I am getting the following error when trying to clear out files within my project
LC error LC0000: 'Could not find file 'E:\CI\BuildServer\RMS-Transition\Group\dev\Controls\Properties\licenses.licx'.'
My MSBuild task looks like this...
<Target Name="ClearLicenseFiles">
<ItemGroup>
<LicenseFiles Include="..\**\*.licx"/>
</ItemGroup>
<WriteLinesToFile File="%(LicenseFiles.FullPath)" Lines="" Overwrite="true"/>
</Target>
What is going on? It seems to find all of the .licx files just fine but when it goes to write to them, they don't exist... and according to the documentation the WriteLinesToFile task should create the file anyways if it doesn't already exist.
I am starting to believe that this is a bug with MSBuild... the license files are being DELETED not overwritten as you would expect. Someone else has had this issue as well (comment on bottom of this msdn article)
This is my solution... I created a file that is empty named empty.txt right next to my msbuild proj and then copied this file onto the licx files.
<Target Name="ClearLicenseFiles">
<ItemGroup>
<LicenseFiles Include="..\**\*.licx"/>
</ItemGroup>
<Copy SourceFiles="empty.txt" DestinationFiles="%(LicenseFiles.FullPath)"/>
</Target>
Related
I am so confused, this is my error:
1>obj\Debug\net48\Package\PackageTmp.
1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Enterprise\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v16.0\Web\Microsoft.Web.Publishing.targets(3000,5): error : Copying file obj\Debug\net48\NuGet\DD3A9BE7C0EDA549CD5B7B690E0621F0E2C932EC\Glass.Mapper.Sc.100\5.8.173\App_Config/Include/Glass/Glass.Mapper.Sc.Start.config to obj\Debug\net48\Package\PackageTmp\obj\Debug\net48\NuGet\DD3A9BE7C0EDA549CD5B7B690E0621F0E2C932EC\Glass.Mapper.Sc.100\5.8.173\App_Config/Include/Glass/Glass.Mapper.Sc.Start.config failed. Could not find a part of the path 'obj\Debug\net48\Package\PackageTmp\obj\Debug\net48\NuGet\DD3A9BE7C0EDA549CD5B7B690E0621F0E2C932EC\Glass.Mapper.Sc.100\5.8.173\App_Config/Include/Glass/Glass.Mapper.Sc.Start.config'.
1>Done building project "some.project.ORM.csproj" -- FAILED.
I have tried to delete the obj\Debug folder in the file system as well as the solution, as some have suggested. I have unloaded the project to review the .csproj file, I didn't see anything strange. I tried removing the Nuget Package and Reinstalling it. I just am not certain.
any help would be welcomed.
Note: I checked the directories do exist and they do. I even deleted the /obj/Debug folders from the solution as well as the source, as suggested, nothing seems to be working.
here is the .csproj
<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
<PropertyGroup>
<TargetFramework>net48</TargetFramework>
<RootNamespace>some.project.ORM</RootNamespace>
<AssemblyName>some.project.ORM</AssemblyName>
<PublishTargetType>website</PublishTargetType>
</PropertyGroup>
<Import Project="$(SolutionDir)\_Build\props\_PublishTargetType.props" />
<ItemGroup>
<PackageReference Include="Glass.Mapper.Sc.100" Version="5.8.173" />
</ItemGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<Content Update="App_Config\Include\Foundation\Glass\Glass.Mapper.Sc.Start.config">
<CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
</Content>
</ItemGroup>
</Project>
this issue was because the file that I was copying to was over the 260 limit in VS. My path length was 261. We copied the solution to a shorter path and the build worked fine. thanks for your help.
The basic requirement is to copy the various files and folders from different solution/project directories to the single build_output folder(/subfolders).
Currently, I am doing this operation using the Robocopy commands. The only issue is my script is too long just using multiple Robocopy commands.
<Copy SourceFiles="$(Docs)\Manual.pdf" DestinationFolder="$(BuildPath)\Help"/>
<RoboCopy Source="$(Web1)" Destination="$(BuildPath)" Files="*.aspx" Options="/E"/>
<RoboCopy Source="$(Web1)\Images" Destination="$(BuildPath)\Images" Files="*.jpg;*.png" Options="/E"/>
<RoboCopy Source="$(Web2)\Images" Destination="$(BuildPath)\Images" Files="*.jpg;*.png" Options="/E"/>
<!--- 100s of such RoboCopy & Copy commands (note that in last two commands i need to copy from different sources to same destination -->
How this job is implemented in real enterprise applications, so that
the build script is concise and clear.
Is my thinking below is the way to approach the solution. If yes, can anybody provide me sample steps using MSBuild or CommandScript easily. (free to use any MSBuild extensions)
Define the mapping of the all source folders, file types (can be xyz.png/.png/.*) and the destination path.
Copy the files (Robocopy) using the above mentioned mappings using a single target or task)
Is there any other better way to do this problem?
Insights/Solution ???
I do exactly this sort of thing to stage build output for harvesting by the installer build. I have a custom targets file for consistent processing and have some msbuild property files with the item groups describing that needs to be done.
<ItemGroup Label="AcmeComponent1Payload">
<FileToHarvest Include="$(SourceRoot)AcmeProjects\ServerManager\$(Configuration)\**\*;
$(SourceRoot)Library\SQLServerCompact\**\*;
$(SourceRoot)Utility Projects\PropertyDataValidator\PropertyDataValidator\bin\$(Configuration)\PropertyDataValidator.*"
Exclude="$(SourceRoot)Server Manager Projects\AcmeServerManager\$(Configuration)\IntegrationTests.*;
$(SourceRoot)Server Manager Projects\AcmeServerManager\$(Configuration)\**\Microsoft.Practices.*.xml;
$(SourceRoot)Server Manager Projects\AcmeServerManager\$(Configuration)\obj\**\*;
$(SourceRoot)Server Manager Projects\AcmeServerManager\$(Configuration)\**\Microsoft.VisualStudio.*;
$(SourceRoot)Server Manager Projects\AcmeServerManager\$(Configuration)\**\Microsoft.Web.*;
$(SourceRoot)Utility Projects\PropertyDataValidator\PropertyDataValidator\bin\$(Configuration)\PropertyDataValidator.xml">
<Group>AcmeServerManager</Group>
<SubDir>Utilities\</SubDir>
</FileToHarvest>
</ItemGroup>
The custom targets file has the functionality to process it.
<Target Name="CopyFiles">
<Copy Condition="#(FileToHarvest)!=''"
SourceFiles="#(FileToHarvest)"
DestinationFiles="#(FileToHarvest->'$(OutputPath)\%(Group)\%(SubDir)%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')"
OverwriteReadOnlyFiles="true"
SkipUnchangedFiles="true" />
</Target>
You can make the properties file as simple or as complicated as you like. I use multiple ones and import them into the project file using wildcards.
Thanks #daughey, I got my first part working, where I need to copy from different sources to the same destination.
<!--Declare an ItemGroup that points to source Locations-->
<ItemGroup>
<ItemToCopy Include="$(Web1)\Audit"/>
<ItemToCopy Include="$(Utilities)\Service"/>
<ItemToCopy Include="$(Web1)\NET"/>
</ItemGroup>
<!--Declare an ItemGroup that points to destination Locations-->
<ItemGroup>
<DestLocations Include="$(BuildPath)" />
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="CopyFiles">
<!-- Run the copy command to copy the item to your dest locations-->
<!-- The % sign says to use Batching. So Copy will be run for each unique source ItemToCopy(s) in the DestLocation.-->
<RemoveDir Directories="$(BuildPath)"/>
<Message Importance="high" Text="Deploy folder is $(BuildPath)"/>
<RoboCopy Source="%(ItemToCopy.FullPath)" Destination="$(BuildPath)" Files="*.dll"/>
</Target>
After struggling with Item Metadata for Task Batching, the second part is also working great.
Scenario: Copy files from list of source directories to output directory on their respective sub-folders
$(Web1)\Audit*.dll => $(BuildPath)\Audit*.dll
$(Utilities)\Service*.jpg => $(BuildPath)\Utilities\Service*.jpg
Solution
<!--Modify an ItemGroup with metadata-->
<ItemGroup>
<ItemToCopy Include="$(Web1)\Audit">
<ToPath>$(BuildPath)\Audit</ToPath>
<FileType>*.dll</FileType>
</ItemToCopy>
<ItemToCopy Include="$(Utilities)\Service">
<ToPath>$(BuildPath)\Utilities\Service</ToPath>
<FileType>*.jpg;*.bmp</FileType>
</ItemToCopy>
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="CopyBatch">
<RoboCopy Source="%(ItemToCopy.Identity)" Destination="%(ItemToCopy.ToPath)" Files="%(ItemToCopy.Filetype)"/>
</Target>
Given an MSBuild Task that runs in AfterTargets="AfterCompile" and produces some files how do you get those files to be included in the current projects output so that the files will be copied to the bin directory of any projects referencing that project?
I have no guarantees that this is the right solution but it seems to work:
<Target Name="MyTarget" AfterTargets="AfterCompile">
<PropertyGroup>
<MyInput>D:\1.txt</MyInput>
<MyOutput>$([System.IO.Path]::GetFullPath('$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)$(OutDir)\1.txt'))</MyOutput>
</PropertyGroup>
<Copy SourceFiles="$(MyInput)" DestinationFolder="$(OutDir)" SkipUnchangedFiles="true" />
<ItemGroup>
<AllItemsFullPathWithTargetPath Include="$(MyOutput)">
<TargetPath>1.txt</TargetPath>
<CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
</AllItemsFullPathWithTargetPath>
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
The relevant logic is here:
http://sourceroslyn.io/#MSBuildTarget=GetCopyToOutputDirectoryItems
http://sourceroslyn.io/#MSBuildItem=AllItemsFullPathWithTargetPath
Basically we rely on the fact that to determine the list of files to copy from dependent projects MSBuild calls the GetCopyToOutputDirectoryItems target of the dependent projects and uses its output (which is AllItemsFullPathWithTargetPath).
By adding ourselves to AllItemsFullPathWithTargetPath at the last minute we get picked up when a dependent project calls us.
Thank you, Kirill. That was an excellent answer and it helped me when trying to copy ETW manifest files from a different project's output. Below is the final output.
Since I've simply expanded upon Kirill's answer, I do not expect this answer to be accepted. I post this here in the hope it helps someone else.
<Target Name="IncludeEtwFilesInOutput"
BeforeTargets="GetCopyToOutputDirectoryItems">
<PropertyGroup>
<EtwManifestFile>$([System.IO.Path]::GetFullPath('$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)$(OutDir)\My.etwManifest.man'))</EtwManifestFile>
<EtwResourceFile>$([System.IO.Path]::GetFullPath('$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)$(OutDir)\My.etwManifest.dll'))</EtwResourceFile>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<AllItemsFullPathWithTargetPath Include="$(EtwManifestFile)">
<TargetPath>My.etwManifest.man</TargetPath>
<CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
</AllItemsFullPathWithTargetPath>
<AllItemsFullPathWithTargetPath Include="$(EtwResourceFile)">
<TargetPath>My.etwManifest.dll</TargetPath>
<CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
</AllItemsFullPathWithTargetPath>
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
I have a project which has some post build events that do some copying around for other projects. I unfortunately cannot change that, and have been asked to write a build script for use on a CI server.
Problem is that the post build steps run off the debug/release bin folders and I compile through the build script to a different folder. So one solution would be to let the project build as is, and then manually copy all files from the bin folders to the output folder I am using. However that feels like a bit of a hack, so I was wondering if there is a way for an MSBuild task to tell the solution it is building to ignore PostBuild events, I believe you could set a property PostBuildEvent='' but it didnt seem to stop them from happening...
Here is an example of the build script target:
<Target Name="Compile" DependsOnTargets="Clean;">
<MSBuild Projects="$(SourceDirectory)\SomeSolution.sln"
Properties="Configuration=Release; OutputPath=$(CompilationDirectory); PostBuildEvent=''" />
</Target>
Anyone had to do anything similar before?
To disable all PostBuildEvents, set the CustomAfterMicrosoftCommonTargets to C:\PostBuild.config (or whatever you name the file) and have PostBuild.config to be:
<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<Target Name="PostBuildEvent"/>
</Project>
Add /p:CustomAfterMicrosoftCommonTargets="C:\PostBuild.config" to your msbuild command line
Or update your MsBuild task properties:
<MsBuild Projects="$(ProjectTobuild)" Properties="Configuration=$(Configuration);Platform=$(Platform);CustomAfterMicrosoftCommonTargets='C:\PostBuild.config'" Targets="Build"/>
To disable PostBuildEvents at project level for MSBuild, simply put these codes inside .csproj:
<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
<PropertyGroup>
<PostBuildEvent Condition="'$(BuildingInsideVisualStudio)' == 'false' Or '$(BuildingInsideVisualStudio)' != 'true'"></PostBuildEvent>
</PropertyGroup>
</Target>
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.