Visual Studio 2012 partial publish

Question

when i publish my ASP.NET (webforms) website with Visual Studio 2012 always all files are uploaded. Even Images?

Is there a way to only publish changed files?

Answer 1

Just FYI: Microsoft added that feature in VS 2012 Update #2 :

http://www.west-wind.com/weblog/posts/2013/May/10/Publish-Individual-Files-to-your-Server-in-Visual-Studio-20122

Answer 2

For the record, the "only publish changed files" check-box that was in VS2012's Publish profile has been removed from VS2012's Publish profile. One step forward, two steps back.

Answer 3

No, the Publish Wizard in Visual Studio does not offer this.

A suggestion is to publish locally and only update the changed files manually.

Answer 4

Use node->npm->gulp watch to track them. This way it uploads only when a file is changed, and you need not track the changeset at all. We should all be using gulp these days anyway.

Having to manually manage all the assets individually, or be forced to upload the entire published package, is just crazy. I for one can't believe visual studio, even the newest 2015 edition, doesn't have something better. Pretty sad really.

Here's my gulp script, which was sourced from (I just cleaned it up really):

• http://loige.co/gulp-and-ftp-update-a-website-on-the-fly/
• https://discourse.roots.io/t/issue-with-gulp-watch-on-files-modified-through-ftp-how-to-delay-task/3479

`

var gulp  = require('gulp'),
gutil = require('gulp-util'),
vftp = require('vinyl-ftp');

var fconfig {
    host: "127.0.0.1",
    port: "21",
    user: "root",
    password: "top-secret-tacos",
    simultaneous_connections: 5,
    file_lock_delay: 450, // ms to wait for lock release. "meh".
    local_path: ".",
    remote_path: "/my_path/as_seen/in_ftp/",
    globs: {
        "/assets/src/**/*.*css",
        "/assets/src/**/*.js",
        "/assets/dist/**/*",
        "/**/*.ascx", // track .net changes and upload instantly when saved.
        // don't track visual studio stuff.
        "!./obj/**/*",
        "!./bin/**/*",
        "!./packages/",
        "!./App_LocalResources/**/*",
        "!./vs/**/*",
        "!./properties/**/*",
        "!./node_modules/**/*"
    }
};


    // Add debounce to gulp watch for FTP
(function ftp_debounce_fix(){

  var watch = gulp.watch;

  // Overwrite the local gulp.watch function
  gulp.watch = function(glob, opt, fn){
    var _this = this, _fn, timeout;

    // This is taken from the gulpjs file, but needed to
    // qualify the "fn" variable
    if ( typeof opt === 'function' || Array.isArray(opt) ) {
      fn = opt;
      opt = null;
    }

    // Make a copy of the callback function for reference
    _fn = fn;

    // Create a new delayed callback function
    fn = function(){

      if( timeout ){
        clearTimeout( timeout );
      }
      console.log("Delayed Task setup[450].");
      timeout = setTimeout( Array.isArray(_fn) ? function(){
        _this.start.call(_this, _fn);
      } : _fn, fconfig.file_lock_delay);

    };

    return watch.call( this, glob, opt, fn );
  };

})();

function getFtpConnection() {  
    return vftp.create({
        host: fconfig.host,
        port: fconfig.port,
        user: fconfig.user,
        password: fconfig.pass,
        parallel: fconfig.simultaneous_connections,
        log: gutil.log
    });
}
gulp.task('deploy', function() {
    var conn = getFtpConnection();
    return gulp.src(fconfig.globs, { base: fconfig.local_path, buffer: false })
        .pipe( conn.newer( fconfig.remote_root ) ) // only upload newer files 
        .pipe( conn.dest( fconfig.remote_root ) )
    ;
});
gulp.task('deploy-watch', function() {
    var conn = getFtpConnection();

    gulp.watch(fconfig.globs)
    .on('change', function(event) {
      console.log('Changes detected! Uploading file "' + event.path + '", ' + event.type);

      return gulp.src( [event.path], { base: fconfig.local_path, buffer: false } )
        .pipe( conn.newer( fconfig.remote_root ) ) // only upload newer files 
        .pipe( conn.dest( fconfig.remote_root ) )
      ;
    });
});`