I have the following code in azure-pipelines.yml to publish 2 projects:

trigger:
  branches:
    include:
      - main

pool:
  vmImage: 'windows-latest'

steps:
- task: UseDotNet@2
  displayName: 'Use .NET'
  inputs:
    packageType: 'sdk'
    version: '8.0.x'

- task: NuGetToolInstaller@1
  displayName: 'NuGet Installer'


- task: VSBuild@1
  displayName: 'Restore WinUI3Project'
  inputs:
    solution: 'src/WinUI3Project/WinUI3Project.csproj'
    msbuildArgs: '/restore /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform="x64"'

- task: VSBuild@1
  displayName: 'Restore BlazorServerProject'
  inputs:
    solution: 'src/BlazorServerProject/BlazorServerProject.csproj'
    msbuildArgs: '/restore /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform="x64"'


- task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
  displayName: 'Publish WinUI3Project'
  inputs:
    command: 'publish'
    arguments: '--configuration Release --output $(Build.BinariesDirectory)WinUI3Project'
    projects: 'src/WinUI3Project/WinUI3Project.csproj'

- task: CopyFiles@2
  displayName: 'Copy WinUI3Project Files to Staging Directory'
  inputs:
    SourceFolder: '$(Build.BinariesDirectory)WinUI3Project'
    Contents: '**'
    TargetFolder: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)WinUI3Project'


- task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
  displayName: 'Publish BlazorServerProject'
  inputs:
    command: 'publish'
    arguments: '--configuration Release --output $(Build.BinariesDirectory)BlazorServerProject'
    projects: 'src/BlazorServerProject/BlazorServerProject.csproj'

- task: CopyFiles@2
  displayName: 'Copy BlazorServerProjectFiles to Staging Directory'
  inputs:
    SourceFolder: '$(Build.BinariesDirectory)BlazorServerProject'
    Contents: '**'
    TargetFolder: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)BlazorServerProject'


- task: PublishBuildArtifacts@1
  displayName: 'Publish Build Artifacts'
  inputs:
    pathToPublish: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'
    artifactName: 'drop'
    publishLocation: 'Container'

However, when I look at my published artifacts, I get this:

drop
├─ WinUI3Project
|   └─ BlazorServerProject.zip
└─ BlazorServerProject
   └─ BlazorServerProject.zip

Both zip files contain the same project/files, i.e. they are identical. If I re-order the yaml file such that the blazor server project is built, published, and copied first, I get the same result: blazor server project both times.

I’ve tried publishing both projects using the same DotNetCoreCLI@2 step, but could not find a syntax that worked to publish 2 specific projects in the same step. Passing **/*.csproj is not appropriate for my use case, as the repository contains other projects which should not be built in the pipeline.

I’m not looking for workarounds (e.g. creating a new .sln file that contains only the projects I want to build), but instead an understanding of why the pipeline is behaving in this way and a way to specifically target 2 .csproj files for publishing to the build artifacts.