Take the following example:
<EmbeddedResource Include="Resources\files\main-*.png">
<LogicalName>Images\main\???.resources</LogicalName>
</EmbeddedResource>
How can I get the part from "*" inside a child of a node? I have found %Filename%, but that's too much.
It is possible, but requires some property functions kung fu.
<Project>
<!--
Create files:
Resources\files\main-foo.png
Resources\files\main-bar.png
Run:
MSBuild.exe foo.proj /t:Test
Output:
LogicalName: Images\main\foo.resources
LogicalName: Images\main\bar.resources
-->
<ItemGroup>
<EmbeddedResource Include="Resources\files\main-*.png">
<_DashPosition>$([System.String]::Copy('%(FileName)').IndexOf('-'))</_DashPosition>
<_LogicalNameStart>$([MSBuild]::Add(%(_DashPosition), 1))</_LogicalNameStart>
<LogicalName>Images\main\$([System.String]::Copy('%(FileName)').Substring(%(_LogicalNameStart))).resources</LogicalName>
</EmbeddedResource>
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="Test">
<Message Text="LogicalName: %(EmbeddedResource.LogicalName)" Importance="high"/>
</Target>
</Project>
The general approach is like it would be in C# or other language. Find the delimiter (here - in the filename) and take everything after that as LogicalName.
Note that I used "temporary" item metadata (the '_' is just a convention here) to keep things a little more clear. In theory, you could cramp all into the <LogicalName> itself.
Related
I have an ItemGroup declared as follows:
<ItemGroup>
<MyCustomProjectType Include="..\path_to_my_project">
<Name>MyProjectName</Name>
</MyCustomProjectType>
</ItemGroup>
This is a custom project type that I want to perform some specific manipulations on.
Later I have a Target (example only but it communicates what I am after):
<Target Name="MyTarget">
<ItemGroup>
<CustomProjectReferenceFiles
KeepMetadata="Name"
Include="#(MyCustomProjectType->'%(Identity)\%(Name)\**\*')"
Exclude="**\*.x;**\*.y"
/>
</ItemGroup>
<Message Text="#(CustomProjectReferenceFiles)" />
</Target>
So I have a Target based ItemGroup where I am attempting, using a transform, to create a new Include. This does run, but it appears the Include is literally set to:
..\path_to_my_project\MyProjectName\**\*
AKA that glob/wildcards are not expanded.
I'm pretty new to MSBuild so maybe I am missing something in my search of the documentation. One solution I thought of here would be just just create a new Custom Task that handles pulling out the files I need and setting that Output on an intermediate Target.
I also found this SO question:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/3398872/1060314
Which brings up the point about CreateItem being deprecated which leaves me with not knowing what the alternatives are.
The easiest way is to use an intermediate property so that the actual text is used and not the escaped transformed items:
<PropertyGroup>
<_CustomProjectReferenceFileIncludes>#(MyCustomProjectType->'%(Identity)\%(Name)\**\*')</_CustomProjectReferenceFileIncludes>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<CustomProjectReferenceFiles
KeepMetadata="Name"
Include="$(_CustomProjectReferenceFileIncludes)"
Exclude="**\*.x;**\*.y"
/>
</ItemGroup>
This is a snippet of my Publish Profile:
<Exec WorkingDirectory="$(_PackageTempDir)"
Command="uglifyjs ..\..\..\..\js\file1.js ..\..\..\..\js\file2.js --mangle --reserved "$" --compress > js\outfile.min.js" />
Certain files (say file1.js) is located outside my project and therefore is not copied to the _PackageTempDir. Here I have to ..\ up several levels to get there. I'm wondering if there is a good way to use an ItemGroup or full path that will allow me the same results.
The above code "works". It is just complicated and difficult to maintain. Looking for a better solution.
EDIT:
Based on Sayed's suggestions, I refined my profile to:
<ItemGroup>
<UglifyJSFiles Include="$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)..\..\js\mcm\mcm.js" />
<UglifyJSFiles Include="$(_PackageTempDir)\js\main.js" />
</ItemGroup>
<Exec WorkingDirectory="$(_PackageTempDir)"
Command="uglifyjs #(UglifyJSFiles,' ') > js\app.min.js" />
But I am running into an issue because the paths contain spaces. How can I either quote the path strings or escape the spaces?
Here is an example showing a better approach
<PropertyGroup>
<JsFilesToUglifyRoot Condition=" '$(JsFilesToUglifyRoot)'=='' ">$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)\..\..\..\..\js\</JsFilesToUglifyRoot>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<JsFilesToUglify Include="$(JsFilesToUglifyRoot)**\*.js" />
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="AfterBuild">
<Message Text="Files: [#(JsFilesToUglify,' ')]" Importance="high" />
<!-- If you need to quote the file paths use the transform below -->
<Message Text="Files: [#(JsFilesToUglify->'"%(FullPath)"',' ')]" Importance="high" />
</Target>
Here I define a new property JsFilesToUglify that is populated with the path you indicated above. Note the usage of the MSBuildThisFileDirectory reserved property. You should not rely on just ..\ as its value may be different in VS versus outside of VS. Also do not use the MSBuildProjectDirectory property, only MSBuildThisFileDirectory.
Then inside of the target I transform the list of files with #(JsFilesToUglify,' ') the ,' ' makes a space the separator between values like your command above.
I have been attempting to use the zip task of msbuild in a project I am working on at the moment.
My project file looks something like this:
<PropertyGroup> <MSBuildCommunityTasksPath>$(SolutionDir)\.build</MSBuildCommunityTasksPath> </PropertyGroup>
<Import Project="$(MSBuildCommunityTasksPath)\MSBuild.Community.Tasks.Targets" />
<ItemGroup>
<FileToZip include="C:\FilePath"></FilesToZip>
<FileToZip include="C:\FilePath"></FilesToZip>
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
<PropertyGroup>
<ReleasePath>\releasepath</ReleasePath>
<Zip Files="#(FilesToZip)" WorkingDirectory="$(ReleasePath)" ZipFileName="HTMLeditor.html" ZipLevel="9" />
</Target>
However, the zip file updates but does not contain the files specified in the item group FilesToZip. I cannot figure out why they aren't being recognised! I have double checked file paths and they are correct. Any ideas?
I think you want to do something like this:
<ItemGroup>
<FileToZip include="C:\FilePath;C:\FilePath"/>
</ItemGroup>
As I mentioned in my comment, simply creating a variable (FileToZip) and repeating it twice with different values does not give you an array that contains both of the values. You end up with only the last value (and not an array at all). Your include attribute is a selector which is used to build the array and it can contain multiple values, wildcards and other patterns which are used to build out that array for you.
Here's a link to MSDN that gives you more information on how to use the Include attribute: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms171454.aspx
I ditched the ItemGroup in the end, and went with another way of doing it.
<Target Name="Zip">
<CreateItem Include="FilesToInclude" >
<Output ItemName="ZipFiles" TaskParameter="Include"/>
<Zip ZipFileName="ZipFile.zip" WorkingDirectory="FolderToWriteZipTo" Files="#(ZipFiles)" />
</Target>
This method seemed to be easier and wasn't adding files to the root of the file.
Thanks for the help though guys.
Is it possible using default MSBuild technology to access a listing within an item group as a property in msbuild? I know I can do this in a custom task in C#, but I am trying to use built-in capabilities if possible.
Example:
I have an item group:
<ItemGroup>
<SolutionToBuild Include="$(SolutionRoot)\Solutions\ClassLib\ClassLib.sln">
<Properties>
AssemblySigningKey=MySigningKey;
OutDir=$(BinariesRoot)\SomeLocation\;
LibraryName=ClassLib;
PlatformTarget=x86;
</Properties>
</SolutionToBuild>
<SolutionToBuild Include="$(SolutionRoot)\Solutions\BLAH\BLAH.sln">
<Properties>
ProjectType=Web;
</Properties>
</SolutionToBuild>
</ItemGroup>
I would like to extract the value of AssemblySigningKey, if it exists, and place this value into an MSBuild variable.
I have tried a few methods and the closest example I could find is using a tranformation within a separate target, but even this looks to be a bit of a hack, even if I could get the Condition to work I would then have to parse out the value splitting on the =. Is there no standard method to access this metadata within the item group?
<Target Name="TransformProps"
Inputs="%(SolutionToBuild.Identity)"
Outputs="_Non_Existent_Item_To_Batch_">
<PropertyGroup>
<IncludeProps>%(SolutionToBuild.Properties)</IncludeProps>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<IncludeProps Include="$(IncludeProps)" />
<Solution Include="#(SolutionToBuild)">
<IncludeProps Condition="'True'=='True' ">#(IncludeProps ->'-PROP %(Identity)', ' ')</IncludeProps>
</Solution>
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
My main target would call into the tranform in the following manner:
<Target Name="Main" DependsOnTargets="TransformProps">
<Message Text="Solution info: %(Solution.Identity) %(Solution.IncludeProps)" />
</Target>
Items Metadata are declared and transformed using xml tags. It seems like you're using the MSBuild Task to build some solutions - the properties tag is a parameter specific to this task.
The conversion from comma separated list and items as you tried won´t help because, as you mentioned, you still have the equal sign as the link from the keys to the values. I think there´s no way of obtaining the signing key value without parsing. After all msbuild do not consider the list of properties as metadata, it is just a list of strings.
I did the script below to exemplify how msbuild declare and read metadata. It is not an option for you because your ItemGroup structure cannot be changed.
IMHO in this case you have no option but use a custom task and do the parsing. Use Inline Tasks if you´re building with msbuild 4.0.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<Project DefaultTargets="Main" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<ItemGroup>
<SolutionToBuild Include="$(SolutionRoot)\Solutions\ClassLib\ClassLib.sln">
<AssemblySigningKey>MySigningKey123</AssemblySigningKey>
<Properties>
AssemblySigningKey=MySigningKey456;
OutDir=$(BinariesRoot)\SomeLocation\;
LibraryName=ClassLib;
PlatformTarget=x86;
</Properties>
</SolutionToBuild>
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="TransformProps">
<PropertyGroup>
<MySigningKey>#(SolutionToBuild->'%(AssemblySigningKey)')</MySigningKey>
</PropertyGroup>
</Target>
<Target Name="Main" DependsOnTargets="TransformProps">
<Message Text="My desired Property Value: $(MySigningKey)" />
</Target>
I have a script that attempts to construct an ItemGroup out of all files in a certain directory while excluding files with certain names (regardless of extension).
The list of files to be excluded initially contains file extensions, and I am using Community Tasks' RegexReplace to replace the extensions with an asterisk. I then use this list in the item's Exclude attribute. For some reason the files do not get excluded properly, even though the list appears to be correct.
To try and find the cause I created a test script (below) which has two tasks: first one initialises two properties with the list of file patterns in two different ways. The second task prints both properties and the files resulting from using both these properties in the Exclude attribute.
The properties' values appear to be identical, however the resulting groups are different. How is this possible?
<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003"
DefaultTargets="Init;Test" ToolsVersion="3.5">
<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\MSBuildCommunityTasks\MSBuild.Community.Tasks.Targets"/>
<Target Name="Init">
<ItemGroup>
<OriginalFilenames Include="TestDir\SampleProj.exe"/>
<OriginalFilenames Include="TestDir\SampleLib1.dll"/>
</ItemGroup>
<RegexReplace Input="#(OriginalFilenames)" Expression="\.\w+$" Replacement=".*">
<Output TaskParameter="Output" ItemName="PatternedFilenames"/>
</RegexReplace>
<PropertyGroup>
<ExcludeFilesA>TestDir\SampleProj.*;TestDir\SampleLib1.*</ExcludeFilesA>
<ExcludeFilesB>#(PatternedFilenames)</ExcludeFilesB>
</PropertyGroup>
</Target>
<Target Name="Test">
<Message Text='ExcludeFilesA: $(ExcludeFilesA)' />
<Message Text='ExcludeFilesB: $(ExcludeFilesB)' />
<ItemGroup>
<AllFiles Include="TestDir\**"/>
<RemainingFilesA Include="TestDir\**" Exclude="$(ExcludeFilesA)"/>
<RemainingFilesB Include="TestDir\**" Exclude="$(ExcludeFilesB)"/>
</ItemGroup>
<Message Text="
**AllFiles**
#(AllFiles, '
')" />
<Message Text="
**PatternedFilenames**
#(PatternedFilenames, '
')" />
<Message Text="
**RemainingFilesA**
#(RemainingFilesA, '
')" />
<Message Text="
**RemainingFilesB**
#(RemainingFilesB, '
')" />
</Target>
</Project>
Output (reformatted somewhat for clarity):
ExcludeFilesA: TestDir\SampleProj.*;TestDir\SampleLib1.*
ExcludeFilesB: TestDir\SampleProj.*;TestDir\SampleLib1.*
AllFiles:
TestDir\SampleLib1.dll
TestDir\SampleLib1.pdb
TestDir\SampleLib2.dll
TestDir\SampleLib2.pdb
TestDir\SampleProj.exe
TestDir\SampleProj.pdb
PatternedFilenames:
TestDir\SampleProj.*
TestDir\SampleLib1.*
RemainingFilesA:
TestDir\SampleLib2.dll
TestDir\SampleLib2.pdb
RemainingFilesB:
TestDir\SampleLib1.dll
TestDir\SampleLib1.pdb
TestDir\SampleLib2.dll
TestDir\SampleLib2.pdb
TestDir\SampleProj.exe
TestDir\SampleProj.pdb
Observe that both ExcludeFilesA and ExcludeFilesB look identical, but the resulting groups RemainingFilesA and RemainingFilesB differ.
Ultimately I want to obtain the list RemainingFilesA using the pattern generated the same way ExcludeFilesB is generated. Can you suggest a way, or do I have to completely rethink my approach?
The true cause of this was revealed accidentally when a custom task threw an exception.
The actual value of ExcludeFilesA is TestDir\SampleProj.*;TestDir\SampleLib1.* like one might expect. However the actual value of ExcludeFilesB is TestDir\SampleProj.%2a;TestDir\SampleLib1.%2a.
Presumably Message unescapes the string before using it, but Include and Exclude do not. That would explain why the strings look the same but behave differently.
Incidentally, the execution order doesn't seem to have anything to do with this, and I'm pretty sure (following extensive experimentation) that everything gets executed and evaluated exactly in the order in which it appears in this script.
ItemGroups need to be evaluated before targets execution, and the PatternedFilenames ItemGroup is being created on the fly within its target container.
You could workaround this using the CreateItem task, which will ensure the PatternedFilenames scope throughout the execution:
<RegexReplace Input="#(OriginalFilenames)" Expression="\.\w+$" Replacement=".*">
<Output TaskParameter="Output" ItemName="PatternedFilenames_tmp"/>
</RegexReplace>
<CreateItem Include="#(PatternedFilenames_tmp)">
<Output TaskParameter="Include" ItemName="PatternedFilenames"/>
</CreateItem>