Deploying Files from Visual Studio Code

If you are working with Web resources in Visual Studio code you might want to deploy some of your changed files to a Web server. This is one feature that the full Visual Studio inetegrates beautifully natively, but you can also use some of this functionality in Visual Studio Code.

The Deploy Addin

The Deploy Addin for VS Code lets you upload individual files to a server via FTP and a variety of other protocols. You can install this addin from the VS Code Addin sidebar - just search for Deploy.

Once installed and configured, you can then use Ctrl-Shift-P and choose Deploy File to upload the currently active or selected file to your server.

Configuration

To configure the Addin you need to add configuration options to the settings.json file for your local project folder.

Put the following file into the following location at your project root:

\.vscode\settings.json

and put the following json configuration into it:

{    
    "deploy": {
        "targets": [
            {
                "type": "ftp",
                "name": "Publish wwThreads",
                "description": "Publish WebDemo Site",
                "dir": "/site_root/WebConnectionProjects/WebDemo",
                "host": "your-site.com",
                "engine": "ftp",
                "port": 21,                
                "secure": false,
                "user": "username",
                "password": ""  // leave blank: prompt
            }
        ]
    }
}

The dir will be your project root folder which should match the folder where VS Code has been opened. If you open VS Code with the Web Connection Open Editor command this will be the project root.

Make sure the root path matches your server path or files may get copied to the wrong location on your server!

Full Site Deployment

The Deploy Addin is a minimal addin and really only works for a file by file basis. It's great to update files while you're working.

If you need to deploy a full site you probably should use another tool:

• Full Visual Studio's Deploy Web Site is great for publishing and diffing sites
• FileZilla or other FTP Client