In my extension project file I'v set Start Action to start Visual Studio by setting StartPrograms in my project file (.vbproj if that matters)
<StartPrograms>$(DevEnvDir)devenv.exe</StartPrograms>
The problem is that when the project is open in VS2017 it opens VS2015 and in project properties I see:
Is there something wrong with my project? Or do I undersant DevEnvDir wrong way?
DevEnvDir in VS2017 points to VS2015
That because you set the Start external program is Visual Studio 2015. And this info stored in the .csproj.user file. If open that .csproj.user file in the same folder as project file, you will find following:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="15.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|AnyCPU'">
<StartAction>Program</StartAction>
<StartProgram>C:\Program Files %28x86%29\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe</StartProgram>
</PropertyGroup>
</Project>
So, even if you specify the StartPrograms in the project file, but specify Start external program in the project property will overwrite it.
To resolve this issue, you should specify Start external program as Visual Studio 2017:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe
Hope this helps.
Related
I have a MSBuild file to publish a solution (created in VS 2013 and ported to VS 2017) to a remote server. The offending line is this one:
<PropertyGroup>
<VisualStudioVersion Condition="'$(VisualStudioVersion)' == ''">10.0</VisualStudioVersion>
<VSToolsPath Condition="'$(VSToolsPath)' == ''">$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v$(VisualStudioVersion)</VSToolsPath>
</PropertyGroup>
When I run the command:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\MSBuild\15.0\Bin\msbuild" WebSite1_Web_configs.build /p:Configuration=Integracion;Platform="AnyCPU" /p:VisualStudioVersion=15.0
After some compilation, it ends up with this error:
Error MSB4062 The "TransformXml" task could not be loaded from the assembly C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v12.0\Web\Microsoft.Web.Publishing.Tasks.dll
Of course it can't be loaded, because the version should be 15.0, not 12.0.
Things I have tried:
Adding the /p:VisualStudioVersion=15.0 to the command where I call MSBuild. It doesn't work.
Changing, inside the *.csproj file, the element:
<Project ToolsVersion="12.0" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
For:
<Project ToolsVersion="15.0" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
It doesn't work.
So, how can I get the correct VS version with $(VisualStudioVersion) inside the MSBuild file without having to hardcode it?
Ok, the problem was that I had <Import> elements at the end of the *.build file. One of those imports had part of the path hardcoded:
<Import Project="$(MSBuildBinPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets" />
<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v12.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" />
I changed it to:
<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v$(VisualStudioVersion)\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" />
I executed MSBuild with the /p:VisualStudioVersion=15.0 parameter and it worked.
Please, if you have the same problem, check if you have imports with hardcoded paths.
On Visual Studio 2017, instead of edits the .csproj file, you can simple go to Visual Studio Package Manager Console (Tools -> NuGet Package Manager -> Package Manager Console) and install Web.Targets:
Install-Package MSBuild.Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.targets
So I have a solution with 70ish projects that I updated to use a Directory.build.props file to use a single bin folder to make our CI process cleaner. Works great and now everything is in 1 locaction
BUT the problem now is when I open Visual Studio 2017 it creates a bunch of extra project folders now that NEVER get used. Anyway to disable this? It's just confusing to people and clutters up everyone's dev repo.
Example:
%sourceroot%\bin\release\ (this is where all the projects get happily binplaced)
%sourceroot%\bin\project1Neverused\ (unwanted folders that just clutter my dev box up)
%sourceroot%\bin\project2neverUsed\
%sourceroot%\bin\project1Neverused\
%sourceroot%\bin\project2neverUsed\
Here's my Directory.build.props file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="15.0" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup>
<SolutionDir>$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)</SolutionDir>
<OutputPath>$(SolutionDir)bin\$(Configuration)\$(MSBuildProjectName)</OutputPath>
<OutDir>$(OutputPath)</OutDir>
</PropertyGroup>
</Project>
Now open the sln file in Visual studio and if you look VS will have auto generated those folders even though you haven't built anything yet. I want that to be disabled because it's just generating junk folders that aren't used. Since we use a props file for msbuild to binplace we didn't update each project file from the default of "bin\debug"
Yes, Visual Studio will create those bin/obj folder by default when you create a new project/solution. It seems that there is no direct setting to prevent Visual Studio from generating these folders.
As a workaround, you can try to add a delete task in Directory.build.props file to delete the those folder:
<Target Name="CleanFolder" AfterTargets="Build">
<RemoveDir Directories="$(BaseIntermediateOutputPath)" />
<RemoveDir Directories="$(ProjectDir)bin" />
</Target>
Hope this helps.
I am working with a web application that was written using VS2015, and is being maintained using VS2017. I am trying to write another application to build the full web stack locally using the MSBuild API and other tools. In VS2015 or VS2017 the ASP.NET Web Application project will build successfully, but when running MSBuild programmatically, I keep getting this error:
The imported project "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v15.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" was not found. Confirm that the path in the declaration is correct, and that the file exists on disk.
I have the following build packages installed in my app:
Microsoft.Build
Microsoft.Build.Framework
Microsoft.Build.Tasks.Core
Microsoft.Build.Utilities.Core
The standard advice I've seen in forums for this error is to install Visual Studio on the build server, but I am doing this locally and I do have Visual Studio installed. I've also read that MSBuild 15 does not come with the WebApplication.targets file. There is also a toolsVersion parameter on the constructor for Microsoft.Build.Execution.BuildRequestData that I've tried setting manually to 14.0 but it still seems like my app is trying to use MSBuild 15. (I do have MSBuild 14 installed.)
Questions:
Can I make this build run in MSBuild 14 programmatically without updating any csproj files?
Where can I get WebApplication.targets for MSBuild 15?
Solution:
Thanks in large part to #Leo-MSFT I was able to get this working. Here's how:
Uninstalled the VS2017 ASP.NET and Web Application Development workload, then reinstalled with all of its optional components. This downloaded the missing .targets file.
In my builder application, added this property to my instance of BuildRequestData to make MSBuild look in the folders used by v15, rather than using the folders used by v14.
["MSBuildExtensionsPath32"] =
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\MSBuild"
Can I make this build run in MSBuild 14 programmatically without updating any csproj files?
MSBuildExtensionsPath32 is set internally by MSBuild. If you do not want update you .csproj file, you can try to override the value in your project file:
<PropertyGroup>
<MSBuildExtensionsPath32>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\MSBuild</MSBuildExtensionsPath32>
</PropertyGroup>
<PropertyGroup>
<VisualStudioVersion Condition="'$(VisualStudioVersion)' == ''">10.0</VisualStudioVersion>
<VSToolsPath Condition="'$(VSToolsPath)' == ''">$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v$(VisualStudioVersion)</VSToolsPath>
</PropertyGroup>
<Import Project="$(MSBuildBinPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets" />
<Import Project="$(VSToolsPath)\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" Condition="'$(VSToolsPath)' != ''" />
<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" Condition="false" />
But I'm not sure if it will introduce other error(Not tested).
Where can I get WebApplication.targets for MSBuild 15?
The path of WebApplication.targets for MSBuild 15 is:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v15.0\WebApplications
I am building a project file for our application that I am going to execute from our build machine. I was wondering if it is possible for me to open the project file and get the same view visual studio gives me of the solution when I open a solution file.
So here is my Contosa.proj file so far.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project DefaultTargets="Build" ToolsVersion="12.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup>
<Configuration Condition=" '$(Configuration)'=='' ">Debug</Configuration>
<RootNamespace>Contosa</RootNamespace>
<AssemblyName>Contosa</AssemblyName>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<Projects Include="C:\Users\localuser\Documents\Perforce\Contosa\Branches\Working23\UI\Desktop\ContosaClient\ContosaClient.csproj" />
</ItemGroup>
<Import Project="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets" />
<Target Name="Build">
<PropertyGroup>
<Contosa>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\UI\Desktop\ContosaClient\ContosaClient.csproj</Contosa>
</PropertyGroup>
<MSBuild Projects="$(Contosa)"
Properties="Configuration=QA;
VisualStudioVersion=12.0;
DevEnvDir=C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE\;
SolutionDir=$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\"/>
</Target>
</Project>
Currently double clicking this file with visual studio as its associated application will open the Contosa.proj for text editing. I would really like it to be possible to associate my Contosa.proj file with visual studio like our Contosa.sln file is. So when developers open it with visual studio they get the same view that you get from the Contosa.sln. I don't understand what parts of a csproj or a sln file make them open as projects or solutions in visual studio.
UPDATE 1
I am looking to do what this user Replace .sln with MSBuild and wrap contained projects into targets did but I want the project file to be able to opened by the user like a solution file. I want the Projects I include to be loaded into the solution explorer.
When visual studio installs, it configures explorer to launch visual studio when a .csproj is doubleclicked (How can I set a file association from a custom file type to a program). Your windows, and your developers windows, don't know what a .proj is. So rename it .csproj or distribute a .sln which references .proj
I've been perusing through similar questions on stack overflow and could not find a specific or definitive enough answer to this question:
I am currently using MSVS 2013 Ultimate, and have separately downloaded MS build tools 2013 as well. I am trying to install some npm modules that use the earlier platform toolset of MSBuild to compile and after following instructions from MSDN on how to Modify the Target Framework to a different platform, those did not help me successfully download the packages either. My current project is dealing with javascript and I'm not using visual studio in the near future, so I'm extremely flexible in terms of changing its configuration settings at the moment.
I am afraid that I'll have to resort to downloading VS 2012 in order to do this, unless someone found a clear cut alternative.
I am currently running everything on Windows 8 Enterprise x64.
Thanks in advance for all the help.
You can make use of the ImportBefore extension points for MsBuild: add propertysheets to
$(VCTargetsPath)\Platforms\$(Platform)\ImportBefore
and add properties to them forcing the PlatformToolset irregardless of what is set in the vcproj files. With VS2013 it is a bit more difficult to do this compared to VS2012 (I used this trick there to globally build everything using the v110_xp toolset) but it still works.
Suppose you are on a 64bit machine and want to override settings for all C++ projects for the Win32 platform, add a property sheet called override_platformtoolset.props (the name doesn't matter, as long as it ends with .props) to the directory C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft.Cpp\v4.0\V120\Platforms\Win32\ImportBefore\Default with this content:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup>
<PlatformToolSet>v110</PlatformToolSet>
<DefaultPlatformToolset>v110</DefaultPlatformToolset>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="ShowOverrideInfo1" BeforeTargets="Build">
<Message Text="Overriding PlatformToolset!" Importance="high"/>
</Target>
</Project>
Then add another file called override_platformtoolset to C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft.Cpp\v4.0\V120\Platforms\Win32\ImportBefore with this content:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup>
<PlatformToolSet>v110</PlatformToolSet>
<ToolsetPropsFound>false</ToolsetPropsFound>
<MinSupportedVCTargetsVersion>v110</MinSupportedVCTargetsVersion>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="ShowOverrideInfo2" BeforeTargets="Build">
<Message Text="Overriding PlatformToolset!" Importance="high"/>
</Target>
</Project>
The targets are just there to make sure you put the files in the correct location: if you build now, you should see the Overriding PlatformToolset! message twice (and see that cl.exe and link.exe are invoked from C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\VC\bin). Else something is wrong.
If you wonder how/why this works inspect Microsoft.Cpp.Defaults.props and Microsoft.Cpp.props.props in C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft.Cpp\v4.0\V120.