifest);
      CollectRegKeysForPackage;
    </AfterAddContentPathToSourceManifest>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <MyRegkeys Include = "$(MyRegKeyPath)"/>
  </ItemGroup>

  <Target Name="CollectRegKeysForPackage"
          DependsOnTargets="$(CollectRegKeysForPackageDependsOn)"
          Condition="$(IncludeRegKeyForMyProject) AND '$(MyRegKeyPath)'!=''">

    <Message Text="Adding %(MyRegkeys.Identity)" />
    <ItemGroup>
      <MsDeploySourceManifest Include="regkey"
                                 Condition="$(IncludeRegKeyForMyProject)">
        <Path>%(MyRegkeys.Identity)</Path>
      </MsDeploySourceManifest>
    </ItemGroup>
    <CallTarget Targets="$(OnAfterCollectRegKeysForPackage)" RunEachTargetSeparately="false" />
  </Target>
</Project>

2. Package the project from command line using parameters such as the following to include multiple registry keys (seperated by ; sign) in the package.

msbuild WebApplication1.vbproj /target:package /p:IncludeRegKeyForMyProject=True;MyRegKeyPath="hkey_current_usercontrol paneldesktopwindowmetrics;hkey_current_usercontrol paneldesktopcolors"

In objdebugpackageWebApplication1.SourceManifest.xml file, you should see two regkey providers are defined:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<sitemanifest>
  <regkey path="hkey_current_usercontrol paneldesktopwindowmetrics" />
  <regkey path="hkey_current_usercontrol paneldesktopcolors" />
  <IisApp path="D:tempWebApplication1WebApplication1objDebugPackagePackageTmp" managedRuntimeVersion="v4.0" />
  <setAcl path="D:tempWebApplication1WebApplication1objDebugPackagePackageTmp" setAclResourceType="Directory" />
  <setAcl path="D:tempWebApplication1WebApplication1objDebugPackagePackageTmp" setAclUser="anonymousAuthenticationUser" setAclResourceType="Directory" />
</sitemanifest>

3. To proves it works, we change the hkey_current_usercontrol paneldesktopwindowmetricsMenuWidth from –285 to –284, then we deploy the package locally from command line:

WebApplication1.deploy.cmd /y

4. We see the following line which showed that the corresponding registry is updated.

Info: Updating regValue (hkey_current_usercontrol paneldesktopwindowmetricsMenuWidth).

5. Or we can import the package from IIS

After installation finishes, from its details tab, there are the following messages:

[2/9/2010 11:55:05 AM] Source regValue (hkey_current_usercontrol paneldesktopwindowmetricsMenuWidth) does not match destination (hkey_current_usercontrol paneldesktopwindowmetricsMenuWidth) differing in attributes (value[‘-285′,’-284′]). Update pending.
[2/9/2010 11:55:05 AM] Source regValue (hkey_current_usercontrol paneldesktopwindowmetricsMenuWidth) replaced with changed attributes (parameters) because of rule EnvironmentVariableNormalize.

[2/9/2010 11:55:05 AM] Updating regValue (hkey_current_usercontrol paneldesktopwindowmetricsMenuWidth).

If you simply want to hardcode the registry keys for your project and don’t want to worry about more extensions, here’s a simplified version:

<!--********************************************************************-->
<!-- Task CollectRegKeysForPackage -->
<!-- RegKey reference: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd569085(WS.10).aspx -->
<!--********************************************************************-->
<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <!-- Extends the AfterAddContentPathToSourceManifest action do also collect registry keys-->
    <!-- Hard code -->
    <MyRegKeyPath Condition="'$(MyRegKeyPath)'==''">hkey_current_usercontrol paneldesktopwindowmetrics;hkey_current_usercontrol paneldesktopcolors</MyRegKeyPath>
    <AfterAddContentPathToSourceManifest Condition="'$(AfterAddContentPathToSourceManifest)'==''">
      $(AfterAddContentPathToSourceManifest);
      CollectRegKeysForPackage;
    </AfterAddContentPathToSourceManifest>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <MyRegkeys Include = "$(MyRegKeyPath)"/>
  </ItemGroup>

  <Target Name="CollectRegKeysForPackage" Condition="'$(MyRegKeyPath)'!=''">
    <Message Text="Adding %(MyRegkeys.Identity)" />
    <ItemGroup>
      <MsDeploySourceManifest Include="regkey">
        <Path>%(MyRegkeys.Identity)</Path>
      </MsDeploySourceManifest>
    </ItemGroup>
  </Target>

</Project>

Note: if you change an existing target file (this.wpp.targets). You need to restart VS IDE to allow the target file cache to be unloaded and reloaded, in order for package/publish using the change.