I am trying to specify some additional targets/tasks to an msbuild file by extending an existing msbuild file (a web applicartion .csproj file). The idea is to put configuration specific tasks in this "extended ms build file" and use this file in our build server (TeamCity). The way I tried to solve it at first was to add a folder "msbuildscripts" to my web project and put the extended ms build file there:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" DefaultTargets="Build">
<Import Project="../My.Web.csproj" />
...more stuff...
</Project>
and then build this file using something like:
c:\myweb\msbuild.exe msbuildscripts/extended.msbuild.file.xml
Now, this wont work because when importing the original ms build file, that csproj file will be "executed" in the "wrong" folder (msbuildscripts), and the csproj-build-file wont find any of its referenced folders/items.
Is there any way to tell msbuild.exe to use a specific working directory? I know it is possible to solve this problem using an execute task, but that doesnt seem like a good solution.
Use MSBuild task like this:
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" DefaultTargets="MyBuild">
<ItemGroup>
<ProjectToBuild Include="../My.Web.csproj" />
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="MyBuild">
<MSBuild Targets="Build" Projects="#(ProjectToBuild)"></MSBuild>
</Target>
</Project>
Related
At the moment we are switching from VS2015 to VS2017. One of our upgrade steps is to switch from stylecop to the new Stylecop.Analyzer package. The new Stylecop is using 2 files. The stylecop.json and the Stylecop.ruleset.
The target: I want to provide the stylecop files as a custom nuget package. But I dont know how to create the needed .csproj entries.
<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
<PropertyGroup>
...
<CodeAnalysisRuleSet>packages\My.StyleCop.1.0.0-pre15\RuleSet\My.StyleCop.ruleset</CodeAnalysisRuleSet>
</PropertyGroup>
...
<ItemGroup>
<AdditionalFiles Include="packages\My.StyleCop.1.0.0-pre15\Config\stylecop.json">
<Link>stylecop.json</Link>
</AdditionalFiles>
</ItemGroup>
</Project>
In the past, there was the possibility to use a install.ps1 script to do this stuff. But with NuGet 3. (or 4.) the install scripts are obsolete and will be ignored.
I already tried to use My.StyleCop.targets:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<ItemGroup>
<AdditionalFiles Include="packages\My.StyleCop.1.0.0-pre17\Config\stylecop.json">
<Link>stylecop.json</Link>
</AdditionalFiles>
</ItemGroup>
</Project>
But here I have some issues, too. Since NuGet 3. (or 4.) there is no solution wide package folder and I dont know any variable or placeholder I can use here to get a absolute or relative path to my package.
You can add .props or .targets files to the build folder in your packages and they will be imported to the projects.
On the .props file, you can use the MSBuildThisFileDirectory MSBuild variable that represents the folder where that file is located.
Thanks to Paulo.
How I did it:
This is the structure of my NuGet package.
The solution is quiet easy. You need to create to files. A .props and a .targets file named like the NuGet package and place them in the build folder of your package.
In these MSBuild files you can use the $(MSBuildThisFileDirectory) variable to get the path of your NuGet package.
MSBuildThisFileDirectory = C:\Users\UserName\.nuget\packages\sig.stylecop\1.0.0-pre23\build\
My SIG.StyleCop.props file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup>
<CodeAnalysisRuleSet>$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)\..\RuleSet\SIG.combiLink.ruleset</CodeAnalysisRuleSet>
</PropertyGroup>
</Project>
My SIG.StyleCop.targets file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<ItemGroup>
<AdditionalFiles Include="$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)\..\Config\stylecop.json">
<Link>stylecop.json</Link>
</AdditionalFiles>
</ItemGroup>
</Project>
Cause of the structure of my package i need to navigate (..) into the Config and into the RuleSet folder.
The variable $(MSBuildThisFileDirectory) already includes the backslash at the end. It is important to omit the backslash when you reference the ruleset and the stylecop.json file:
<CodeAnalysisRuleSet>$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)..\RuleSet\SIG.combiLink.ruleset</CodeAnalysisRuleSet>
<AdditionalFiles Include="$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)..\Config\stylecop.json">
With the double backslash I experienced two strange problems in Visual Studio 2017:
Unit tests rebuild the code each time I start them, even without any code change
The IDE shows many StyleCop errors in the Error List window and shows red marks in the scroll bar even for rules that are explicitly disabled in the rule set.
In Visual Studio 2017 when publishing an Asp.Net Core Website using the File System publish method I want to trigger the execution of a .bat file after the publish operation copied the files to the output directory.
I have learned that the settings for the publish operation are stored by Visual Studio in the project's Properties/PublishProviles directory in a .pubxml file. So in may case the file is FolderProfile.pubxml and it currently looks like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--
This file is used by the publish/package process of your Web project. You can customize the behavior of this process
by editing this MSBuild file. In order to learn more about this please visit https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=208121.
-->
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup>
<WebPublishMethod>FileSystem</WebPublishMethod>
<PublishProvider>FileSystem</PublishProvider>
<LastUsedBuildConfiguration>Release</LastUsedBuildConfiguration>
<LastUsedPlatform>Any CPU</LastUsedPlatform>
<SiteUrlToLaunchAfterPublish />
<LaunchSiteAfterPublish>False</LaunchSiteAfterPublish>
<ExcludeApp_Data>False</ExcludeApp_Data>
<PublishFramework>net461</PublishFramework>
<ProjectGuid>f58b5ca0-8221-4c97-aa6d-7fba93a3abeb</ProjectGuid>
<publishUrl>C:\inetpub\wwwGiftOasisResponsivePublished</publishUrl>
<DeleteExistingFiles>True</DeleteExistingFiles>
</PropertyGroup>
</Project>
Based on the comments in the .pubxml file and additional research, it's my understanding this file is essentially an msbuild file and ultimately msbuild is used to perform the publish operation. msbuild files seem very flexible but more than a little complicated. I'm really struggling with this one.
If I had a batch file in the root of my project called finishPub.bat, how could I modify the above .pubxml file to cause the execute of the finishPub.bat file after the website has been copied to the output folder?
You can amend your publish profile with a custom target:
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup>
<WebPublishMethod>FileSystem</WebPublishMethod>
...
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="ExecuteBatAfterPublish" AfterTargets="AfterPublish">
<Exec Command="example.bat" WorkingDirectory="$(publishUrl)" />
</Target>
</Project>
I am trying to transform all of the web.config files in a project I have, here's a my tree structure:
Transform.bat
Transforms
ConfigTransform.proj
Web.Transform.config
Website
web.config
Views
web.config
There's more web.config files, but the idea is that this will find all of them and apply the same config transform on them.
I've taken a few hints from a blog post I found but I get stuck in the last step, the actual transformation. Also there's a bit of a rough part in the middle that I don't really like (I don't quite understand what I'm doing and I'm obviously doing it wrong). Here's where I am so far:
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" DefaultTargets="Transform" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<UsingTask TaskName="TransformXml" AssemblyFile="Tools\Microsoft.Web.Publishing.Tasks.dll"/>
<PropertyGroup>
<SitePath>..\..\Website</SitePath>
<WebConfigTransformInputFile>$(SitePath)\Web.config</WebConfigTransformInputFile>
<WebConfigTransformFile>Web.Transform.config</WebConfigTransformFile>
<OutDir>..\N\N\</OutDir>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<_FilesToTransform Include="$(SitePath)\**\web.config"/>
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="Transform">
<MakeDir Directories="#(_FilesToTransform->'$(OutDir)%(RelativeDir)')" />
<TransformXml Source="#(_FilesToTransform->'$(OutDir)%(RelativeDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')"
Transform="$(WebConfigTransformFile)"
Destination="#(_FilesToTransform->'$(OutDir)%(RelativeDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')" />
</Target>
</Project>
My Transform.bat looks like this:
%systemroot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\MSBuild.exe %CD%\Transforms\ConfigTransform.proj
So when I call the batch, the appropriate directories get created. However, as you can see I've had to be a little creative with the OutDir, making it ..\N\N. For some reason, if I don't do this the OutDir path will be exactly the same as the input directory. So I obviously need to change something in MakeDir but I'm not sure what.
The real problem comes when it starts to do the transforms. I've tried to keep the TransformXml Source parameter like this or like so:
#(_FilesToTransformNotAppConfig->'%(FullPath)')
The latter gives me an error "Could not open Source file: The given path's format is not supported." and the former gives me this output:
Build started 30-4-2012 14:02:48.
Project "D:\Dev\transform\DoTransforms\Transforms\ConfigTransform.proj" on node 1 (default targets).
Transform:
Creating directory "..\N\N\..\..\Website\Views\".
Transforming Source File: ..\N\N\..\..\Website\Views\Web.config;..\N\N\..\..\Website\Web.config
D:\Dev\transform\DoTransforms\Transforms\ConfigTransform.proj(32,2): error : Could not open Source file: Could not find a part of the path 'D:\Dev\transform\DoTransforms\Website\Views\Web.config;\Website\Web.config'.
Transformation failed
Done Building Project "D:\Dev\transform\DoTransforms\Transforms\ConfigTransform.proj" (default targets) -- FAILED.
Build FAILED.
To summarize my questions:
How do I avoid the path issue for the OutDir? I've fiddled with multiple paths but I can't get it right.
How do I get the TransformXml task to accept multiple files in the Source attribute?
I think you were pretty close. I have pasted a sample below which shows how to do this.
In my sample I discover the transform sitting next to the web.config file itself. For your scenario you can just use an MSBuild property pointing to a specific file.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project DefaultTargets="TransformAll" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<UsingTask TaskName="TransformXml" AssemblyFile="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\Web\Microsoft.Web.Publishing.Tasks.dll"/>
<PropertyGroup>
<Configuration Condition=" '$(Configuration)'=='' ">Release</Configuration>
<OutputFolder Condition=" '$(OutputFolder)'=='' ">C:\temp\transformed-files\</OutputFolder>
</PropertyGroup>
<!--
This target shows how to transform web.config with a specific transform file associated to that specific web.config file.
-->
<Target Name="TransformAll">
<!-- discover the files to transform -->
<ItemGroup>
<FilesToTransofm Include="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\**\web.config"/>
</ItemGroup>
<!-- Ensure all target directories exist -->
<MakeDir Directories="#(FilesToTransofm->'$(OutputFolder)%(RecursiveDir)')"/>
<!-- TransformXml only supports single values for source/transform/destination so use %(FilesToTransofm.Identity)
to sned only 1 value to it -->
<TransformXml Source="%(FilesToTransofm.Identity)"
Transform="#(FilesToTransofm->'%(RecursiveDir)web.$(Configuration).config')"
Destination="#(FilesToTransofm->'$(OutputFolder)%(RecursiveDir)web.config')" />
</Target>
</Project>
FYI you can download a full sample at https://github.com/sayedihashimi/sayed-samples/tree/master/TransformMultipleWebConfigs.
I am executing MSBuild from a batch file. The MSBuild script is in a different directory than the directory I want MSBuild to consider the working directory when running the script. When invoking MSBuild.exe, how do I change its working directory?
Edit: More details
Let's say I have an MSBuild script located on some other server. I want to run a command thusly:
msbuild.exe \\my_server\c$\My\Path\To\Scripts\TestScript.msbuild
I run that command with my command prompt at c:\temp. Let's say my TestScript.msbuild has a task to create a file. The file has no path just a filename. I would expect that the file gets created inside c:\temp. But it doesn't it gets created next to the msbuild file that is sitting on the server. This is the behavior I want to change.
Edit #2
Here is the script I'm using in my test:
<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<ItemGroup>
<Files Include="HelloWorld.txt" />
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="TouchFiles">
<Touch Files="#(Files)" AlwaysCreate="True" />
</Target>
</Project>
I am going into a command shell CDing into c:\temp and then executing the script. With or without the /p:OutDir switch that #Nick Nieslanik mentions, the HelloWorld.txt file appears in the folder where the *.msbuild file is and not c:\temp.
I ran across this while looking for a solution to my problem. Here's my solution (build script):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<Target Name="Default">
<Exec Command="build.bat" WorkingDirectory="..\[your dir]\" />
</Target>
</Project>
I believe that's more what you were originally looking for?
My problem was that my batch file called another that it expected to be in the same directory, but since my ms build script was being run elsewhere, the batch file failed to find the second batch file.
#jkohlhepp - I see now. You are doing the opposite of what I described in my comment to some degree.
MSBuild common targets use the MSBuildProjectDirectory to determine the output folder unless you override that. So in your case, you could run
msbuild.exe \\my_server\c$\My\Pat\To\Scripts\TestScript.msbuild /p:OutDir=c:\temp
to force the output to be dropped in that location.
EDIT:
Given the project file above, you'd need to edit it to do something like the following for this to work:
<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup>
<OutDir Condition=" '$(OutDir)' == '' ">bin\debug\</OutDir>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<!-- Without prefacing files with paths, they are assumed relative to the proj file -->
<FilesToCreate Include="$(OutDir)HelloWorld.txt" />
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="TouchFiles">
<Touch Files="#(FilesToCreate)" AlwaysCreate="True" />
</Target>
</Project>
In current versions of MSBuild the well-known property MSBuildStartupDirectory can be used in the msbuild file to retrieve the absolute path of the folder where MSBuild is called.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/msbuild/msbuild-reserved-and-well-known-properties?view=vs-2019
This option perhaps did not exist in msbuild around the time when the question was asked. I didn't want to spend too much time investigating it.
I'm attempting to write an automated build for one of our products, and I've hit up against a wall for some of our VC++ projects: I need to be able to set the output path to where the assemblies will be copied once its done.
Here is a makeshift msbuild file:
<Project DefaultTargets="Build"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003"
ToolsVersion="3.5">
<Target Name="Build">
<VCBuild Projects="C:\src\SomeProject\SomeProject.vcproj"
ToolPath="C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\vcpackages"
Configuration="Debug" />
</Target>
</Project>
Stijn's Answer:
I thought I'd use this space to clarify how I personally used Stijn's answer to solve this. He has some code in his MSBuild file that writes the vsprops file for him. I decided to take a simpler approach and just write the file manually.
I created this file, called build.vsprops (my output path is V:)
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<VisualStudioPropertySheet ProjectType="Visual C++"
Version="8.00"
Name="Overrides"
OutputDirectory="V:\">
<Tool Name="VCCLCompilerTool"
AdditionalUsingDirectories="V:\" />
</VisualStudioPropertySheet>
Then I edited my MSBuild file to add the Override parameter:
<Project DefaultTargets="Build"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003"
ToolsVersion="3.5">
<Target Name="Build">
<VCBuild Projects="C:\src\SomeProject\SomeProject.vcproj"
ToolPath="C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\vcpackages"
Configuration="Debug"
Override="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\build.vsprops" />
</Target>
</Project>
have a look at the Override parameter for the VCBuild task. Basically you specify a property sheet which you can use to override whatever property you want (it has the same effect as adding a property sheet to the top of the list in a project within VS). You could even generate the override file using the WriteLinesToFile task.
Example:
<PropertyGroup>
<VCOverridesFile Condition=" '$(VCOverridesFile)'=='' ">overrides.vsprops</VCOverridesFile>
<VCOverridesOpen>%3C?xml version=%221.0%22?%3E%0D%0A%3CVisualStudioPropertySheet ProjectType=%22Visual C++%22 Version=%228.00%22 Name=%22My Overrides%22%3E</VCOverridesOpen>
<VCOverridesClose>%3C/VisualStudioPropertySheet%3E</VCOverridesClose>
<MyOutPath><Tool Name="VCLinkerTool" OutputFile ="c:\my.exe"/></MyOutPath>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="WriteOverridesFile">
<WriteLinesToFile
File="$(VCOverridesFile)"
Lines="$(VCOverridesOpen);$(AdditionalVCOverrides);$(VCOverridesClose)"
Overwrite="true" />
</Target>
Then pass $(VCOverridesFile) to the Override property and make sure your VCBuild Task DependsOnTarget WriteOverridesFile.
Doing it the dirty way you can pass output directory path through command line arguments of msbuild.
msbuild yourProject /p:OutDir=yourPath
Although I suspect, there should be the better way to accomplish the task. The main idea is to set 'OutDir' property in such a way that it will not be overriden by your SomeProject.vcproj
if you are using Azure DevOps and needs to create a YAML do build a .net framework (vintage[old])
- task: VSBuild#1
inputs:
solution: '**\*.sln'
msbuildArgs: '/p:DeployOnBuild=true /p:SkipInvalidConfigurations=false /p:OutDir="$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)\publish_output"'
platform: 'Any CPU'
configuration: 'Release'