How to deploy files for Sitecore using TDS

Question

I'm starting a new Sitecore 9 project using Helix and TDS. I've got my basic structure setup, using Hedgehog's fork of the Habitat site as a guide. I'm also referencing Hedgehog's docs.

My solution is just a start, so it's very simple right now, only a Foundation.Serialization module that contains the TDS projects for the basic layer folders and a Project.Website module that contains a TDS project and an MVC Website project (MVC)....it's got a basic Razor view and some random CSS/JS files.

The TDS Habitat readme, says to use Solution > Deploy Solution to deploy the projects. When I do this on my project it builds and the Sitecore items are deployed to Sitecore, but my Views and CSS/JS are not....presumably because I haven't configured anything to facilitate this.

Looking at the docs and the TDS Habitat solution, it's not clear to me how to configure TDS to know anything about how to deploy files. I'm finding info on the web that says that TDS will deploy files, transform configs, etc but with no examples of how to actually make that happen.

How do I set things up so Deploy Solution will also deploy files from all of the web projects in a solution to my local web root?

Answer 1

First, you will need to make sure the Sitecore Deploy Folder is set. From the documentation:

Sitecore Deploy Folder – Contains the path to the ROOT of the Sitecore instance on the file system. This setting is used to install the TDS Classic service when needed and to deploy the compiled code when the TDS Classic project is built.

You also need to make sure that file deployment has not been disabled:

Disable File Deployment – Stops TDS Classic deploying files to the directory specified in the Sitecore Deploy Folder.

If you are still not seeing the files being deployed, you will need to check if the process has access to the deploy folder.

You can also deploy files as a .update package and then use another automated tool to deploy the .update package to the target environment.

Answer 2

I figured out the issue. On the properties page for a TDS project there is a field where you indicate which projects should be built and deployed along with the sitecore items:

https://www.hhogdev.com/help/tds/propgeneral