Microsoft's instructions for enabling debugging of MSBuild tasks no longer seem to work. I cannot get msbuild /? to show the /debug switch, and when I try dotnet publish /debug it complains that /debug is not a valid switch.
Is there any way to debug MSBuild tasks any more?
The /debug feature for msbuild was removed from public builds of MSBuild 15 and the code for it has later been removed entirely.
To "debug" logic in your build targets / msbuild files, your best option is to create binary logs using the -bl argument and inspecting them using the MSBuild Structured Log Viewer. It shows you all the inputs/outputs to task invocation and all the steps that happen during Msbuild runs.
Debugging custom tasks (e.g. C# code) is very hard to do. It would involve looping+sleeping until Debugger.IsAttached is true for debug builds (and then attaching to the process in Visual Studio) or calling Debugger.Launch() (only on .NET Framework, not .NET Core MSBuild).
I suggest separating the actual task class from your logic implementation to allow you to unit test your logic. This should remove the need to debug it during runs.
You can see a sample of both the debugger logic and the separation in NuGet's PackTask and its PackTaskLogic class.
Our continuous delivery set-up, until recently, was delivering Service Fabric packages using the following command:
msbuild SFApp.sfproj /t:Package
This was necessary because the target Package is unavailable at the solution level. I.e. The command
msbuild SFSolution.sln /t:Package
Fails, as the target does not exist.
As our dependency mesh grows, it gets to a point in which most interfaces projects will not build without a solution file (to work around the "OutputPath does not exist" red herring). There seems to be a way to do that according to this answer. Unfortunately, while targets like Clean work…
msbuild SFSolution.sln /t:SFApplication:Clean
(…snip…)
Build succeeded.
0 Warning(s)
0 Error(s)
…the target Package won't!
msbuild SFSolution.sln /t:SFApplication:Package
(…snip…)
Build FAILED.
"SFSolution.sln" (SFApplication:Package target) (1) -> SFSolution.sln.metaproj :
error MSB4057: The target "SFApplication:Package" does not exist in the
project. [SFSolution.sln]
0 Warning(s)
1 Error(s)
(Solution/project folders/names omitted/paraphrased for clarity. I can provide the actual logs if necessary.)
So the question is: how could I, using the Command Line, build one project using the Package target and the solution file?
Or how can I otherwise package a Service Fabric application from the command line?
It's bad idea to compile sfproj file(and any other project file) without sln, because it can bring wrong content to its output from referenced projects. Only solution has a knowledge about what project to compile in what configuration.
To make Package similar to "Right Click->Package" in VS:
Just add to your sfproj the following target
<Target Name="ForcePackageTarget" AfterTargets="Build" Condition="'$(ForcePackageTarget)' =='true'">
<CallTarget Targets="Package"/>
</Target>
And then running normal build on solution you may trigger the package step by /p:ForcePackageTarget=true :
msbuild yoursolution.sln /t:Build /p:ForcePackageTarget=true /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=x64
Actually it performs two-in-one steps, build and package, with respect to Solution Configurations on all referenced projects
MSBuild only supports a small set of target names that can be specified at the solution level. As you've discovered, Package is not one of them. You'll need to execute two separate calls to MSBuild: one which builds the solution and one which calls the Package target on the sfproj. The Package target of an sfproj has a dependency on the Build target so it will ensure that the sfproj and its project dependencies are built.
I had the same problem and fixed it by changing the Platform in the failing projects to explicitly build for x64.
Click Build > Configuration Manager and make sure that the assemblies are compiled for the x64 platform, that should also set the Output Paths in the corresponding .csproj files.
The actual command line action that is being executed is this:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\bin\amd64\msbuild.exe" "C:\agent\_work\1\s\Project\SFProject.sfproj" /t:Package /p:platform="x64" /p:configuration="release" /p:VisualStudioVersion="14.0"
Use the below script.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0> msbuild "Fabric.sfproj" /t:Package /p:Configuration=Release
Service fabric requires Target to be set in x64 platform,
So change all you reference projects target to x64 platform.
you can do this by using configuration properties of your solution. If x64 is not listed in 'Configuration Properties' click configuration manager in the same window and under platform column for the required project add new project platform as x64.
Hope this works for you.
We have had the exact same problem as you had and I have been looking around for a solution all over the web and did some experiments. Those are the steps that worked for us:
Don't manually add a target anywhere as suggested by other answers on StackOverflow. Not necessary. Especially in a CI environment, you want to build the projects separately anyways.
Prepare the projects in the Solution: Change the target platform for all projects to x64
Build the application
msbuild.exe SFAplication.xproj /p:Configuration=Release /target:rebuild
Package the App
msbuild.exe SFAplication.sfproj /p:Configuration=Release /target:Package
I'm trying to use MSBuild to create a target that will create an installer with InstallShield 2012. I'm having difficultly understanding how to access InstallShield. I ran across this mentioning an InstallShield task but I'm not sure how to get access to it. I think I need a UsingTask directive, but not sure what to import. Can someone give me a pointer on how to get this going? Thanks.
You need to import the targets file. Took me a while to figure that out as well since it's in the msbuild extensions directory together with a dll. Here's a basic sample of how to use it (note this is for 2012Spring but you get the idea):
<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\InstallShield\2012Spring\InstallShield.targets" />
<Target Name="BuildInstaller">
<InstallShield.Tasks.InstallShield
Project="/path/to/my.ism"
ProductConfiguration="Package"
ReleaseConfiguration="MSI" />
</Target>
Btw if this doesn't work out for some reason, you can always invoke ISCmdBld.exe in an Exec task, it will do the job just as fine.
InstallShield provides Visual Studio integration. When you create an InstallShield project in VS it creates a project file (.ISPROJ) which imports the InstallShield.targets file for that version of InstallShield. The project file contains plenty of examples on how to build a particular configuration and pass in such things as merge module path, properties, path variable overrides and so on.
Please note that building InstallShield requires the x86 MSBuild platform due to COM components.
I know that msbuild does not support VDPROJ files, but it maybe built using command line devenv.
I want to build all prjects (C#) using msbuild task and only after that starting specific setup project from my solution. Of course this projects has dependencies to previously created C# projects (otput from proj1, proj2, proj3).
How could I do it?
Override AfterCompile (or AfterBuild) task and add Exec command for devenv.exe to compile vdproj files. When you run devenv.exe /build /project you will only build the specified project within the specified solution. Only project files that have changed since the last build will be build. Therefore the dependant projects will not be build unless they have been changed.
I am trying to use MSBuild to build a solution with a specified target platform (I need both binaries, x86 and x64). This is how I tried it:
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5>MsBuild SolutionPath\Solution.sln /t:Rebuild /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform="x86"
However the build always fails if the platform is different from "Any CPU". What am I doing wrong?
This is the while output MSBuild prints:
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5>MsBuild
SolutionPath\Solution.sln /t:Rebuild
/p:Configuration=Release
/p:Platform="x86" Microsoft (R) Build
Engine Version 3.5.30729.1 [Microsoft
.NET Framework, Version
2.0.50727.3082] Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation 2007. All rights
reserved.
Build started 1.7.2010 8:28:10.
Project "SolutionPath\Solution.sln" on
node 0 (Rebuild targe t(s)).
SolutionPath\Solution.sln : error
MSB4126: The specified sol ution
configuration "Release|x86" is
invalid. Please specify a valid
solution c onfiguration using the
Configuration and Platform properties
(e.g. MSBuild.exe Solution.sln
/p:Configuration=Debug
/p:Platform="Any CPU") or leave those
prope rties blank to use the default
solution configuration. Done Building
Project "SolutionPath\Solution.sln"
(Rebuild t arget(s)) -- FAILED.
Build FAILED.
"SolutionPath\Solution.sln" (Rebuild
target) (1) ->
(ValidateSolutionConfiguration target)
-> SolutionPath\Solution.sln : error MSB4126: The specified s olution
configuration "Release|x86" is
invalid. Please specify a valid
solution configuration using the
Configuration and Platform properties
(e.g. MSBuild.ex e Solution.sln
/p:Configuration=Debug
/p:Platform="Any CPU") or leave those
pro perties blank to use the default
solution configuration.
0 Warning(s)
1 Error(s)
Time Elapsed 00:00:00.03
If I try to build it for x86/x64 with devenv it works perfectly, however I am trying to set up a build server without installing all the necessary versions of Visual Studio. By the way, if there is a better free tool (that supports .NET framework 4) out there, I'd love to hear about it.
In MSBuild or Teamcity use command line
MSBuild yourproject.sln /property:Configuration=Release /property:Platform=x64
or use shorter form:
MSBuild yourproject.sln /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=x64
However you need to set up platform in your project anyway, see the answer by Julien Hoarau.
If you want to build your solution for x86 and x64, your solution must be configured for both platforms. Actually you just have an Any CPU configuration.
How to check the available configuration for a project
To check the available configuration for a given project, open the project file (*.csproj for example) and look for a PropertyGroup with the right Condition.
If you want to build in Release mode for x86, you must have something like this in your project file:
<PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|x86' ">
...
</PropertyGroup>
How to create and edit the configuration in Visual Studio
(source: microsoft.com)
(source: msdn.com)
(source: msdn.com)
How to create and edit the configuration (on MSDN)
If you're trying to do this from the command line, you may be encountering an issue where a machine-wide environment variable 'Platform' is being set for you and working against you. I can reproduce this if I use the VS2012 Command window instead of a regular windows Command window.
At the command prompt type:
set platform
In a VS2012 Command window, I have a value of 'X64' preset. That seems to interfere with whatever is in my solution file.
In a regular Command window, the 'set' command results in a "variable not defined" message...which is good.
If the result of your 'set' command above returns no environment variable value, you should be good to go.
Hopefully this helps someone out there.
For platform I was specifying "Any CPU", changed it to "AnyCPU" and that fixed the problem.
msbuild C:\Users\Project\Project.publishproj /p:Platform="AnyCPU" /p:DeployOnBuild=true /p:PublishProfile=local /p:Configuration=Debug
If you look at your .csproj file you'll see the correct platform name to use.
For VS2017 and 2019... with the modern core library SDK project files, the platform can be changed during the build process. Here's an example to change to the anycpu platform, just before the built-in CoreCompile task runs:
<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk" >
<Target Name="SwitchToAnyCpu" BeforeTargets="CoreCompile" >
<Message Text="Current Platform=$(Platform)" />
<Message Text="Current PlatformTarget=$(PlatformName)" />
<PropertyGroup>
<Platform>anycpu</Platform>
<PlatformTarget>anycpu</PlatformTarget>
</PropertyGroup>
<Message Text="New Platform=$(Platform)" />
<Message Text="New PlatformTarget=$(PlatformTarget)" />
</Target>
</Project>
In my case, I'm building an FPGA with BeforeTargets and AfterTargets tasks, but compiling a C# app in the main CoreCompile. (partly as I may want some sort of command-line app, and partly because I could not figure out how to omit or override CoreCompile)
To build for multiple, concurrent binaries such as x86 and x64: either a separate, manual build task would be needed or two separate project files with the respective <PlatformTarget>x86</PlatformTarget> and <PlatformTarget>x64</PlatformTarget> settings in the example, above.
When you define different build configurations in your visual studio solution for your projects using a tool like ConfigurationTransform, you may want your Teamcity build, to build you a specified build configuration. You may have build configurations e.g., Debug, Release, Dev, UAT, Prod etc defined. This means, you will have MSBuild Configuration transformation setup for the different configurations. These different configurations are usually used when you have different configurations, e.g. different database connection strings, for the different environment. This is very common because you would have a different database for your production environment from your playground development environment.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, please see the image below how you would specify multiple build configurations in Teamcity.
In the commandline input text box, specify as below
/p:OutputPath=Publish;Configuration=Dev
Here, I have specified two commandline build configurations/arguments OutputPath and build Configuration with values Publish and Dev respectively, but it could have been, UAT or Prod configuration. If you want more, simply separate them by semi-colon,;
There is an odd case I got in VS2017, about the space between ‘Any’ and 'CPU'.
this is not about using command prompt.
If you have a build project file, which could call other solution files. You can try to add the space between Any and CPU, like this (the Platform property value):
<MSBuild Projects="#(SolutionToBuild2)" Properties ="Configuration=$(ProjectConfiguration);Platform=Any CPU;Rerun=$(MsBuildReRun);" />
Before I fix this build issue, it is like this (ProjectPlatform is a global variable, was set to 'AnyCPU'):
<MSBuild Projects="#(SolutionToBuild1)" Properties ="Configuration=$(ProjectConfiguration);Platform=$(ProjectPlatform);Rerun=$(MsBuildReRun);" />
Also, we have a lot projects being called using $ (ProjectPlatform), which is 'AnyCPU' and work fine. If we open proj file, we can see lines liket this and it make sense.
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|AnyCPU'">
So my conclusion is,
'AnyCPU' works for calling project files, but not for calling solution files,
for calling solution files, using 'Any CPU' (add the space.)
For now, I am not sure if it is a bug of VS project file or MSBuild.
I am using VS2017 with VS2017 build tools installed.
In Visual Studio 2019, version 16.8.4, you can just add
<Prefer32Bit>false</Prefer32Bit>