Is there a way to specify which projects in a Visual Studio Project File (.sln) are built? I want to build only certain projects based on an input to a script, but I don't want to run multiple seperate builds from different .slns, I want to have it contained in a single /build command.
Ie. if I have
Project
...a
...
EndProject
Project
...b
...
EndProject
Project
...c
...
EndProject
..
..
Is there a way to only have a subset of projects a,b,c be built depending on the /build command I use?
Yes. Create a solution configuration for each set of projects you'd like to build as a group. Make sure only those projects you actually want built have their "Build" option checked in the Configuration Manager for that solution configuration.
Pass /p:Configuration=... on the command line to MSBuild to build that configuration (and thus that set of projects).
Related
I've been a linux/make guy and recently I'm learning to build UE5 engine from VS 2022. I need to figure out a CLI way to build it.
For example, I right click on one of the modules (not sure if it's the most proper name) and choose 'Build' then the build will start. I want to automate the procedure using CLI.
How can I find the corresponding CLI command for this manual operation?
I don't have access to the Unreal Engine source code and I don't know if Epic has done anything highly unconventional.
From your start menu launch the "Developer Command Prompt for VS2022". This is a shortcut file for launching the Windows command line with a batch file run to set up the PATH and other environment variables for the Visual Studio development tools.
Visual Studio project files (.csproj for C# and .vcxproj for C++ for example) are MSBuild files. (MSBuild was inspired by Ant, if that helps.)
Solution files (.sln) are a completely different format but MSBuild can build a solution file.
From the screenshot in the question I can see that the solution is UE5 which will be UE5.sln. I can also see that you want to build a C++ project. I'm guessing the project may be named BenchmarkTest (BenchmarkTest.vcxproj)?
MSBuild has a notion of targets. A target always has a name and it groups a set of tasks to be performed. (It's like a makefile rule in some respects but it's not the same.)
Solutions and projects created with Visual Studio support some standard targets. The 'Build', 'Rebuild', and 'Clean' menu items map directly to some of these targets.
Visual Studio solutions and projects support Configurations and Platforms. The standard Configurations are Debug and Release. The screenshot shows a non-standard configuration of Develop. The screenshot also shows a platform of Win64.
In the Developer Command Prompt, msbuild should be in the PATH. Try the following command:
msbuild --version
To build the solution with the default target (which is 'build') and the default configuration and platform:
msbuild UE5.sln
To run a 'clean':
msbuild UE5.sln -target:clean
The target switch can be shortened to -t.
The configuration and platform are passed as properties using the -property switch. The short form is -p. Multiple property switches can be provided and multiple properties, delimited by ';', can be provided in one property switch.
msbuild UE5.sln -t:rebuild -p:Configuration=Develop -p:Platform=Win64
or
msbuild UE5.sln -t:rebuild -p:Configuration=Develop;Platform=Win64
To build the BenchmarkTest project, specify the project file:
msbuild BenchmarkTest.vcxproj -t:build -p:Configuration=Develop;Platform=Win64
I am running the build command like this:
set MSBuildParams=/m:16 /target:Rebuild
/property:Configuration=""Release"";Platform=""x64"" msbuild
%MSBuildParams% C:\path\to\the\sln\Solution.sln
I'm using the following msbuild version:
Microsoft (R) Build Engine version 14.0.25420.1
Solution.sln contains 2 projects,
let's say Project1 and Project2.
Project1 is set as the startup project.
After I build the Solution.sln using this setup, I would like to
rebuild it, but this time using Project2 as the startup project.
Is there a way to do that, without changing the Solution.sln?
What would be the best practice to accomplish that?
You could use the specific command line to build/rebuild the specific project using MSbuild like the following case.
specify project file of a solution using msbuild
But we have to change certain files if you want to change the start up project without using the VS IDE, since the setting was stored into the ".SUO" file.
Actually there is no setting in ".SLN" file for startup project even if you don't want to change it,
In addition, the start up project was the running project of the solution, maybe you don't have to change it:
https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsdesktop/en-US/b6347dce-8449-4cbb-a606-7b19407a1026/how-do-i-set-the-startup-project-in-the-sln-file?forum=vcgeneral
I am trying to write a script where automatically build in 30+ Visual Studio 2010 (.sln) through PowerShell script using Msbuild command line.
I am able to build the build the modules, but I have some dependency and specific project setting for all 30+ modules. Project properties for all 30+ modules are same. So I want to pass all the project properties once in the script to set for all modules for building automatically.
But,
I am not able to pass all the project setting where as only 3 parameters I am able to pass such /t:build /p:configuration:Debug /p:TargetPaltform=x86.
Issue: I want to pass all project properties as arguments for msbuild in my pwoershell script.
Could you please provide some syntax or idea how can I pass more project properties parameters as command line?
Example Parameters List:
Output Directory
Intermediate Directory
Include Directories
Library Directories
Output File and sub sections. etc.
I am using Visual Studio Express 2012. Where is the location of the log file? I have searched in the folder where my solution and projects are stored, but cannot find any .log file.
This is the configuration for logging:
Log file from Visual Studio is only supported for C++ projects. You just have to work with the output window for others.
See this similar thread: VS2010: minimal build log in output and detailed log in log file
And in case you happen to do this for a C++ project, the file is at:
... build log in the intermediate files directory
... The path and name of the build log is represented by the MSBuild macro
expression, $(IntDir)\$(MSBuildProjectName).log.
Use build output instead of logging to file. Instead of copy/paste, simply click somewhere in the output and press CTRL + S to save. Visual Studio will prompt you for a location (tested with Visual Studio 2017, but I'm assuming this works in earlier versions too).
The msdn documentation is pretty clear about this (And you ain't gonna like it!):
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj651643.aspx
Where it says:
To create a build log file for a managed-code project On the menu bar,
choose Build, Build Solution.
In the Output window, highlight the
information from the build, and then copy it to the Clipboard.
Open a
text editor, such as Notepad, paste the information into the file, and
then save it.
While it's true that VS doesn't allow this directly, it is still possible to build with MSBuild "inside" VS2015 and get both the build window output and the log file, as follows: (Arguably this is a bit of a hack.)
In your VS Managed solution, add a new project (Let's call it 'Make').
a. The project type you want is Visual C++/NMake project.
Define the MSBuild commands you need on the command line (see below).
Change the solution configuration to build the NMake project instead of the normal managed projects.
This will create a project that has Build, Rebuild, and Clean command lines where you can execute MSBuild directly. For example:
Rebuild: MSBuild.exe /ds /v:diag /property:Configuration=Debug ..\BuildTest\BuildTest.csproj /t:Clean,Build
Build: MSBuild.exe /ds /v:diag /property:Configuration=Debug ..\BuildTest\BuildTest.csproj /t:Build
Clean: MSBuild.exe /ds /v:diag /property:Configuration=Debug ..\BuildTest\BuildTest.csproj /t:Clean
You can also specify multiple MSBuild.EXE command lines in order to build multiple projects. For the usual build-the-entire-solution outcome you can target only the final end assemblies and let the dependency graph generate the individual targets.
This will produce a .log file, where NAME is the name of the NMake project you used. In the example above, the log would be make.log.
A working example is available on GitHub:
https://github.com/bitblitz/VS_MsbuildExample
(Tested with VS2015)
Note that building individual projects directly will still build with the normal VS behavior, but you can build the full solution inside VS and get the build logs.
i have some visual studio projects which depend on other projects, which have different configurations.
example:
Project MyProject (Configuration: Release)
References:
Project LibA (Configuration: Release_DontLink)
Project LibB (Configuration: Release
Building using Visual Studio works correctly as the Configurations to be used for the different projects are stored inside the solution file.
But when i use msbuild to build MyProject, it builds the Release configuration of LibA, which is incorrect. Since both LibA and LibB are used by numerous other Projects, i cant change those configurations, i only have control over MyProject.
Is there any way to build MyProject using MsBuild without changing the LibA and LibB projects?
Possibly related question: Configuration for ProjectReference in MSBuild, however i did not fully understand the answer, and i think it would require me to change LibA/LibB
On the solution level (i.e: MyProject.sln), open the property pages and set the Release configuration to build Release_DontLink configuration for project LibA. If you don't have control over the sln file, you should be able to create a copy of it (i.e: MyProject.Release.sln).
Then build the solution with:
msbuild MyProject.sln /p:Configuration=Release
Alternatively (not even remotely a best practice), after building MyProject build LibA while overriding its OutDir property:
msbuild LibA.csproj /p:Configuration=Release_DontLink;OutDir=..LibA\Release
I just had the same problem and found that the solution config needed to be done for all configured platforms.