Force.com IDE: migrate custom object from one org to another

Question

I am new to Salesforce. I created a few custom object, triggers and classes under one Saleforce entity. Later, I downloaded them all to IDE project. I want to migrate them to another Salesforce entiry. I am using "Deploy to Server" tool. I am getting the following errors in my Summary Log:

*** Deployment Log ***
Result: FAILED
Date: May 2, 2013 1:53:59 PM PDT

# Deployed From:
   Project name: APA Name
   Username: [email protected]
   Endpoint: www.salesforce.com

# Deployed To:
   Username: [email protected]
   Endpoint: cs15.salesforce.com

# Deploy Results:
   File Name:    objects/Authors__c.object
   Full Name:  Authors__c.APA_author_name__c
   Action:  NO ACTION
   Result:  FAILED
   Problem: Entity Authors__c not found

   File Name:    objects/Authors__c.object
   Full Name:  Authors__c.First_Name__c
   Action:  NO ACTION
   Result:  FAILED
   Problem: Entity Authors__c not found

   File Name:    objects/Authors__c.object
   Full Name:  Authors__c.Middle_Name__c
   Action:  NO ACTION
   Result:  FAILED
   Problem: Entity Authors__c not found

   File Name:    objects/Authors__c.object
   Full Name:  Authors__c.All
   Action:  NO ACTION
   Result:  FAILED
   Problem: Entity 'Authors__c' not found.

   File Name:    package.xml
   Full Name:  package.xml
   Action:  UPDATED
   Result:  SUCCESS
   Problem: n/a

# Test Results:
   n/a

This object does not exist on a second entity. Can anyone tell me why it is failing to deploy it ?

Thanks.

* EDIT 1 - package.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<Package xmlns="http://soap.sforce.com/2006/04/metadata">
    <types>
        <members>*</members>
        <name>ApexClass</name>
    </types>
    <types>
        <members>*</members>
        <name>ApexTrigger</name>
    </types>
    <types>
        <members>Account</members>
        <members>AccountContactRole</members>
        <members>Activity</members>
        <members>Asset</members>
        <members>Campaign</members>
        <members>CampaignMember</members>
        <members>Case</members>
        <members>CaseContactRole</members>
        <members>Contact</members>
        <members>ContentVersion</members>
        <members>Contract</members>
        <members>ContractContactRole</members>
        <members>Event</members>
        <members>Idea</members>
        <members>Lead</members>
        <members>Opportunity</members>
        <members>OpportunityCompetitor</members>
        <members>OpportunityContactRole</members>
        <members>OpportunityLineItem</members>
        <members>PartnerRole</members>
        <members>PersonAccount</members>
        <members>Product2</members>
        <members>Site</members>
        <members>Solution</members>
        <members>Task</members>
        <members>User</members>
        <name>CustomObject</name>
    </types>
    <version>27.0</version>
</Package>

Answer 1

As I thought - your package.xml is incomplete :)

When you were fetching components from server you probably ticked only "objects - standard". You can either quickly edit your xml manually or go to "Add/Remove metadata components" and select "objects - custom". Will be much faster to just edit!

Make sure that relevant part of package.xml looks like that:

<types>
    <members>*</members>
    <members>Account</members>
    <members>AccountContactRole</members>

    (skipped some nodes... All you really need is to add this 1st one)

    <members>User</members>
    <members>UserLicense</members>
    <name>CustomObject</name>
</types>

Then right - click the src/objects directory and go "Force.com -> Refresh from server".

Some new files should pop up in the directory, Authors__c.object being one of them (or if there was one already - it should get more content inside). Try the deployment now?

Answer 2

I've sometimes seen this when the object doesn't exist already in the target org, though I've never narrowed down what the problem specifically is.

Create an empty custom object with the same name in the target org (Authors__c) and then try the deploy, should work.