Make a WebApplication project automatically publish on build
If you want to publish a Web Application project you can call MsBuild with parameters. Having a publish happen on each and every build - there is work to do.
Visual Studio project files are MsBuild files since Version 2005. There is a way to force MsBuild and Visual Studio behave as requested.
The project file needs to be edited slightly:
<PropertyGroup>
<PublishDestination>..\..\..\out\YourPublishDirectory</PublishDestination>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target
Name="PublishToFileSystem"
DependsOnTargets="PipelinePreDeployCopyAllFilesToOneFolder"
AfterTargets="Build">
<MakeDir
Condition="!Exists($(PublishDestination))"
Directories="$(PublishDestination)"
/>
<ItemGroup>
<PublishFiles
Include="$(_PackageTempDir)\**\*.*"
/>
</ItemGroup>
<Copy
SourceFiles="@(PublishFiles)"
DestinationFiles="@(PublishFiles->'$(PublishDestination)\%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')"
SkipUnchangedFiles="True"
/>
</Target>