Skip rule is not working

Question

I've edited my csproj file according to this post, but the extra files in App_data will be deleted anyway. On the other hand, when I modify the msdeploy command as shown in the post, the skip is applied.

I'm using web deploy v3. And the command is

msdeploy.exe" -verb:sync -source:package=c:\builds\app.zip -dest:auto -setParam:"IIS Web Application Name"="Default Web Site/app"

Is there anyway to debug what can be causing this behavior ?

  <PropertyGroup>    <OnBeforePackageUsingManifest>AddCustomSkipRules</OnBeforePackageUsingManifest>
  </PropertyGroup>

<Target Name="AddCustomSkipRules">
    <ItemGroup>
      <MsDeploySkipRules Include="SkipDeleteAppData">
        <SkipAction>Delete</SkipAction>
        <ObjectName>filePath</ObjectName>
        <AbsolutePath>$(_Escaped_PackageTempDir)\\App_Data\\.*</AbsolutePath>
        <XPath>
        </XPath>
      </MsDeploySkipRules>
      <MsDeploySkipRules Include="SkipDeleteAppData">
        <SkipAction>Delete</SkipAction>
        <ObjectName>dirPath</ObjectName>
        <AbsolutePath>$(_Escaped_PackageTempDir)\\App_Data\\.*</AbsolutePath>
        <XPath>
        </XPath>
      </MsDeploySkipRules>
    </ItemGroup>
  </Target>

Answer 1

I've been reviewing the Microsoft.Web.Publishing.targets and it looks like this is already implemented, all you need to do is add this property to your MsBuild script:

<PropertyGroup>
    <SkipApp_DataFolder>True</SkipApp_DataFolder>
</PropertyGroup>

If you are running from msbuild command line you can use:

msbuild MyProject.csproj /p:SkipApp_DataFolder=True ...

UPDATE:

You may want to try this, put this code at the bottom of your MsBuild file, after any "Import" tags:

  <Target Name="GenerateSkipRuleForAppData">
    <EscapeTextForRegularExpressions Text="$(_PackageTempDir)">
      <Output TaskParameter="Result" PropertyName="_Escaped_PackageTempDir" />
    </EscapeTextForRegularExpressions>
    <ItemGroup>
      <MsDeploySkipRules Include="SkipAddDataOnDeploy">
        <SkipAction></SkipAction>
        <ObjectName>dirPath</ObjectName>
        <AbsolutePath>$(_Escaped_PackageTempDir)\\App_Data$</AbsolutePath>
        <XPath></XPath>
      </MsDeploySkipRules>
    </ItemGroup>
  </Target>

This is an exact copy of the "GenerateSkipRuleForAppData" target from Microsoft.Web.Publishing.targets without a condition (seems like the condition is not working properly), this will overwrite the original target and should force it to be executed without break the logic of the targets.