How to order the harvesting of file before compilation? - msbuild

Question

I use the _PublishedApplications to generate the structure in the TFS Build Server. After this, I use the <HeatDirectory> in the WiX project to correctly harvest the content of _PublishedApplications folder. But my problem is the order during build.
If I use the <HeatDirectory> inside <Target Name="BeforeBuild"> it doesn't include the binaries copied to the _PublishedApplications, as the harvesting is executed before the publish (file copy).
If I change the target to BeforeCompile the compilation doesn't succeed because there is no file in first place. Here is the code for the WiX project (the relevant part of it):
<ItemGroup>
<Compile Include="Product.wxs" />
<Compile Include="Autogenerated.wxs" />
</ItemGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<ProjectReference Include="..\SimpleProject\SimpleProject.csproj">
<Name>SimpleProject</Name>
<Project>{GUID}</Project>
<Private>True</Private>
<DoNotHarvest>True</DoNotHarvest>
<RefProjectOutputGroups>Binaries</RefProjectOutputGroups>
<RefTargetDir>INSTALLFOLDER</RefTargetDir>
</ProjectReference>
</ItemGroup>
<Import Project="$(WixTargetsPath)" />
<Target Name="BeforeCompile">
<HeatDirectory OutputFile="Autogenerated.wxs" Directory="$(Sources)"
PreprocessorVariable="var.SimpleProject.TargetDir"
AutogenerateGuids="true" SuppressRegistry="true"
ToolPath="$(WixToolPath)" DirectoryRefId="INSTALLFOLDER"
ComponentGroupName="ComponentGroup_Core"
SuppressRootDirectory="true" />
</Target>
Question
How can I execute the harvesting after the binaries are copied to _PublishedApplications?

Answer 1

I build my solution using the following command:
msbuild SimpleInstaller.sln /p:OutDir=C:\Temp\Output\ /v:diag > C:\Temp\Log.txt
This will output all log to a text file. You can use the MSBuild logger instead.
Then I found when you build a C# project, the target Compile in file Microsoft.Common.targets is invoked. This target has an attribute DependsOnTarget which contains a reference to target BeforeCompile.
I can override this target BeforeCompile in my own C# project, just by adding the following code at the end of it (file .csproj):
...
<Target Name="BeforeCompile">
<!-- custom action. -->
</Target>
</Project>
But the problem is my WiX project cannot override the BeforeCompile target because this target isn't defined for WiX projects. You can check this in the wix2010.targets file. The target Compile only has dependence upon targets PrepareForBuild, ResolveWixExtensionReferences and GenerateCompileWithObjectPath.
My solution was to identify an alternative to BeforeCompile which is the Harvest target. My WiX project (.wixproj) has the following target now:
<Target Name="Harvest">
<HeatDirectory OutputFile="Autogenerated.wxs" Directory="$(Sources)"
PreprocessorVariable="var.SimpleProject.TargetDir"
AutogenerateGuids="true" SuppressRegistry="true"
ToolPath="$(WixToolPath)" DirectoryRefId="INSTALLFOLDER"
ComponentGroupName="ComponentGroup_Core"
SuppressRootDirectory="true" />
</Target>
All this problem occurred because my first project in the solution was the WiX project and only then I added the C# projects. For this reason the BeforeBuild was being executed before everything else.
Another solution to solve this issue is to edit the solution file (.sln) and move the WiX project declaration in the beginning of the solution file to the end of all project declarations (not the end of the solution file). Then the BeforeBuild of the WiX project will be executed after the _PublishedApplications folder is created by the C# project.
This manual edit is required because if you change the Project Build Order you are actually changing the project references (at least in the solution file), but the target BeforeBuild is called anyway before the ResolveProjectReferences which is the responsible for invoking the build of any references.
This is the project declaration that should be after all others:
Project("GUID") = "SimpleInstaller", "SimpleInstaller\SimpleInstaller.wixproj", "GUID"
EndProject
My recommendation is still to use Harvest target as it is independent of any changes in the solution file.

Answer 2

The first thing you need to do is add a project reference from your installer project to your application project. This will force the application to build and be available for your installer project.
You can verify the build sequence of the projects if you right click your solution under VisualStudio and click the "Project Build Order...", if you need to change the order you need to configure the Project dependencies.
Then do something like this in your installer project:
<PropertyGroup>
<RootDir>{PATH TO _PublishedApplications FOLDER}</RootDir>
<HarvestDirectoryNoLogo>true</HarvestDirectoryNoLogo>
<HarvestDirectorySuppressAllWarnings>false</HarvestDirectorySuppressAllWarnings>
<HarvestDirectoryTreatWarningsAsErrors>false</HarvestDirectoryTreatWarningsAsErrors>
<HarvestDirectoryTreatSpecificWarningsAsErrors>
</HarvestDirectoryTreatSpecificWarningsAsErrors>
<HarvestDirectoryVerboseOutput>false</HarvestDirectoryVerboseOutput>
<HarvestDirectoryAutogenerateGuids>false</HarvestDirectoryAutogenerateGuids>
<HarvestDirectoryGenerateGuidsNow>true</HarvestDirectoryGenerateGuidsNow>
<HarvestDirectorySuppressFragments>true</HarvestDirectorySuppressFragments>
<HarvestDirectorySuppressUniqueIds>false</HarvestDirectorySuppressUniqueIds>
</PropertyGroup>
<Import Project="$(WixTargetsPath)" />
<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
<ItemGroup>
<HarvestDirectory Include="$(RootDir)">
<Transforms>
</Transforms>
<ComponentGroupName>MyComponent</ComponentGroupName>
<DirectoryRefId>WebSiteRoot</DirectoryRefId>
<PreprocessorVariable>var.RootDir</PreprocessorVariable>
<SuppressCom>false</SuppressCom>
<SuppressRegistry>false</SuppressRegistry>
<SuppressRootDirectory>true</SuppressRootDirectory>
<KeepEmptyDirectories>true</KeepEmptyDirectories>
</HarvestDirectory>
</ItemGroup>
<HeatDirectory
NoLogo="$(HarvestDirectoryNoLogo)"
SuppressAllWarnings="$(HarvestDirectorySuppressAllWarnings)"
SuppressSpecificWarnings="$(HarvestDirectorySuppressSpecificWarnings)"
ToolPath="$(WixToolPath)"
TreatWarningsAsErrors="$(HarvestDirectoryTreatWarningsAsErrors)"
TreatSpecificWarningsAsErrors="$(HarvestDirectoryTreatSpecificWarningsAsErrors)"
VerboseOutput="$(HarvestDirectoryVerboseOutput)"
AutogenerateGuids="$(HarvestDirectoryAutogenerateGuids)"
GenerateGuidsNow="$(HarvestDirectoryGenerateGuidsNow)"
OutputFile="$(IntermediateOutputPath)_%(HarvestDirectory.Filename)_dir.wxs"
SuppressFragments="$(HarvestDirectorySuppressFragments)"
SuppressUniqueIds="$(HarvestDirectorySuppressUniqueIds)"
Transforms="%(HarvestDirectory.Transforms)"
Directory="#(HarvestDirectory)"
ComponentGroupName="%(HarvestDirectory.ComponentGroupName)"
DirectoryRefId="%(HarvestDirectory.DirectoryRefId)"
KeepEmptyDirectories="%(HarvestDirectory.KeepEmptyDirectories)"
PreprocessorVariable="%(HarvestDirectory.PreprocessorVariable)"
SuppressCom="%(HarvestDirectory.SuppressCom)"
SuppressRootDirectory="%(HarvestDirectory.SuppressRootDirectory)"
SuppressRegistry="%(HarvestDirectory.SuppressRegistry)" />
</Target>
</Project>
I generated this code based on the documentation of the HeatDirectory Task and I use it in real projects.