Deploy click-once application with Azure Devops?

Question

I have an error when deploying my click-once project with Azure DevOps Pipeline. I don't see where is my error.

First, I can build and publish my click-once application manually from Visual Studio. I have no issue. When I use Azure DevOps Pipeline to build and publish my click-once application I get an error:

[error]C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\MSBuild\15.0\Bin\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(780,5): Error : The OutputPath property is not set for project '******.vbproj'. Please check to make sure that you have specified a valid combination of Configuration and Platform for this project. Configuration='release' Platform='any cpu'. You may be seeing this message because you are trying to build a project without a solution file, and have specified a non-default Configuration or Platform that doesn't exist for this project.

The OutputPath property is not set for project. Well, I don't know. Let me give you my project file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="14.0" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props" Condition="Exists('$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props')" />
  <PropertyGroup>
    <Configuration Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == '' ">Debug</Configuration>
    <Platform Condition=" '$(Platform)' == '' ">AnyCPU</Platform>
    <ProjectGuid>{****}</ProjectGuid>
    <OutputType>WinExe</OutputType>
    <AppDesignerFolder>Properties</AppDesignerFolder>
    <RootNamespace>****.*****4</RootNamespace>
    <AssemblyName>****.*****4</AssemblyName>
    <TargetFrameworkVersion>v4.7.2</TargetFrameworkVersion>
    <FileAlignment>512</FileAlignment>
    <ProjectTypeGuids>{60dc8134-eba5-43b8-bcc9-bb4bc16c2548};{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}</ProjectTypeGuids>
    <WarningLevel>4</WarningLevel>
    <AutoGenerateBindingRedirects>true</AutoGenerateBindingRedirects>
    <IsWebBootstrapper>true</IsWebBootstrapper>
    <NuGetPackageImportStamp>
    </NuGetPackageImportStamp>
    <TargetFrameworkProfile />
    <PublishFilePath>$(PublishDir)install*****4.html</PublishFilePath>
    <PublishUrl>\\server15\c%24\inetpub\wwwroot\*****4Install %28Staging%29\</PublishUrl>
    <Install>true</Install>
    <InstallFrom>Web</InstallFrom>
    <UpdateEnabled>true</UpdateEnabled>
    <UpdateMode>Foreground</UpdateMode>
    <UpdateInterval>7</UpdateInterval>
    <UpdateIntervalUnits>Days</UpdateIntervalUnits>
    <UpdatePeriodically>false</UpdatePeriodically>
    <UpdateRequired>true</UpdateRequired>
    <MapFileExtensions>true</MapFileExtensions>
    <InstallUrl>http://*****4install-staging.newsprintgroup.com/</InstallUrl>
    <ProductName>***** Application</ProductName>
    <PublisherName>NewsPrint Group</PublisherName>
    <MinimumRequiredVersion>4.15.0.0</MinimumRequiredVersion>
    <CreateWebPageOnPublish>true</CreateWebPageOnPublish>
    <WebPage>install*****4.html</WebPage>
    <ApplicationRevision>1</ApplicationRevision>
    <ApplicationVersion>4.15.9.1</ApplicationVersion>
    <UseApplicationTrust>false</UseApplicationTrust>
    <CreateDesktopShortcut>true</CreateDesktopShortcut>
    <PublishWizardCompleted>true</PublishWizardCompleted>
    <BootstrapperEnabled>true</BootstrapperEnabled>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|AnyCPU' ">
    <PlatformTarget>AnyCPU</PlatformTarget>
    <DebugSymbols>true</DebugSymbols>
    <DebugType>full</DebugType>
    <Optimize>false</Optimize>
    <OutputPath>bin\Debug\</OutputPath>
    <DefineConstants>DEBUG;TRACE</DefineConstants>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <WarningLevel>4</WarningLevel>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|AnyCPU' ">
    <PlatformTarget>AnyCPU</PlatformTarget>
    <DebugType>pdbonly</DebugType>
    <Optimize>true</Optimize>
    <OutputPath>bin\Release\</OutputPath>
    <DefineConstants>TRACE</DefineConstants>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <WarningLevel>4</WarningLevel>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup>
    <ManifestCertificateThumbprint>57DF31CB3510678332744572F14AD9BAAC60178E</ManifestCertificateThumbprint>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup>
    <ManifestKeyFile>****.*****4_1_TemporaryKey.pfx</ManifestKeyFile>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup>
    <GenerateManifests>true</GenerateManifests>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup>
    <SignManifests>false</SignManifests>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    (...)
  </ItemGroup>
  <Import Project="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets" />
  <Import Project="$(SlowCheetahTargets)" Condition="Exists('$(SlowCheetahTargets)')" Label="SlowCheetah" />
  <Import Project="..\packages\Microsoft.Bcl.Build.1.0.21\build\Microsoft.Bcl.Build.targets" Condition="Exists('..\packages\Microsoft.Bcl.Build.1.0.21\build\Microsoft.Bcl.Build.targets')" />
  <Target Name="EnsureNuGetPackageBuildImports" BeforeTargets="PrepareForBuild">
    <PropertyGroup>
      <ErrorText>This project references NuGet package(s) that are missing on this computer. Use NuGet Package Restore to download them.  For more information, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=322105. The missing file is {0}.</ErrorText>
    </PropertyGroup>
    <Error Condition="!Exists('..\packages\Microsoft.Bcl.Build.1.0.21\build\Microsoft.Bcl.Build.targets')" Text="$([System.String]::Format('$(ErrorText)', '..\packages\Microsoft.Bcl.Build.1.0.21\build\Microsoft.Bcl.Build.targets'))" />
    <Error Condition="!Exists('..\packages\SlowCheetah.2.5.48\build\SlowCheetah.targets')" Text="$([System.String]::Format('$(ErrorText)', '..\packages\SlowCheetah.2.5.48\build\SlowCheetah.targets'))" />
  </Target>
  <Import Project="..\packages\SlowCheetah.2.5.48\build\SlowCheetah.targets" Condition="Exists('..\packages\SlowCheetah.2.5.48\build\SlowCheetah.targets')" />
  <!-- To modify your build process, add your task inside one of the targets below and uncomment it. 
       Other similar extension points exist, see Microsoft.Common.targets.
  <Target Name="BeforeBuild">
  </Target>
  <Target Name="AfterBuild">
  </Target>
  -->
</Project>

Answer 1

This error only relevant with your incorrect configuration about the Platform in the task. It should caused by the value you specified to Platform could not be recognized by the task. Without the Platform value, the server prompt the error message Please check to make sure that you have specified a valid combination of Configuration and Platform for this project.

Since what you used in the task is .*proj file instead of .sln file, to solve the error you are facing, here you need use AnyCPU rather than a normal value any cpu.

In this doc, it point out that corresponding to different file designation methods, you should use the different task configurations: