Say I have a game.exe that depends on engine.dll. When I build the game.csproj I want the engine.csproj to copy some stuff to the OutputPath of the project that is referencing it.
So in this example case, I want engine.csproj to copy something to the OutputPath of game.csproj
How do I get the $(OutputPath) of game.csproj in engine.csproj?
The reason I want to do this is because I'm building a content project in game and engine like this:
<Target Name="BuildContent">
<MSBuild Projects="Content\Content.contentproj"
Properties="OutputPath=MAINPROJECTPATH" />
</Target>
So I need to specify the OutputPath to the 'main project' which is the game.
With a bit nosing around in some of the msbuild targets I found the solution.
I should pass through the Parent properties like this
<Target Name="BuildContent">
<MSBuild Projects="Content\Content.contentproj"
Properties="ParentOutputDir=$(ParentOutputDir);
ParentIntermediateDir=$(ParentIntermediateDir);
ParentProjectDir=$(ProjectDir);" />
</Target>
First off, it is not clear from the question exactly what extra files you need to be copied that will not happen automatically using inter-project references.
If the Game project includes a project reference (rather then just a DLL file reference) to the Engine project, msbuild should copy all the output from Engine into the Game output directory, doesn't it?
If you really do need to manually copy files between projects, then I do not believe there is any easy way to find out which projects reference the current project, so it would probably be simpler to create a level of indirection with Engine pushing files half way and Game (or any other projects that need to include those files) pulling the files the rest of the way:
Some post-build event code in Engine.csproj created a "References" directory under SolutionDir and copies the files it wants to share into there.
Then Game.csproj can include the files from the "References" directory - either as direct file references, or by copying with some pre-build event code in Game.csproj
Related
I want to create a config class for a dll that reads from an embedded resource. I've created multiple xml files with the configuration for all our different environments. I have a separate configuration for each environment DEV, QA, PROD with matches the prefix on the xml file.
.Configuration/DEV.config.xml
.Configuration/QA.config.xml
.Configuration/PROD.config.xml
etc
We've never used MSBuild before and are confused because there seems to be about 3-4 different ways of using it (pre/post build events, xml scripting, custom tasks etc). All i'm trying to do is rename the respective file to config.xml and embed it in the dll, so that the config class can read it out when it's run.
I've seen similar questions that simply embed a file but none that embed and rename at the same time. I assume that any sort of embedding would need to be done as a pre-build event.
Normally I would have tried a few bits and bobs but I have no idea where to start with this, if anyone could point me in the right direction I would be extremely grateful.
Update:
so with some help from jlew I should be able to do something like this
<ItemGroup>
<EmbeddedResource Include="Configuration\$(Configuration).config.xml" >
<LogicalName>config.xml</LogicalName>
</EmbeddedResource>
</ItemGroup>
What you probably want to do (without having seen your code) is to not rename the input file, but direct MSBuild to use a "logical name" for the resource which is different than the file.
<ItemGroup>
<EmbeddedResource Include="Dev.config.xml">
<LogicalName>MyRenamedConfig.config.xml</LogicalName>
</EmbeddedResource>
</ItemGroup>
If you are using csc.exe directly, you can do something similar with:
csc ... /resource:Dev.config.xml,MyRenamedConfig.config.xml
Ok, so I have a few dozen solutions all built using the exact same command line.
msbuild SolutionName.sln /p:property1=value1;property2=value2;etc etc etc.
Except the number of properties just grows and grows.
Is there a way to specify an external file some how so I don't end up with a 10 line msbuild command? (Think property 100, property 101, etc).
I'm aware of .wpp.target files. However, having to copy them into each project folder really... is my last resort.
And no, I'm not modifying any default MSBuild targets/files whatsoever.
To answer the original question, yes you can specify properties in an external file. They are called MSBuild response files.
msbuild somesolution.sln #PathToResponseFile.rsp
Inside the response file you can put your properties, one per line.
/verbosity:detailed
/target:build
/platform:AnyCPU
/configuration=Release
Some links to better understand:
http://dailytechlearnings.wordpress.com/2011/08/24/msbuild-response-file/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/vstudio/ms404301.aspx
However, using an msbuild file to build your solutions and projects is a better solution. You can create global targets that will do exactly as you want. You can create your own custom Clean and Build targets that will then build/clean your solutions.
First of all - I would recommend you to use msbuild scripts to build your solutions, instead of direct building sln file using command line. E.g. use something like this:
msbuild SolutionName.Build.proj
and inside this Solution1.Build.proj you can put anything as simple as
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" DefaultTargets="BuildMe" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<Target Name="BuildMe">
<MSBuild Projects="SolutionName.sln" Properties="property1=value1;property2=value2;"/>
</Target>
</Project>
After this step, which adds flexibility to your build process, you can start leverage AdditionalProperties metadata for MSBuild task.
Then you can use <Import construction to store your list of shared properties in a separate file and item metadata for passing property values:
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" DefaultTargets="BuildMe" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<Import Project="MySharedProperies.props" />
<ItemGroup>
<ProjectToBuild Include="SolutionName.sln">
<AdditionalProperties>SomeProjectSpecificProperty</AdditionalProperties>
</ProjectToBuild>
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="BuildMe">
<MSBuild Projects="#(ProjectToBuild)" Properties="#(MySharedProperies)"/>
</Target>
</Project>
You can check this post for more details about properties and additional properties metadata or this original MSDN reference (scroll to Properties Metadata section)
This is the base idea how to do it, if you have any questions - feel free to ask.
I use an Import file for things that are common across various projects.
<Import Project="CommonBuildProperties.proj"/>
That file contains a PropertyGroup that has the things I want to have the same value across build projects. There's also a conditional statement there that sets certain folder names depending on the name of the computer it's running on. At runtime, if I need to override anything on the command line I do that.
I also have some project-specific Import files (one of our builds is a Powerbuilder application with its own toolset and pecadilloes); order of Import ensures if they require different values for the same element name I get what I want.
My command lines aren't horrible unless I'm doing something odd that needs most everything overridden. About the only things I have to pass in are version number and build type (release or debug).
I have a .sln file with several projects in it. To keep this simple, let's call them...
ProjectA
ProjectB
ProjectC
...where A is the main project which references B and C. My goal is to update my build script to generate an XML "Intellisense" documentation file for ProjectA, without giving build warnings about missing documentation from B and C.
Current Build Script
I have an MSBuild script which includes the following in the build step:
<PropertyGroup>
<CustomOutputPath>C:\build\output\</CustomOutputPath>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<Projects Include="ProjectA\ProjectA.csproj">
<Properties>OutputPath=$(CustomOutputPath)</Properties>
</Projects>
</ItemGroup>
<MSBuild Projects="#(Projects)" />
(There are actually multiple Projects listed in the ItemGroup, but again, let's keep this simple.)
When I run the build script, it's smart enough to compile B, C, and A for me, even though I've only specified A. All output appears in the "CustomOutputPath" location.
The closest I've gotten...
If I add a 'DocumentationFile' property to my Project entry...
<ItemGroup>
<Projects Include="ProjectA\ProjectA.csproj">
<Properties>OutputPath=$(CustomOutputPath);DocumentationFile=ProjectA.xml</Properties>
</Projects>
</ItemGroup>
...then 'ProjectA.xml' appears in "CustomOutputPath". However, I also get files named 'ProjectA.xml' in the project folder for all three projects:
ProjectA/ProjectA.xml
ProjectB/ProjectA.xml
ProjectC/ProjectA.xml
These files contain the "Intellisense" documentation for their respective projects, even though they're all named "ProjectA.xml".
This creates undesired and misleadingly-named files in the project folders, and (more importantly) generates build warnings for the missing documentation comments in B and C. I don't want to add documentation comments to those projects, so I'd prefer to find a way to have MSBuild generate the documentation only for ProjectA.
Can anyone provide any insight, or an alternative solution?
Based on what I've found - DocumentationFile is a global-level property (and will be used in creation of DocFileItem - global level items list). From my understanding you won't be able to alter it in any easy way in a single logical script.
What you can do is to define special target in separate file that will be imported to every proj file (directly editing proj files or using properties like $CustomBeforeMicrosoftCommonTargets) that will overwrite DocumentationFile with project-dependent value.
As a result - you probably can generate different documentation file names for different projects.
Another solution - just clean-up all unnecessary doc files right after all projs were built.
I read John Robbins' article TFS 2010 Build Number and Assembly File Versions: Completely In Sync with Only MSBuild 4.0, and I'm wondering about the best way to go about integrating this.
The download for the article has two files, one is a targets file and one is a proj file.
The targets file has a number of tasks to scrape out a build number based on the Tfs build number (the same one used for the builds) and write that number out to some location (call it BuildNumberFile) for consumption by other proj files.
The proj file is very simple. It just imports the aforementioned targets file, and then declares a target with name "All" while also declaring DefaultTargets on the Project element to be All as well.
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" DefaultTargets="All" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup>
<!-- The two required properties so the Wintellect.TFSBuildNumber tasks knows your major and minor values.-->
<TFSMajorBuildNumber>3</TFSMajorBuildNumber>
<TFSMinorBuildNumber>1</TFSMinorBuildNumber>
</PropertyGroup>
<Import Project="Wintellect.TFSBuildNumber.targets"/>
<!-- Just ask for the version information files you need. These are here to show all the diffent ones in
Wintellect.TFSBuildNumber.Targets. You can change the names -->
<Target Name="All"
DependsOnTargets="WriteSharedCSharpAssemblyVersionFile;
WriteSharedVBAssemblyVersionFile;
WriteSharedCPPCLIAssemblyVersionFile;
WriteSharedCPPAssemblyVersionFile;
WriteSharedWiXAssemblyVersionFile;
WriteSharedTextAssemblyVersionFile;"/>
</Project>
I have two questions about this:
I'm still learning MSBuild. If the name of the target isn't specified elsewhere in the targets, is the target executed? How do I ensure that this target is run?
Are the csproj files supposed to declare an Include item for the location where BuildNumberFile is, even though it doesn't exist until compiletime?
Do ItemGroups and Include have a DependsOnTargets or something that allows them make sure the file exists before they build?
Are the entire contents of the csproj file using this supposed to be wrapped in a target that expresses DependsOnTargets for BuildNumberFile?
Thanks!
I think I've got this figured out, but two people promoted my question so I'll answer it here:
You can ensure that a target is run by expressing a dependency on it from another target. Microsoft.Common.targets exposes two targets--BeforeBuild and AfterBuild--expressly for the purpose of being overridden for customizability. I found the easiest way to do this was <Target Name="BeforeBuild" DependsOnTargets="WriteSharedCSharpAssemblyVersionFile" /> where WriteSharedCSharpAssemblyVersionFile is the target declared in the download from the link in the original post. Also, if you're new to MSBuild, this BeforeBuild target must be declared after the Microsoft.CSharp.targets is imported, but the default csproj template guides you in doing this.
The WriteSharedCSharpAssemblyVersionFile target should indeed write the file to some central location, since when building a solution, all targets are executed only once. All projects should reference the file from that location even if it doesn't exist, since by the time compilation happens (or more importantly, by the time references are resolved), the BeforeBuild target will have run and the file will be in place.
In my structure, I have these versioning files in a folder directly underneath the branch root folder. Furthermore, since the file being built is generated, I have it build to the output directory. It seems a little strange to be referencing things from the output, but it preserves the invariant of having all build products in one place so that the output directory can be blown away as a means of performing a clean.
In MSBuild items constitute inputs into the system (usually files) so it's weird to think of them depending on targets. After some learning this question doesn't make a lot of sense. In any case, the answer is no.
The entire contents of the file should indeed not be all in one target--all that is required is to import the Wintellect.TFSBuildNumber.targets file at the beginning of your csproj file, and declare BeforeBuild's dependency on WriteSharedCSharpAssemblyVersionFile at the end.
Hope this helps!
Is it possible to take a list of projects and parallel build them only if they aren't up to date?
<Target Name="DependenciesLevel7" DependsOnTargets="DependenciesLevel6">
<Message Text="5 items to build" />
<MSBuild Projects="C:\Projects\ApplicationManager.csproj;C:\Projects\Metrics.csproj" Properties="$(CustomAllProperties)" BuildInParallel="true">
<Output TaskParameter="TargetOutputs" ItemName="built_DependenciesLevel7" />
</MSBuild>
This is an example of the format i'm building in, I was hoping to be able to parallel build only items that aren't up to date here? Perhaps internal msbuild task calls are automatically parallel? If so how would I set this up so that it's incremental based on the previous build task? (Target DependenciesLevel6) I believed for incremental building you have to use Inputs/Outputs in your target.
Question summary:
Is the list of projects passed to an msbuild task automatically incremental (building is skipped if the build is already up to date)?
If not, is it possible to do incremental on a list of projects while parallelizing?
Can you do between target incremental where each target is a parallel build?
what you are describing "parallel incremental building" is already built in (kind of) but what you really need is parallel partially building.
Let me first explain the concepts and then I'll circle back how it works in your scenario specifically. There are two things you need to know about; incremental building and partial building. I just wrote a blog post discussing this at http://sedodream.com/2010/09/23/MSBuildYouveHeardOfIncrementalBuildingButHaveYouHeardOfPartialBuilding.aspx but I'll paste the relevant parts here.
Incremental building is the concept that you should only build what is out of date. To support this MSBuild has the attributes, inputs and outputs on the Target element. With these attributes you can specify the files that go into a target (via inputs attribute), and the files that you are expecting to come out of a target (via outputs attribute). Once you do this MSBuild will compare the timestamp of the inputs to the outputs and if all outputs are up-to-date (i.e. the inputs are older) then the target will be skipped. Take a look at the very simple project file below.
<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<ItemGroup>
<Files Include="src\01.txt;src\02.txt;src\03.txt;src\04.txt;src\05.txt;"/>
</ItemGroup>
<PropertyGroup>
<Dest>dest\</Dest>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="CopyFiles"
Inputs="#(Files)"
Outputs="#(Files->'$(Dest)%(Filename)%(Extension)')">
<Message Text="CopyFiles" />
<Copy SourceFiles="#(Files)"
DestinationFiles="#(Files->'$(Dest)%(Filename)%(Extension)')"/>
</Target>
<Target Name="DeleteTwoFiles">
<Message Text="DeleteTwoFiles" />
<Delete Files="$(dest)01.txt;$(dest)02.txt"/>
</Target>
</Project>
In this project file we have two targets; CopyFiles and DeleteTwoFiles. Ignore DeleteTwoFiles for now. Also take a note that the directory where I’m executing this build has a folder, src, with the files listed in the Files item. On the CopyFiles target I have specified the inputs and outputs. The inputs is just #(Files), this are the files that the target is acting upon. The outputs contains the expression #(Files->'$(Dest)%(Filename)%(Extension)'). Which is the same expression from the Copy statement. If the Dest folder is empty and I execute the CopyFiles target the result is shown below.
So just as expected the files were copied over, so its all good. Now what happens if I execute it again? The output is shown below
So as you can see the target was skipped, the message statement “CopyFiles” was not executed nor was the copy as a result. So this, in a nutshell, is incremental building.
Now, with the dest folder containing all files, what do you think would happen I execute the command msbuild.exe PartialBuilding01.proj /t:DeleteTwoFiles;CopyFiles? This command will first delete two files from the output directory and then call the CopyFiles target again. Let’s see the result below.
When the CopyFiles target was executed you see that statement “Building target ‘CopyFiles’ partially, …”. When the time came to execute the target MSBuild examined the inputs and outputs, it determined that the files 01.txt & 02.txt were out of date (because they didn’t exist in the target) but 03.txt, 04.txt and 05.txt were up to date. So MSBuild feed the CopyFiles target a value for the Files item that only contained the 01.txt and 02.txt and let it do its thing.
Now this relates to your problem in many ways some not as direct as you might hope. Firstly MSBuild will incrementally build your project, so if your project is up to date then it will not be built again. The thing is though that in order for MSBuild to determine that your project is up to date it has to load the project run the default target (usually Build) and then the targets themselves will figure out that there is no work to do. This stuff itself takes time. So if you have a huge number of projects, or a huge number of files inside of a project then you can take matters into your own hands. What you need is a way to determine if your projects are up to date or not and correctly express that inside of your inputs and outputs attributes. Once you do this you should be able to skip building the projects which are up to date.
The core of the problem is how do you craft the inputs/outputs to be correct. If you can think of a way to do that then you will get what you want. How you craft this will depend on your scenario but I could see something like this:
After each project build drop a file to a known location that is specific to that project
Before you build a project scan its directory, find the newest file and then update the timestamp of the project file to be that value
Then you can place the project files as the Inputs values and the marker files as the Outputs
Then call your target
In this case you assume that all dependencies are fully contained in files under the directory of the project (which may not be true). I'm not saying this is the ideal solution, but a solution.
==============================================
Edit: Update based on questoins below.
You will want to put the projects into an item (though not required) like ProjectFiles and then use #(ProjectFiles) for inputs. For outputs that is what I was saying is the hard part. You have to figure out a way to know (or indicate to you via your own process) that the projects are up to date. There is nothing built in for this.
Concern fo incremental build vs. clean build. In a perfect world incremental & clean builds are the same. But sometimes that is not the case. For many projects it is. If you start adding a bunch of targets to your build process and you set them up to do incremental build, but you do not implement that properly then you may MSBuild may skip targets when they were indeed out of date. A good example of this would be when you create a target with Inputs set to a list of files and then the Outputs set to a list of created files. If you do not extend the clean process to delete those created files, then the next time you Rebuild (assuming you didn't change the files) the target will be skipped when it should have been cleaned on the previous Rebuild.
You're probably looking for IncrediBuild.
I'm not sure about the incremental part but I read that it checks inputs/ouputs.
I make parallel builds with MsBuild with a configuration similar to yours, don't forget to run msbuild with the /m option.
You can try on a simple project and check the logs to see if it's incremental or not.