TeamCity build fails without windows kits reference in proj file - msbuild

I'm having an issue on teamcity (9.1.7). I don't have visual studio installed on the build server. I have installed visual studio test agents and msbuild tools. Building one of the project fails with this error-
C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v12.0\AppxPackage\Microsoft.AppXPackage.Targets(694, 9): error APPX1639: File 'Windows.props' not found. See http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?prd=12395&pver=1.0&plcid=0x409&ar=MSDN&sar=PlatformMultiTargeting&o1=Portable&o2=7.0 for more information
The link doesn't work. After looking up the error, it seems i need to install Windows Kits and I need to add this to my csproj file under the first property group -
<_WindowsKitBinPath>C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.1\bin\x86</_WindowsKitBinPath>
<_WindowsPhoneKitBinPath>C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Phone Kits\8.1\bin</_WindowsPhoneKitBinPath>
<MakePriExeFullPath>$(_WindowsKitBinPath)\makepri.exe</MakePriExeFullPath>
<MakeAppxExeFullPath>$(_WindowsKitBinPath)\makeappx.exe</MakeAppxExeFullPath>
<SignAppxPackageExeFullPath>$(_WindowsKitBinPath)\signtool.exe</SignAppxPackageExeFullPath>
<MakePriExtensionPath>$(_WindowsPhoneKitBinPath)\x86\MrmEnvironmentExtDl.dll</MakePriExtensionPath>
<MakePriExtensionPath_x64>$(_WindowsPhoneKitBinPath)\x64\MrmEnvironmentExtDl.dll</MakePriExtensionPath_x64>
I really don't want to add this to my csproj file. I don't know why it is required/what impact it has. Can someone explain to me why this is needed? When i build my solution locally with visual studio, it works fine.

The groups of settings are basically bootstrapping parameters that are required by MSBuild in order to compile the project (A native windows phone app??). You've probably got the kit installed locally and something already integrated into Visual Studio, which is why it builds. Uninstall the Visual Studio add-in and it'll probably start failing.
You can setup your compile step to pass in these parameters without requiring them in the .csproj file if you don't want them there.
I normally abstract additional build parameters to a variable in TeamCity
Hope this helps

Related

Why does NuGet pack break with VS2019 build tools?

We have a number of .NET Framework projects with a "nuget pack MyProject.csproj" command in the post-build step. We have been using VS2010 (:O I know) until now, and it has been happily spitting out nupkg files.
We recently updated our build tools to the 2019 version (running the new version of varsall.bat before calling msbuild), and the "nuget pack" command now fails:
Error NU5012: Unable to find 'MyProject.dll'. Make sure the project has been built.
What I've tried:
Adding a "nuget spec" step before packing
Upgrading the nuget CLI executable to the latest version
Updating from packages.config to PackageReferences
This allows you to use MSBuild -t:pack. However, two issues:
When running this in the post-build step on my machine, it starts dozens of cmd & MSBuild processes and pegs my CPU.
Our developers are stuck on VS2017 for now, but the 2017 build tools are no longer available for our build server (so we use 2019). The 2017 & 2019 installs put MSBuild in different locations. We could set path variables for all the machines, but that seems brittle.
I'm playing with upgrading one of the projects to the new csproj format, but it is rather involved. Upgrading all of our projects will be an effort all its own, and I'm still exploring the ramifications.
Is there something simple I'm missing which will allow this to work without large modifications?
Error NU5012: Unable to find 'MyProject.dll'. Make sure the project
has been built.
This message indicates that the nuget.exe can't find the output assembly. So you must make sure the assembly is created successfully.
And one point you need to take care, normally we use command like nuget pack foo.csproj -Properties Configuration=Release to pack the assembly built in release mode. If you use command like nuget pack xx.csproj in post-build-event, no matter which configuration you use msbuild to build the project, nuget will always try to find the assembly in ProjectDir/bin/debug.
So when you deploy the project to remote server without bin and obj folders, if you try to use command like msbuild xx.csproj /p:Configuration=Release, the build is in release mode while nuget.exe will search the bin\debug instead of expected bin\release. You should check if you're in same situation.
Why does NuGet pack break with VS2019 build tools?
This issue is not about the build tools package. Since the error message you got came from nuget. Msbuild just help call the nuget.exe, and the cause of the issue is nuget.exe can't find the needed assembly by one specific path. Please check if the path in the error message is right, and then check if the assembly is in that path.
I also ran into the same issue during our TFS upgrade to Azure Devops. The new Nuget task doesn't have the switch for -Build. The fields in the Nuget task screen for Pack also doesn't allow you to add this switch, that's why it's complaining about not finding the dll or the output of the build. I modified the nugetpack.js file on the agent's task folder to test the theory and now the pack options build successfully.
This is the line I added to the js file (towards the bottom of the page):
nugetTool.arg("-Build");
what would be nice is to have this option represented as check box to cover if there is use case to call Nuget pack without -Build switch

Building an installer, to install dlls to the gac, with MSBuild

I have a dll project which I need to install into the GAC, on our Production machines.
(I wish I didn't have to use the GAC but SSIS insists)
gacutil.exe is not available on the target machines and using "Enterprise.Services" from PowerShell does not work (I don't know why)
My understanding is I should created a msi installer project.
However after installing the Setup and Deploy Extension to Visual Studio (2015 soon to be 2017), I discovered those projects cannot be built by our Build Server because it uses MSBuild, and MSBuild can't build vdproj project files.
What is the correct way, using a CI build pipeline (MSBuild), to create build artifacts, which can install dlls to the GAC, of a Production Environment?
Note: there are several partial answers on SO, but I could not find any, which were up to date/answer my whole question. Please keep that in mind when answering.
You need to break this down into several user stories. You aren't finding partial answers, you are finding actual answers for specific questions. What you ask is more like an epic.
In general I would create an MSI using Windows Installer XML. WiX/MSI can install files to the GAC without using GACUTIL. If you use the WiX Visual Studio extension "Votive" you can create a .SLN / .WIXPROJ / .WXS that can be built using MSBuild. You can then put this into a source control system such as Git/TFVC/Subversion and use a build system such as VSTS V.Next Build, XAML Build, Concourse, Jenkins to automation the pipeline to build the MSI.

WCF compilation error on CI server: Microsoft.VisualStudio.ServiceModel.targets not found

I am getting this error on my CI server:
error MSB4019: The imported project "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\WCF\Microsoft.VisualStudio.ServiceModel.targets" was not found
It seems my WCF service library project references that file, but the VisualStudio folder on Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft doesn't contain a WCF folder.
I guess I need to install something on the server.
What do I need to install?
Well this ruined my morning, but let's not allow it to ruin anyone else's. I couldn't find this information anywhere else. You need to copy a few files from a development machine with VS Pro 2012.
As aphexddb mentions, you need to copy some targets from C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\WCF to the same location on your CI server.
This then references an assembly called Microsoft.VisualStudio.ServiceModel.Core. You can find this assembly in either the GAC or in the IDE directory at C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE.
Copy this to your CI server and execute gacutil.exe -i Microsoft.VisualStudio.ServiceModel.Core.dll
This was enough to fix it for me.
This isn't the first time I found targets missing from my VS express install in my CI server. I can't help but feel that there is some sort of package I can download from somewhere that fills all this in. Does anyone know of such a thing? If not, perhaps we should create one.
Can still happen on vs2019
error MSB4019: The imported project "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft
Visual
Studio\2019\Professional\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v16.0\WCF\Microsoft.VisualStudio.ServiceModel.targets"
was not found. Confirm that the path in the declaration is
correct, and that the file exists on disk.
WCF is not installed by default as part of 'ASP.NET and web development' workload. To fix this,
On visual studio installer > modify > individual components tab, search for wcf, check, modify - the .targets file gets now installed, msbuild builds ok.
MSBuild auto-detection: using msbuild version '16.3.2.50909' from 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Professional\MSBuild\Current\bin'
I ran into this with Visual Studio 2017, for me the resolution was to modify my installation of Visual Studio to include the Windows Communication Foundation components.
Extract this file into folder
C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\WCF
The file name is "Microsoft.VisualStudio.ServiceModel.targets"
Now you can solve the problem using the Nuget Package MSBuild.Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.targets
so the build process does not require any change to the build server.
Install-Package MSBuild.Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.targets
Details:
remove the element for "ServiceModels.targets" in the .csproj file
remove the target WebApplication from the build command (in yaml)
Ran into this same issue. Did the following to resolve:
Installed the Microsoft Web Platform Installer
Copied Directory "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\WCF" from dev laptop with Visual Studio 2012 to the build server
I've had the same error - my issue was that MS has modified the way MSBuild looks for the versions of VS in the build process template.
Make sure to use the right build process template.
If using TFS2013 and VS2013 use TfvcTemplate.12.xaml
I ran into this same error. In my case, the problem was that my Visual Studio 2008 project didn't get upgraded correctly, probably due to files being marked "read-only" by my source control. To fix it, I loaded the solution in Visual Studio 2015 with everything checked out.
The specific line in the .csproj file changed from
<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\WCF\Microsoft.VisualStudio.ServiceModel.targets" />
To
<Import Project="$(WcfServiceModelTargetPath)\Microsoft.VisualStudio.ServiceModel.targets" />
If you are using VS 2022 build tools, it is no longer in the individual components section. It is on the first tab "Workloads", included in ".NET desktop build tools", you will see it in the list on the right-hand side when you select it.

Issue with clickonce bootstrapper and msbuild

I have a CruiseControl .NET build server running on Windows Server 2003, and I am trying to build and publish my ClickOnce application using msbuild.
Everything is working fine, except when I enable the bootstrapper of my ClickOnce application. When this happens, I get the following error in the DeploymentGenerateBootstrapper target:
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Microsoft.Common.targets (3939,9):
error MSB3147:
Could not find required file 'setup.bin' in 'E:\Projects\src\TestProject\Engine'.
.NET Framework 3.5 SP1 and 4 and latest Windows SDK for both are installed on the server, but the bootstrapper folder in C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\versionNo\ does not exist. I tried copying the files from my workstation machine with no luck.
I do not want to install Visual Studio on server and only install the necessary SDKs.
I have also tried copying the bootsrapper folder from my machine
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\Bootstrapper
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Bootstrapper
to build server but no luck.
Any ideas?
You will also have to add the associated key and value to the registry to allow MSBuild to find the path to the Bootstrapper folder. I can confirm that this has worked for me using the following regedit.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\GenericBootstrapper\4.0]
#="0"
"Path"="C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft SDKs\\Windows\\v7.1\\Bootstrapper\\"
Update: According to Emma's TFS Blog it appears the following registry values are checked in order to find the bootstrapper path and if not found looks in your local project folder under the Engine sub folder and then bails with the MSB3147 error if not found there.
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\GenericBootstrapper\<.NET Tools Version>\
HKLM \Software\Microsoft.NetFramework\SDKInstallRoot\Bootstrapper
HKLM \Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\\InstallDir\Bootstrapper
Reminder: Also remember that there is a 32-bit and a 64-bit registry so be sure to add this value to the same registry that your tools will be accessing.
In the meantime I've also created a feature request to get a more reasonable solution for this issue. Please vote on my feature request to get Microsoft to take a look at it.
BTW, here are a few more links about this issue:
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/msbuild/thread/7672078f-f2bd-4142-b8a9-740c2a8a5ae7
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/msbuild/thread/6964ba78-5b66-4cd1-bdd1-b31edb76b96a
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winformssetup/thread/97ac8717-daf7-4554-8dfa-8a63da47a17d
MSBuild: error MSB3147: Could not find required file 'setup.bin'
https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/361924/remove-bootstrapper-from-microsoft-sdks-directory
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/emmamou/archive/2009/04/08/team-build-for-clickonce-application-with-bootstrapper.aspx?CommentPosted=true#commentmessage
You can also pass the location of the bootstrapper packages to the common Publish target like this:
<PropertyGroup>
<BootstrapperSdkPath>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v8.0A\Bootstrapper</BootstrapperSdkPath>
</PropertyGroup>
and then
<Target Name="Publish">
<MSBuild Targets="publish" ... Properties="GenerateBootstrapperSdkPath=$(BootstrapperSdkPath); ..."/>
</Target>
I struggled with the same problem on my win7 x64 machine. I have not installed Visual Studio and tried to build and publish a .NET 4.5 WPF solution. I had to add the following keys to the registry
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\GenericBootstrapper\11.0]
"Path"="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft SDKs\\Windows\\v8.1A\\Bootstrapper\\"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\GenericBootstrapper\4.0]
"Path"="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft SDKs\\Windows\\v8.1A\\Bootstrapper\\"
You also need to copy the Bootstrapper folders from your dev machine. This blogpost directed me in the right direction http://www.wiktorzychla.com/2013/11/msb3147-could-not-find-required-file-on.html
I had a similar issue to this but in my case I do have Visual Studio installed on the box, and publishing from Visual Studio works fine.
When publishing from the command line with msbuild.exe, the build failed with aforementioned error "MSB3147 Could not find required file 'setup.bin'".
The solution was to explicitly specify what version of Visual Studio to use during build.
<MSBuild
Projects="MyProject.csproj"
Targets="publish"
Properties="Configuration=Release;PublishUrl=C:\AnyFolder;VisualStudioVersion=12.0"/>
I have Visual Studio 2013 on a Win7 x64 machine. My reading of the problem is that MSBuild was looking in the wrong place in the registry. By explicitly telling MS Build to use VS 12.0, it picked the correct registry location entry and consequently the correct path to BootstrapperSdkPath.
I was able to fix this problem by pointing to MSBuild.exe from this location
C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\12.0\Bin\MSBuild.exe
Previously I was pointing to
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\MSBuild.exe
Hi I know this answer its soooooo late but just in case
I had to add the Path prop to the task, with the Path where the bootstrapper its located, in my case I used Visual Studio 2015 so the Path is:
**Program Files(x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\SDK\Boostrapper**
MSBuild has a Task GenerateBootstrapper in my case
<GenerateBootstrapper>
AplicationFile="$(AppName)"
ApplicationName=..
ApplicationUrl=..
BootstrapperItems=..
Culture=..
ApplicationUrl=..
Path="Program Files(x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\SDK\Boostrapper\"
</GenerateBootstrapper>
with this the MSBuild is able to recognize and generate the file
Now i'm stucked with the .net 4 bootstrapper but guess is another story...
I experienced this same error via my TeamCity build server. The cause in my case was that I was running an MSBuild task against my .sln file, with a 'MyProject:publish' target. In this case, the solution+projecth had been updated to target .NET v4.5, but the build server was still configured to use MSBuild Tools 4.0 and .NET v4.0.
Took me a little while to work out the inconsistency between working and non-working branch builds.
I added this line to script. It helped.
call "%VS120COMNTOOLS%vsvars32.bat"
Visual Studio 2013, SDK v8.1A.
Just struggled with this myself - I chose to commit the bootstrapper files to source control. It is possible to override the path to bootstrappers, just provide /p:GenerateBootstrapperSdkPath=.build\Bootstrapper
Then no need to modify registry - and the added benefit that the build is now self-contained.
Only "problem" is that I have to manually copy the Bootstrapper files into source control. In my case (VStudio2015), this meant copying the files from C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\SDK\Bootstrapper

How to run .NET 4 code analysis on build server

On a Windows Server 2003 R2 with .NET 4 SDK but without Visual Studio 2010, I have tried building a Visual Studio 2010 solution with
msbuild MySolution.sln /p:RunCodeAnalysis=true
but that fails.
What is required to run code analysis on such an environment?
I get this error message:
C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\CodeAnalysis\Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.targets(129,9): error MSB6003:
The specified task executable "FxCopCmd.exe" could not be run.
Could not load file or assembly
'Microsoft.VisualStudio.CodeAnalysis.Sdk, Version=10.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken= b03f5f7f11d50a3a'
or one of its dependencies.
The system cannot find the file specified.
I have installed FxCop from the SDK and without luck pointed the variable FxCopDir to the installed location of FxCopCmd.exe, and also setting this registry entry to that location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\10.0\Setup\EDev#FxCopDir
I had the same problem on my MSBuild server and fixed it by:
Installing Windows SDK 7.1
Setting up the registry keys FxCopDir and StanDir in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\10.0\Setup\EDev (in Win32).
I then copied over from the dev PC, to the FxCop folder on the build server, the following:
The folder Rule Sets (default installation target is here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Team Tools\Static Analysis Tools\FxCop)
Microsoft.VisualStudio.CodeAnalysis.Sdk.dll
Microsoft.VisualStudio.CodeAnalysis.Phoenix.dll
phx.dll
Do a search for them on your dev PC with Visual Studio installed to locate them.
Then use the .NET 4.0 version of gacutil.exe to install Microsoft.VisualStudio.CodeAnalysis.Sdk.dll to the GAC.
You should then be able to run code analysis as part of an MSBuild build and have it work properly.
An alternative to FxCop would be to use the tool NDepend that lets write Code Rules over C# LINQ Queries (namely CQLinq). Disclaimer: I am one of the developers of the tool
More than 200 code rules are proposed by default. Customizing existing rules or creating your own rules is straightforward thanks to the well-known C# LINQ syntax.
Rules can be verified live in Visual Studio and at Build Process time, in a generated HTML+javascript report.
Another option might be calling FxCop executable as a build task (from msbuildtasks), saving the result as an XML file that can be parsed within most of the CI tools (like Hudson and CC.NET)