In MSBuild it's straightforward to define, say, a PropertyGroup which depends on the value of a property Foo:
<PropertyGroup Conditional="'$(Foo)'=='Bar'" />
Is it also possible for the conditional to depend on a task parameter?
For example, I'd like to use the value of the Link task's SubSystemparameter roughly like this:
<PropertyGroup Conditional="'$(Link/SubSystem)'=='Console'" />
but don't know if it is possible, and if it is, what the correct syntax is.
I'm pretty new to MSBuild though, so it's perfectly possible that I've missed something.
I don't have the VC SDK on my machine here, so I can't try a Link Task but you could try using the <Output /> of the Task:
...
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(LinkSubSystem)'=='Console'">
<MyDependentProp>Whatever</MyDependentProp>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="Linker">
<Link Sources="#(LinkerSources)" SubSystem="Console">
<Output TaskParameter="SubSystem" ItemName="LinkSubSystem" />
</Link>
</Target>
...
A second approach could be to use a property for Link Task SubSystem param itself an just recycle it for your PropertyGroup.
...
<PropertyGroup>
<LinkerSubSystem>Console</LinkerSubSystem>
</PropertyGroup>
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(LinkerSubSystem)'=='Console'">
<MyDependentProp>Whatever</MyDependentProp>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="Linker">
<Link Sources="#(LinkerSources)" SubSystem="$(LinkerSubSystem)" />
</Target>
...
Related
I have been trying to update the ApplicationVersion property in my csproj file.witch works fine; i have added a Target that runs an custom task to extract the AssemblyFileVersion from my assemblyinfo.cs; this works there is no doubt about that.
But then when i want to use my updated ApplicationVersion to determan where to put my newly build files, i get the default value set in the property.
<PropertyGroup>
...
<ApplicationVersion>1.0.0.0</ApplicationVersion>
...
</PropertyGroup>
<PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|AnyCPU' ">
<PlatformTarget>AnyCPU</PlatformTarget>
<DebugSymbols>true</DebugSymbols>
<DebugType>full</DebugType>
<Optimize>false</Optimize>
<OutputPath>..\media-converter-BUILD\debug\$(ApplicationVersion)\</OutputPath>
<DefineConstants>DEBUG;TRACE</DefineConstants>
<ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
<WarningLevel>4</WarningLevel>
<DocumentationFile>..\media-converter-BUILD\debug\$(ApplicationVersion)\MediaConverter.XML</DocumentationFile>
</PropertyGroup>
My Targets
<UsingTask AssemblyFile="GetAssemblyFileVersion.dll" TaskName="GetAssemblyFileVersion.GetAssemblyFileVersion" />
<Target Name="MainAfterCompile">
<CallTarget Targets="AfterCompile" />
<CallTarget Targets="VerifyParam" />
</Target>
<Target Name="AfterCompile">
<GetAssemblyFileVersion strFilePathAssemblyInfo="Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs">
<Output TaskParameter="strAssemblyFileVersion" PropertyName="ApplicationVersionModded" />
</GetAssemblyFileVersion>
<PropertyGroup>
<ApplicationVersion>$(ApplicationVersionModded)</ApplicationVersion>
</PropertyGroup>
</Target>
<Target Name="VerifyParam">
<Message Text="New $(ApplicationVersionModded)" Importance="high"/>
<Message Text="Old Updated $(ApplicationVersion)" Importance="high"/>
</Target>
the GetAssemblyFileVersion.dll i more or less stole from some post i found on the internet, just can't find it again, so i can't add a link, sorry.
My theory on why it does not work is that the transforms and parameters in PropertyGroups are rendered before both InitailTagets and DefaultTargets is run. And there for will my plan never work
but if anyone knows of a way to make it work, i will be grateful to here it
My theory on why it does not work is that the transforms and parameters in PropertyGroups are rendered before both InitailTagets and DefaultTargets is run indeed, that's how the evaluation order works: msbuild evaluates global properties in the first pass of the file, you define OutputPath, that is used by the Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets file to derive OutDir/BaseIntermediateOutputPath/.... Then in another pass your targets run and update the version number, but there isn't another pass which evaluates the global OutputPath property again.
You can however override the value of OutputPath and derived paths in a Target, and it will take effect, you just have to take care of running it early in the build so that other targets use the updated version. This does the trick:
<Target Name="GetApplicationVersion">
<GetAssemblyFileVersion strFilePathAssemblyInfo="Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs">
<Output TaskParameter="strAssemblyFileVersion" PropertyName="ApplicationVersion" />
</GetAssemblyFileVersion>
</Target>
<Target Name="SetOutputPaths" DependsOnTargets="GetApplicationVersion"
BeforeTargets="PrepareForBuild">
<PropertyGroup>
<OutputPath>bin\$(Configuration)\$(ApplicationVersion)\</OutputPath>
<OutDir>$(OutputPath)</OutDir>
</PropertyGroup>
<Message Text="Set OutDir to $(OutDir)" Importance="high" />
</Target>
Another way to deal with this is doing things the other way around: define the application version as a global msbuild property, then use it to define OutputPath and to update the number in AssemblyVersion.cs before it is compiled.
I have a msbuild custom Target and a Task computing a Value.
The Task will output the Value as Property.
This Property I would like to uses as Additional Option to the Compiler call.
But the Property is empty when used as Additional Option.
My *.targets File looks like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="12.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<UsingTask TaskName="GetBranchName_TASK" TaskFactory="CodeTaskFactory" AssemblyFile="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.Build.Tasks.v4.0.dll" >
<ParameterGroup>
<sPath ParameterType="System.String" Required="true" />
<sBranchName ParameterType="System.String" Output="true" />
</ParameterGroup>
<Task>
<Code Type="Fragment" Language="cs">
<![CDATA[
... some Code ...
]]>
</Code>
</Task>
</UsingTask>
<Target Name="GetBranchName_TARGET">
<GetBranchName_TASK sPath="$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)">
<Output PropertyName="BranchName" TaskParameter="sBranchName" />
</GetBranchName_TASK>
<Message Importance="High" Text="BranchName = $(BranchName)" />
</Target>
<PropertyGroup>
<BuildDependsOn>
GetBranchName_TARGET;
$(BuildDependsOn);
</BuildDependsOn>
</PropertyGroup>
</Project>
My *.props File is like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup Label="Configuration">
... some Properties here ...
</PropertyGroup>
<Import Project="$(VCTargetsPath)\Microsoft.Cpp.targets" />
<Import Project="IRSGetBranchName.targets" />
<ItemDefinitionGroup>
<ClCompile>
<AdditionalOptions>/DBRANCHNAME=$(BranchName) /DMORE=BAR</AdditionalOptions>
<ClCompile>
<ItemDefinitionGroup>
</Project>
This .props File then is imported into several .vcxproj
The Value printed as Message in my GetBranchName_TARGET is correct as expected (showing the correct TFS-Branch Name).
But when looking at Detailed Build Output, the Value seems empty:
1>ClCompile
1> ..\FOO.cpp
1> AdditionalOptions = /DBRANCHNAME= /DMORE=BAR
I tried for hours but found no solution and I really hope someone help whats wrong here ...
a) Is the Property BranchName not available globally? I tried to print the Property from other custom Targets and it worked well!
b) Or is the ClCompile.AdditionalOptions evaluated/build before my Target is excuted? In this case how can I re-evaluate?
c) ...
I'am very thankful for any Input.
You should be familiar with the msbuild evaluation process, as described here:
When the MSBuild engine begins to process a build file, it is evaluated in a top-down fashion in a multi-pass manner. These passes are described in order in the following list:
Load all environment and global properties, and toolset properties. In Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, for example, C++ defines several properties in the MSBuild 4.0 toolset.
Evaluate properties and process imports as encountered
Evaluate item definitions
Evaluate items
Evaluate using tasks
Start build and reading targets
So, in your case, the ItemDefinitionGroup for ClCompile has been evaluated before the GetBranchName_TARGET has been executed. So, it is empty by design.
In order to achieve the desired behavior, you should Add the following:
<Target Name="GetBranchName_TARGET">
<GetBranchName_TASK sPath="$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)">
<Output PropertyName="BranchName" TaskParameter="sBranchName" />
</GetBranchName_TASK>
<Message Importance="High" Text="BranchName = $(BranchName)" />
<ItemGroup>
<ClCompile>
<AdditionalOptions>/DBRANCHNAME=$(BranchName) /DMORE=BAR</AdditionalOptions>
</ClCompile>
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
You can use a Condition attribute in the ClCompile in order to include only your sources, for example. Actually, what you are looking for is the feature to modify item metadata after it was declared.
How to specify additional assembly reference paths for the MSBuild tasks?
I have following script so far, but can't figure out how to specify additional search paths.
<ItemGroup>
<ProjectsToBuild Include="..\Main\Main.sln" />
</ItemGroup>
<!-- The follwing paths should be added to reference search paths for the build tasks -->
<ItemGroup>
<MyAddRefPath Include="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\..\..\Build\Lib1" />
<MyAddRefPath Include="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\..\..\Build\Lib2" />
</ItemGroup>
<MSBuild
Projects="#(ProjectsToBuild)"
Properties="Configuration=Debug;OutputPath=$(BuildOutputPath)">
</MSBuild>
UPDATE:
Please show one complete working script which invokes original project, such as an SLN with multiple additional reference paths.
No suggestions on how to improve the project structure please.
I know how to build a good structure, but now it's the task of building an existing piece of crap.
I have finaly figured out how to do it:
<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<ItemGroup>
<ProjectsToBuild Include="ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1.csproj" />
</ItemGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<AdditionalReferencePaths Include="..\Build\ClassLibrary1" />
<AdditionalReferencePaths Include="..\Build\ClassLibrary2" />
</ItemGroup>
<PropertyGroup>
<BuildOutputPath>..\Build\ConsoleApplication1</BuildOutputPath>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="MainBuild">
<PropertyGroup>
<AdditionalReferencePathsProp>#(AdditionalReferencePaths)</AdditionalReferencePathsProp>
</PropertyGroup>
<MSBuild
Projects="ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1.csproj"
Properties="ReferencePath=$(AdditionalReferencePathsProp);OutputPath=$(BuildOutputPath)"
>
</MSBuild>
</Target>
The property you want to modify is AssemblySearchPaths. See the ResolveAssemblyReference task more information.
<Target Name="AddToSearchPaths">
<CreateProperty Value="x:\path\to\assemblies;$(AssemblySearchPaths)">
<Output PropertyName="AssemblySearchPaths" TaskParameter="Value" />
</CreateProperty>
</Target>
Making use of item groups, as in your example, it would look like:
<Target Name="AddToSearchPaths">
<CreateProperty Value="#(MyAddRefPath);$(AssemblySearchPaths)">
<Output PropertyName="AssemblySearchPaths" TaskParameter="Value" />
</CreateProperty>
</Target>
Looking in %WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Microsoft.Common.targets, you can see that the ResolveAssemblyReference Task is executed as part of the ResolveAssemblyReferences target. Thus, you want the newly added target to modify the AssemblySearchPaths property before ResolveAssemblyReferences is executed.
You've stated that you want to be able to modify the assembly search paths without modifying the project files directly. In order to accomplish that requirement you need to set an environment variable that will override the AssemblySearchPaths. With this technique you will need to provide every assembly reference path used by all the projects in the solutions. (Modifying the projects or copies of the projects would be easier. See final comments.)
One technique is to create a batch file that runs your script at sets the environment variable:
set AssemblySearchPaths="C:\Tacos;C:\Burritos;C:\Chalupas"
msbuild whatever.msbuild
Another way is to define a PropertyGroup in your custom msbuild file (otherwise known as the "hook" needed to make this work):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<ItemGroup>
<ProjectsToBuild Include="..\Main\Main.sln" />
</ItemGroup>
<PropertyGroup>
<AssemblySearchPaths>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\..\..\Build\Lib1;$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\..\..\Build\Lib2</AssemblySearchPaths>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="Build">
<MSBuild Projects="#(ProjectsToBuild)" Properties="AssemblySearchPaths=$(AssemblySearchPaths);Configuration=Debug;OutputPath=$(OutputPath)" />
</Target>
</Project>
Now if it were me, and for whatever unexplained reason I couldn't modify the project files to include the updated references that I am going to build with, I would make copies of the project files, load them into the IDE, and correct the references in my copies. Synching the projects becomes a simple diff/merge operation which is automatic with modern tools like mercurial (heck I'm sure clearcase could manage it too).
...and remember that you don't need to use a target for this, you can use project-scoped properties or items, as...
<ItemGroup>
<MyAddRefPath Include="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\..\..\Build\Lib1" />
<MyAddRefPath Include="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\..\..\Build\Lib2" />
</ItemGroup>
<PropertyGroup>
<MyAddRefPath>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\..\..\Build\Lib3</MyAddRefPath>
<!-- add in the property path -->
<AssemblySearchPaths>$(MyAddRefPath);$(AssemblySearchPaths)</AssemblySearchPaths>
<!-- add in the item paths -->
<AssemblySearchPaths>#(MyAddRefPath);$(AssemblySearchPaths)</AssemblySearchPaths>
</PropertyGroup>
...and if you do need to do this in a target to pick up paths from a dynamically populated item group, use inline properties, not the CreateProperty task (if you are not stuck in v2.0)
<Target Name="AddToSearchPaths">
<PropertyGroup>
<!-- add in the item paths -->
<AssemblySearchPaths>#(MyDynamicAddRefPath);$(AssemblySearchPaths)</AssemblySearchPaths>
</PropertyGroup>
</Target>
In MSBuild v4 one can use functions (like string.replace) on Properties. But how can I use functions on Metadata?
I'd like to use the string.replace function as below:
<Target Name="Build">
<Message Text="#(Files->'%(Filename).Replace(".config","")')" />
</Target>
Unfortunately this outputs as (not quite what I was going for):
log4net.Replace(".config","");ajaxPro.Replace(".config","");appSettings.Replace(".config","");cachingConfiguration20.Replace(".config","");cmsSiteConfiguration.Replace(".config","");dataProductsGraphConfiguration.Replace(".config","");ajaxPro.Replace(".config","");appSettings.Replace(".config","");cachingConfiguration20.Replace(".config","");cmsSiteConfiguration
Any thoughts?
You can do this with a little bit of trickery:
$([System.String]::Copy('%(Filename)').Replace('config',''))
Basically, we call the static method 'Copy' to create a new string (for some reason it doesn't like it if you just try $('%(Filename)'.Replace('.config',''))), then call the replace function on the string.
The full text should look like this:
<Target Name="Build">
<Message Text="#(Files->'$([System.String]::Copy("%(Filename)").Replace(".config",""))')" />
</Target>
Edit: MSBuild 12.0 seems to have broken the above method. As an alternative, we can add a new metadata entry to all existing Files items. We perform the replace while defining the metadata item, then we can access the modified value like any other metadata item.
e.g.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="12.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<ItemGroup>
<Files Include="Alice.jpg"/>
<Files Include="Bob.not-config.gif"/>
<Files Include="Charlie.config.txt"/>
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="Build">
<ItemGroup>
<!--
Modify all existing 'Files' items so that they contain an entry where we have done our replace.
Note: This needs to be done WITHIN the '<Target>' (it's a requirment for modifying existing items like this
-->
<Files>
<FilenameWithoutConfig>$([System.String]::Copy('%(Filename)').Replace('.config', ''))</FilenameWithoutConfig>
</Files>
</ItemGroup>
<Message Text="#(Files->'%(FilenameWithoutConfig)')" Importance="high" />
</Target>
</Project>
Result:
D:\temp>"c:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\12.0\Bin\MSBuild.exe" /nologo test.xml
Build started 2015/02/11 11:19:10 AM.
Project "D:\temp\test.xml" on node 1 (default targets).
Build:
Alice;Bob.not-config;Charlie
Done Building Project "D:\temp\test.xml" (default targets).
I needed to do something similar, the following worked for me.
<Target Name="Build">
<Message Text="#(Files->'%(Filename)'->Replace('.config', ''))" />
</Target>
Those functions works in properties only (as I know). So create target which will perform operation throw batching:
<Target Name="Build"
DependsOnTargets="ProcessFile" />
<Target Name="ProcessFile"
Outputs="%(Files.Identity)">
<PropertyGroup>
<OriginalFileName>%(Files.Filename)</OriginalFileName>
<ModifiedFileName>$(OriginalFileName.Replace(".config",""))</ModifiedFileName>
</PropertyGroup>
<Message Text="$(ModifiedFileName)" Importance="High"/>
</Target>
Do you really need in your example such kind of task? I mean there exists MSBuild Well-known Item Metadata
EDIT: I should specify that this task processes all items in #(Files).
i dont think you can use functions directly with itemgroups and metadata (that would be easy)
However you can use batching:
Taking the ideas from this post:
array-iteration
I was trying to trim an itemgroup to send to a commandline tool (i needed to lose .server off the filename)
<Target Name="ProcessFile" DependsOnTargets="FullPaths">
<ItemGroup>
<Environments Include="$(TemplateFolder)\$(Branch)\*.server.xml"/>
</ItemGroup>
<MSBuild Projects=".\Configure.msbuild"
Properties="CurrentXmlFile=%(Environments.Filename)"
Targets="Configure"/>
</Target>
<Target Name="Configure" DependsOnTargets="FullPaths">
<PropertyGroup>
<Trimmed>$(CurrentXmlFile.Replace('.server',''))</Trimmed>
</PropertyGroup>
<Message Text="Trimmed: $(Trimmed)"/>
<Exec Command="ConfigCmd $(Trimmed)"/>
</Target>
For MSBuild 12.0, here's an alternative.
<Target Name="Build">
<Message Text="$([System.String]::Copy("%(Files.Filename)").Replace(".config",""))" />
</Target>
Got the same problem (except with MakeRelative), so I passed with another solution : Using good old CreateItem that take a string and transform to Item :)
<ItemGroup>
<_ToUploadFTP Include="$(PublishDir)**\*.*"></_ToUploadFTP>
</ItemGroup>
<CreateItem Include="$([MSBuild]::MakeRelative('c:\$(PublishDir)','c:\%(relativedir)%(filename)%(_ToUploadFTP.extension)'))">
<Output ItemName="_ToUploadFTPRelative" TaskParameter="Include"/>
</CreateItem>
<FtpUpload Username="$(UserName)"
Password="$(UserPassword)"
RemoteUri="$(FtpHost)"
LocalFiles="#(_ToUploadFTP)"
RemoteFiles="#(_ToUploadFTPRelative->'$(FtpSitePath)/%(relativedir)%(filename)%(extension)')"
UsePassive="$(FtpPassiveMode)" ></FtpUpload>
Is there a way to get the Name of the currently running Target in MSBuild?
MSBuild does not provide a property (or other mechanism) that provides the name of the current executing target.
If you are thinking in terms of languages and frameworks that expose a stack trace at runtime, MSBuild has nothing equivalent to that.
If you are debugging and trying to visualize the order of target invocation, one trick is to define your own property and successively add values to it as a breadcrumb trail.
e.g.
<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<Target Name="A" DependsOnTargets="B">
<PropertyGroup>
<Trace>$(Trace);A</Trace>
</PropertyGroup>
<Message Text="$(Trace)" />
</Target>
<Target Name="B" DependsOnTargets="C">
<PropertyGroup>
<Trace>$(Trace);B</Trace>
</PropertyGroup>
</Target>
<Target Name="C">
<PropertyGroup>
<Trace>$(Trace);C</Trace>
</PropertyGroup>
</Target>
</Project>
In the example, each PropertyGroup in each target is hard-coding a value that is added to the $(Trace) property.
Running this MSBuild file with verbosity set to normal will produce the output:
;C;B;A
It might be nice to have a generic snippet of code that could be pasted unchanged into each target but currently that's not possible.
You are probably looking for the $(MSBuildProjectFile) but "Target" is kind of vague.