Visual Studio 2019 Xamarin Dotfuscator CE Config File Creation Problem - xamarin

Question

I have followed the instructions at https://www.preemptive.com/dotfuscator/ce/docs/help/getting_started_xamarin.html#setup-targets and verified the accuracy multiple times. It says the first build will create DotfuscatorConfig.xml but it fails with Error 1. Then it says to set verbosity to Normal, so I did, but still no revelation why it won't create the file. I can change the build back to Debug and it builds fine, but changing back to release produces the same two errors. Has anyone experienced this and solved it?
Severity Code Description Project File Line Suppression State
Error The command ""C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\Common7\IDE\Extensions\PreEmptiveSolutions\DotfuscatorCE\dotfuscator.exe" /p:InDir="obj\Release\100\DotfuscatorXamarin\dfin",OutDir="obj\Release\100\DotfuscatorXamarin\dfout",ReportDir="DotfuscatorReports\Release" "obj\Release\100\DotfuscatorXamarin\Template.dfconfig" /in:+"${configdir}${InDir}\WetYourWhistle.Android.dll",+"${configdir}${InDir}\WetYourWhistle.dll" /makeconfig:"DotfuscatorConfig.xml"" exited with code 1. WetYourWhistle.Android C:\Users\leuol\source\repos\WetYourWhistle\PreEmptive.Dotfuscator.Xamarin\PreEmptive.Dotfuscator.Xamarin.targets 508
Severity Code Description Project File Line Suppression State
Error The "_DotfuscatorXamarin_SetProjectPropsTask" task failed unexpectedly.
System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not find file 'C:\Users\leuol\source\repos\WetYourWhistle\WetYourWhistle\WetYourWhistle.Android\DotfuscatorConfig.xml'.
File name: 'C:\Users\leuol\source\repos\WetYourWhistle\WetYourWhistle\WetYourWhistle.Android\DotfuscatorConfig.xml'
at System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode, String maybeFullPath)
at System.IO.FileStream.Init(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, Int32 rights, Boolean useRights, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, FileOptions options, SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES secAttrs, String msgPath, Boolean bFromProxy, Boolean useLongPath, Boolean checkHost)
at System.IO.FileStream..ctor(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize)
at System.Xml.XmlDownloadManager.GetStream(Uri uri, ICredentials credentials, IWebProxy proxy, RequestCachePolicy cachePolicy)
at System.Xml.XmlUrlResolver.GetEntity(Uri absoluteUri, String role, Type ofObjectToReturn)
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.FinishInitUriString()
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl..ctor(String uriStr, XmlReaderSettings settings, XmlParserContext context, XmlResolver uriResolver)
at System.Xml.XmlReaderSettings.CreateReader(String inputUri, XmlParserContext inputContext)
at System.Xml.XmlReader.Create(String inputUri, XmlReaderSettings settings, XmlParserContext inputContext)
at System.Xml.Linq.XDocument.Load(String uri, LoadOptions options)
at System.Xml.Linq.XDocument.Load(String uri)
at InlineCode._DotfuscatorXamarin_SetProjectPropsTask.Execute() in c:\Users\leuol\AppData\Local\Temp\r0wqtkdr\r0wqtkdr.0.cs:line 93
at Microsoft.Build.BackEnd.TaskExecutionHost.Microsoft.Build.BackEnd.ITaskExecutionHost.Execute()
at Microsoft.Build.BackEnd.TaskBuilder.d__26.MoveNext() WetYourWhistle.Android C:\Users\leuol\source\repos\WetYourWhistle\PreEmptive.Dotfuscator.Xamarin\PreEmptive.Dotfuscator.Xamarin.targets 520
Error The command ""C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\Common7\IDE\Extensions\PreEmptiveSolutions\DotfuscatorCE\dotfuscator.exe" /p:InDir="obj\Release\100\DotfuscatorXamarin\dfin",OutDir="obj\Release\100\DotfuscatorXamarin\dfout",ReportDir="DotfuscatorReports\Release" "obj\Release\100\DotfuscatorXamarin\Template.dfconfig" /in:+"${configdir}${InDir}\WetYourWhistle.Android.dll",+"${configdir}${InDir}\WetYourWhistle.dll" /makeconfig:"DotfuscatorConfig.xml"" exited with code 1. WetYourWhistle.Android C:\Users\leuol\source\repos\WetYourWhistle\PreEmptive.Dotfuscator.Xamarin\PreEmptive.Dotfuscator.Xamarin.targets 508
UPDATE - Now the code is compiling without error but still will not produce the DotfuscatorConfig.xml file. Not sure what else to try and it appears that nobody else knows either.

Answer 1

The solution is to temporary change the command dotfuscator.exe to dotfuscatorUI.exe :
<PropertyGroup>
<DotfuscatorXamarinConfigFileName>DotfuscatorConfig.xml</DotfuscatorXamarinConfigFileNam
<DotfuscatorXamarinCliPath>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\Common7\IDE\Extensions\PreEmptiveSolutions\DotfuscatorCE\dotfuscatorUI.exe</DotfuscatorXamarinCliPath>
<DotfuscatorGenerateConfigFileIfMissing>true</DotfuscatorGenerateConfigFileIfMissing>
<DotfuscatorEnabled>true</DotfuscatorEnabled>
<DotfuscatorXamarinEnabled Condition="'$(Configuration)' == 'Release'">true</DotfuscatorXamarinEnabled>
</PropertyGroup>
<Import Project="../../PreEmptive.Dotfuscator.Xamarin/PreEmptive.Dotfuscator.Xamarin.targets" />
Then start build. The dotfuscator UI starts with a window:
Show Image
Then press "Build". After it finishes, close then window by clicking "x" on top right. Then the output on Visual Studio shows a successful result:
Build started: Project: [AppName].Android, Configuration: Release Any CPU ------
[AppName].Android -> D:\Users\[UserName]\source\repos\[FolderName]\[AppName]\[AppName].Android\bin\Release\[AppName].Android.dll
Running Dotfuscator with a new config file based on project references...
Finished running Dotfuscator with a new config file.
D:\Users\[UserName]\source\repos\[FolderName]\[AppName]\[AppName].Android\[AppName].Android.csproj : warning : A new Dotfuscator config file was generated because it did not exist: 'DotfuscatorConfig.xml'.
You can see dotfuscatorconfig.xml is created at a folder [AppName].Android.
Then revert back from dotfuscatorUI.exe to dotfuscator.exe .
<PropertyGroup>
<DotfuscatorXamarinConfigFileName>DotfuscatorConfig.xml</DotfuscatorXamarinConfigFileNam
<DotfuscatorXamarinCliPath>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\Common7\IDE\Extensions\PreEmptiveSolutions\DotfuscatorCE\dotfuscator.exe</DotfuscatorXamarinCliPath>
<DotfuscatorGenerateConfigFileIfMissing>true</DotfuscatorGenerateConfigFileIfMissing>
<DotfuscatorEnabled>true</DotfuscatorEnabled>
<DotfuscatorXamarinEnabled Condition="'$(Configuration)' == 'Release'">true</DotfuscatorXamarinEnabled>
</PropertyGroup>
<Import Project="../../PreEmptive.Dotfuscator.Xamarin/PreEmptive.Dotfuscator.Xamarin.targets" />
Then the build should work without a UI popup.