Based on this answer, I've added the below code to my .vcxproj file, which nicely eliminates most warnings that I was getting from Qt include files, and its autogenerated moc files.
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Language)'=='C++'">
<CAExcludePath>C:\Qt\5.13.1\msvc2017_64\include;.\ProjectName_autogen;$(CAExcludePath)</CAExcludePath>
</PropertyGroup>
This is great for one specific project, but since I use CMake, on multiple computers, this would get overwritten each time the CMake file changes, and I would have to add it to each Project I need it for (there's 3 projects that use Qt). Of course, the issue is also if I change the Qt path, then I would need to update the project files as well.
I am wondering, is there a CMake property I can set in order to add this to the projects? I know how to get Qt's include directory, just looking for the CMake property to actually set the CAExcludePath. If it helps, I'm using VS 2019, and this is to disable the warnings from Code Analysis.
I did check the cmake-properties page, but didn't find any predefined properties which seem to fit.
I figured it out. For anyone interested, I created a file called user.props which looks like the following:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="14.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Language)'=='C++'">
<CAExcludePath>#QWT_INCLUDE_DIR#;#QT_INCLUDE_DIR#;.;$(CAExcludePath)</CAExcludePath>
</PropertyGroup>
</Project>
Then, in the CMakeList.txt root file, I have
SET( RULESET_PATH ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/user.props )
CONFIGURE_FILE(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/user.props ${RULESET_PATH} #ONLY)
Then for each project I want to apply it to, I have
SET_PROPERTY( TARGET "ProjectName" PROPERTY VS_USER_PROPS "${RULESET_PATH}" )
There might be a more direct way, but this works.
Related
My question is related to PCL installation and here it goes:
I compiled PCL using MSVC2013 and I updated manually my PCLConfig.cmake to point to all its dependences (3rdParty libs). The problem is that I want also to set its binaries /bin folders in the same cmake file (instead of adding /bin to environment variables). Is there a way to do that ?
What makes this question pertinent is that I'am testing different versions of PCL (1.6, 1.7, 1.8...), so won't adding the /bin folders to path of all these versions will create some kind of confict between them afterwards (in the retreive step) ?
*To be clear, what i succeded to do is that, using cmake, I can choose the PCLConfig of the PCL version I want, but when running my program (succefully compiled), it throws a missing pcl_****.dll missing, which is logic because the PCL/bin folder is not added to the system environement. so, my question is "can I add the PCL/bin floder to the project environment using the CMakeLists of my project? (instead of adding it to system environment)"
Thanks in advance.
A temporary fix i found is generating my project with the specified PCL version wanted and then Adding the bin folders manually in MSVC 2013 :
Debugging->Environment << PATH=path_to_lib\lib;%PATH%
Tsyvarev, I'm looking for your proposition and I'll let you know if it worked. Looks like a cleaner way...
Cheers,
That PATH information for debugging is stored in the "user" project file. I've written a CMake function to generate such a file automatically. This worked for VC10. I assume it'll still work, or it may need some modification. The principal is to keep an empty user project file as a template, and CONFIGURE_FILE the contents to set whatever you want. I've set mine up so that you first do: SET(USERFILE_ENVIRONMENT "PATH=${directory}") then call the macro CREATE_USER_FILE with the name of the CMake project.
CreateUserFile.cmake:
get_filename_component(MY_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_FILE} PATH)
SET(USERFILE_TEMPLATE ${MY_DIRECTORY}/msdev.vcxprojuser.template CACHE STRING "" FORCE)
MACRO(CREATE_USER_FILE _projectName)
# Find user and system name
SET(SYSTEM_NAME $ENV{USERDOMAIN} CACHE STRING SystemName)
SET(USER_NAME $ENV{USERNAME} CACHE STRING UserName)
IF (${CMAKE_SIZEOF_VOID_P} MATCHES 4)
SET(USERFILE_ARCH Win32)
ELSE()
SET(USERFILE_ARCH x64)
ENDIF()
SET(USER_FILE ${_projectName}.vcxproj.user)
SET(USERFILE_TEMPLATE ${USERFILE_TEMPLATE})
SET(OUTPUT_PATH ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${USER_FILE})
# Configure the template file
CONFIGURE_FILE(${USERFILE_TEMPLATE} ${USER_FILE} #ONLY)
ENDMACRO(CREATE_USER_FILE)
And here's the template file.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|#USERFILE_ARCH#'">
<LocalDebuggerEnvironment>#USERFILE_ENVIRONMENT#</LocalDebuggerEnvironment>
<DebuggerFlavor>WindowsLocalDebugger</DebuggerFlavor>
</PropertyGroup>
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|#USERFILE_ARCH#'">
<LocalDebuggerEnvironment>#USERFILE_ENVIRONMENT#</LocalDebuggerEnvironment>
<DebuggerFlavor>WindowsLocalDebugger</DebuggerFlavor>
</PropertyGroup>
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='MinSizeRel|#USERFILE_ARCH#'">
<LocalDebuggerEnvironment>#USERFILE_ENVIRONMENT#</LocalDebuggerEnvironment>
<DebuggerFlavor>WindowsLocalDebugger</DebuggerFlavor>
</PropertyGroup>
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='RelWithDebInfo|#USERFILE_ARCH#'">
<LocalDebuggerEnvironment>#USERFILE_ENVIRONMENT#</LocalDebuggerEnvironment>
<DebuggerFlavor>WindowsLocalDebugger</DebuggerFlavor>
</PropertyGroup>
</Project>
ProTip: do something similar to generate a .bat file to launch your program after setting the PATH that CMake computes, so you can run it from outside Visual Studio.
In order to emulate the "PerProject" option in TFS 2013's XAML build in the new Build 2015 task based builds, I'd like to be able to pass the SolutionName to the msbuild commandline arguments without having to manually set it every time.
I'd like to do something like:
/p:OutputPath=$(Build.BinariesDirectory)\$(SolutionName)\
Where I'd like MsBuild to infer the $(SolutionName) parameter. But when passing this on the commandline, the new task runner will substitute the $(Build.BinariesDirectory) with the correct target path and leaves $(SolutionName) alone. Unfortunately MsBuild subsequently also leaves the property alone:
Copying file from "obj\Debug\TFSBuild.exe" to "bin\debug\$(SolutionName)\TFSBuild.exe".
TFSBuild -> b\$(SolutionName)\TFSBuild.exe
Copying file from "obj\Debug\TFSBuild.pdb" to "b\$(SolutionName)\TFSBuild.pdb".
I can't remember a way to pass a property to the commandline and have it do late-expansion... Any tips?
For those looking to emulate SingleFolder or AsConfigured, those are easy:
SingleFolder -> /p:OutputPath="$(Build.BinariesDirectory)"
Asconfigured -> don't pass OutputPath
PerProject -> /p:OutputPath="$(Build.BinariesDirectory)\HARDCODESOLUTIONNAME"
As I feared there doesn't seem to be a simple way to override a property from the commandline and "inject" the value of another property into it during the evaluation stage.
There are a few ways to get around it, but they're not ideal and certainly not universal for each language supported by MsBuild. A pity.
I've debugged the MsBuild targets files and found a solution to reproduce the old behaviour from the 2005/2008 era. Not entirely per solution, but it does redirect projects into a subfolder.
/p:GenerateProjectSpecificOutputFolder=true /p:OutDirWasSpecified=true
/p:OutputPath=$(Build.BinariesDirectory)
Normally, $(SolutionName) is defined when executing solution-level MSBuild pipelines, such as running dotnet restore in the root solution directory.
To make $(SolutionName) available for project-level MSBuild pipelines, add a Directory.Build.props file in the root of your solution with the following contents:
<Project>
<PropertyGroup>
<SolutionName Condition="'$(SolutionName)' == ''">
$([System.IO.Path]::GetFileNameWithoutExtension($([System.IO.Directory]::GetFiles("$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)", "*.sln")[0])))
</SolutionName>
</PropertyGroup>
</Project>
Now $(SolutionName) will be defined even when executing project-level MSBuild pipelines.
This answer works best when there is exactly one solution file in the root of the solution directory. You'll need to massage the above a bit for other project structures.
Of course, you can also be lazy and specify the solution name directly, but this opens up the possibility of refactoring issues (need to remember to update this file if the solution name changes).
<Project>
<PropertyGroup>
<SolutionName Condition="'$(SolutionName)' == ''">
MySolutionName
</SolutionName>
</PropertyGroup>
</Project>
One solution is to mimic such 'late evaluation' yourself by altering OutputPath withing the projectfile. To do without manually changing each single project file you can use the CustomBeforeMicrosoftCSharpTargets extension point. Which is an fancy way of saying it is just a property which when found and pointing to an existing file, will lead that file to be imported somewhere before all the actual build logic. Here's the idea: create a file like paths.targets somewhere - either include it in source control or you can generate it on the fly as part of the build process. Contents:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="12.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup>
<OutputPath Condition="'$(OutputPathBaseDir)'!=''">$(OutputPathBaseDir)\$(SolutionName)</OutputPath>
</PropertyGroup>
</Project>
So this just overrides OutputPath to some base dir + solutionname. Then if you build the solution like
msbuild my.sln /p:CustomBeforeMicrosoftCSharpTargets=paths.targets;
OutputPathBaseDir=$(Build.BinariesDirectory)
each project will import the paths.targets file and set output property to valueOfBinariesDirectory\my which I think is exactly what you are after.
You are right that TFS vNext build can't recognize $(SolutionName) in OutputPath, as $(SolutionName) doesn't list in the Predefined variables.
As an alternative, we may name the build definition with the solution name, then specify the MSBuild argument to: /p:OutputPath="$(Build.BinariesDirectory)\$(Build.DefinitionName)"in this way, we can get the output under the solution name.
I have a solution that has multiple projects in it, including a web application. I want MSBuild to execute "WebPublish" target against the web application project and "default target" for all other projects in the solution.
This MSDN article says that I can do it specifying the command line
msbuild SlnFolders.sln /t:NotInSlnfolder:Rebuild;NewFolder\InSolutionFolder:Clean
But I never could make it work - MSBuild return an error, something like "NotInSlnFolder:Rebuild" target does not exist. It does not matter what target to specify, Build, Rebuild or Clean - it does not work in any case.
How can I achieve my goal of specifying project-specific targets for a solution?
The MSDN documentation does not work. Or have I missed something?
NOTE: This workaround is not officially supported by Microsoft, so there is no guarantee that it will work forever.
Short Answer
In folder with the SLN file, create the file before.{YourSolution}.sln.targets, with the following content: (Replace what in curly brackets to whatever you need.)
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<Target Name="{MyCompany_MyProduct_WebApp:WebPublish}">
<MSBuild
Condition="'%(ProjectReference.Identity)' == '{$(SolutionDir)MyCompany.MyProduct.WebApp\MyCompany.MyProduct.WebApp.csproj}'"
Projects="#(ProjectReference)"
Targets="{WebPublish}"
BuildInParallel="True"
ToolsVersion="4.0"
Properties="BuildingSolutionFile=true; CurrentSolutionConfigurationContents=$(CurrentSolutionConfigurationContents); SolutionDir=$(SolutionDir); SolutionExt=$(SolutionExt); SolutionFileName=$(SolutionFileName); SolutionName=$(SolutionName); SolutionPath=$(SolutionPath)"
SkipNonexistentProjects="%(ProjectReference.SkipNonexistentProjects)" />
</Target>
</Project>
After that you can execute the command line:
msbuild {YourSolution}.sln /t:{MyCompany_MyProduct_WebApp:WebPublish}
Long Answer
If you add environment variable MSBUILDEMITSOLUTION, setting its value to 1, MSBuild will not delete temporary files generated for the solution and projects.
This will allow you to find {YourSolution}.sln.metaproj and {YourSolution}.sln.metaproj.tmp files generated in the solution folder, which are just standard MSBuild project files.
For MSBuild 3.5, the generated file is {YourSolution}.sln.cache and is retained regardless of environment variables. Analyzing those files, you will understand low-level details of the process and to see the customization opportunities available.
After executing MSBuild with some project-specific target in the .Metaproj file you will find out that the list of project-specific targets is hardcoded and only standard targets are supported (Build, Rebuild, Clean, Compile, Publish; note: Publish and WebPublish are not the same). MSBuild 3.5 only generates Clean, Rebuild and Publish targets as well as a target with just the project's name that means "Build".
You also can see that NotInSlnfolder:Rebuild is just a name of an autogenerated target. In reality MSBuild does not parse it and does not care about project names and location. Also note that the autogenerated target names specify the project name with solution folders hierarchy if it's in one, e.g. SolFolder\SolSubfolder\ProjectName:Publish.
One more critically important thing you will find: The MSBuild Target Name does not support dots. All dots in project names are replaced with underscores. For example, for a project named MyCompany.MyProduct.Components you will have to specify in the command line:
/t:MyCompany_MyProduct_Components:Rebuild
That's why even standard project-specific target Build didn't work - my project name contained dots.
Analyzing file {YourSolution}.sln.metaproj.tmp, you will find out that at runtime it tries to import targets from file named before.{YourSolution}.sln.targets and after.{YourSolution}.sln.targets, if those files exist. This has a key to the workaround for this MSBuild limitation/bug.
You can open your solution file in text editor and check whether following line is exist or not if not then you can add
<Import Project="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets" /> inside the <Project> tag.
Hope this help you.
I have an MSBuild file that manipulates the AssemblyInfo file before the application is compiled. At the end of the build, it restores the AssemblyInfo file. It does this by backing up the file, manipulating it, and then after build time, restoring the file.
This works fairly well except when an error occurs during the build. It then does not restore the original file. Is there a way I can tell MSBuild to execute a target at the end of a build no matter if it succeeded or failed?
Based on your last comment to the original question I would take another approach, and forget the approach you are currently taking. You should know that your version info doesn't have to be in the AssemblyInfo.cs file. It can be in any code file, just as long as you only have attributes AssemblyVersion and AssemblyFileVersion defined once each. With that being said what I would do is follow these steps:
Remove AssemblyVersion & AssemblyFileVersion from AssemblyInfo.cs
Create a new file, name it whatever you want want in my case I put it at Properties\VersionInfo.cs. Do not add this file to the project.
Edit the project file to include that file into the list of file to be compiled only when you want it
Let's expand a bit on #3. When you build a .NET project, the project itself is an MSBuild file. Inside that file you will find an item declared Compile. This is the list of files that will be sent to the compiler to be compiled. You can dynamically include/exclude files from that list. In you case you want to include the VersionInfo.cs file only if you are building on the build server (or whatever other condition you define). For this example I defined that condition to be if the project was building in Release mode. So for Release mode VersionInfo.cs would be sent to the compiler, and for other builds not. Here are the contents of VersionInfo.cs
VersionInfo.cs
[assembly: System.Reflection.AssemblyVersion("1.2.3.4")]
[assembly: System.Reflection.AssemblyFileVersion("1.2.3.4")]
In order to hook this into the build process you have to edit the project file. In that file you will find an element (maybe more than 1 depending on project type). You should add a target similar to the following there.
<Target Name="BeforeCompile">
<ItemGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)'=='Release' ">
<Compile Include="Properties\VersionInfo.cs" />
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
Here what I've done here is to define a target, BeforeCompile, which is a well-known target that you can override. See this MSDN article about other similar targets. Basically this is a target which will always be called before the compiler is invoked. In this target I add the VersionInfo.cs to the Compile item only if the Configuration property is set to release. You could define that property to be whatever you wanted. For instance if you have TFS as your build server then it could be,
<Target Name="BeforeCompile">
<ItemGroup Condition=" '$(TeamFoundationServerUrl)'!='' ">
<Compile Include="Properties\VersionInfo.cs" />
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
Because we know that TeamFoundationServerUrl is only defined when building through TFS.
If you are building form the command line then something like this
<Target Name="BeforeCompile">
<ItemGroup Condition=" '$(IncludeVersionInfo)'=='true' ">
<Compile Include="Properties\VersionInfo.cs" />
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
And when you build the project just do msbuild.exe YourProject.proj /p:IncludeVersion=true. Note: this will not work when building a solution.
What about changing the problem:
Add a "template" AssemblyInfo.cs.template to version control that represents your "ideal" AssemblyInfo.cs with regex hooks in there
Before build, copy the template to the real and apply your regexes
Add some kind of subversion ignore for AssemblyInfo.cs (I'm no svn expert, but I'm pretty sure there is a way you can tell it to ignore certain files)
In the event that your devs need to add some kind of customization that would normally appear in an AssemblyInfo.cs (eg InternalsVisibleTo), then get them to add it to a different .cs file that IS checked in.
As a further refinement, combine Sayed's solution with mine and remove version info stuff from the actual AssemblyInfo.cs and have a VersionInfo.cs.template that is checked in, that creates a VersionInfo.cs in BeforeBuild.
I never used it, but from the documentation it seems that the OnError Element is useful to what you're trying to achieve.
Causes one or more targets to execute,
if the ContinueOnError attribute is
false for a failed task.
Please go easy I am new to msbuild and msbuildtasks!
How can I set a property which represents a relative file path to a targets file which I want to import? I need relative references so it will work on all dev machines. But the target for import is trying to use the relative file path internally, which won't work as it is re-evaluated relative to the imported target!
Effectively I am trying to work around the documented behaviour of imported projects:
All relative paths in imported
projects are interpreted relative to
the directory of the imported project.
Therefore, if a project file is
imported into several project files in
different locations, the relative
paths in the imported project file
will be interpreted differently for
each imported project.
There was a similar question at Is it possible to use MSBuild Extension Pack without installation?. That question was how to do the same with the MSBuild Extension Pack, both of which are similar in this aspect. For the Extension Pack you have to declare the property ExtensionTasksPath,and for the Community tasks you have to declare a similar property named MSBuildCommunityTasksLib. So in your case it should look like:
<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup>
<MSBuildCommunityTasksLib Condition="'$(MSBuildCommunityTasksLib)' == ''">E:\Data\Development\My Code\Community\MSBuild\CommunityTasks\</MSBuildCommunityTasksLib>
</PropertyGroup>
<Import Project="$(MSBuildCommunityTasksLib)MSBuild.Community.Tasks.Targets"/>
<Target Name="Demo">
<!-- Use the tasks here -->
</Target>
</Project>
Ok, I've found the answer. Essentially you have to set the property MSBuildCommunityTasksPath as a relative path back to the original containing directory.
For example, given a folder structure like this:
Root---project---Build---{My msbuild project}
|
|-Tools---MSBuildCommunityTasks---{Binaries and Targets}
Where :
{My msbuild project} is in Root\Project\Build\
{MSbuildCommunityTasks} is in Root\Project\Tools\MsBuildCommunityTasks
To get the targets project to reference its binaries via the property MSBuildCommunityTasksPath, it will find the tasks file like this:
<PropertyGroup>
<MSBuildCommunityTasksPath>..\MSBuildCommunityTasks\</MSBuildCommunityTasksPath> <!--Relative path back to yourself-->
</PropertyGroup>
Then you can import the targets file with another relative file reference :
<Import Project="..\..\Tools\MSBuildCommunityTasks\MsBuild.Community.Tasks.Targets"/>
#Sayed Ibrahim Hashimi
Talkin about MSBuild4
Just declaring the MSBuildCommunityTasksLib wont suffice cause if u check the MSBuild.Community.Tasks.Targets file the properties are declared as follows
<PropertyGroup>
<MSBuildCommunityTasksPath Condition="'$(MSBuildCommunityTasksPath)' == ''">$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\MSBuildCommunityTasks</MSBuildCommunityTasksPath>
<MSBuildCommunityTasksLib>$(MSBuildCommunityTasksPath)\MSBuild.Community.Tasks.dll</MSBuildCommunityTasksLib>
</PropertyGroup>
So if U only over ride the MSBuildCommunityTasksLib it will again get over ridden in the MSBuild.Community.Tasks.Targets file as it is not conditional
So u HAVE TO ALSO OVERRIDE MSBuildCommunityTasksPath so that its proerty is NOT SET FROM MSBuildExtensionsPath but from ur custom path.
Correst me if I m wrong
This appears to be one answer:
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/msbuild/thread/feb782e3-72ae-4476-9011-617796f217b6
But this (if I understand it correctly) appears to be a ridiculous solution. To get the paths to work I need to change the imported project references? What would happen if I wanted to reference the imported project from third project in another folder?!?
I'm a noob at msbuild if I'm quite honest however I've just solved my own problem I had with this. I was turning one of the targets into its own project and it wasn't finding the paths for the msbuild community paths. If you look at your original project you may find something like this
<PropertyGroup>
<ExtensionTasksPath>./</ExtensionTasksPath>
<MSBuildCommunityTasksPath>./</MSBuildCommunityTasksPath>
</PropertyGroup>
<Import Project="MSBuildExtensionPack\MSBuild.ExtensionPack.tasks"/>
<Import Project="MSBuildCommunityTasks\MSBuild.Community.Tasks.Targets"/>
Copy this code into your new project and it should work.
I just wanted to add, since i cannot comment (rep), that to do a path to your particular project you can use $(SolutionDir) on your property group like so:
$(SolutionDir)\My Code\Community\MSBuild\CommunityTasks\
This way its not tied down to a specific drive and can be based off of the location of the project relative to your solutions directory structure.
Also thanks for the answer above it helped me in my project with the addition above.