I am trying to automate the builds for our software. We have 2 category of softwares, one is containing all project in C# and other on c++. All the solutions of c# projeects are in different branch. we have automated builds for C# solutions, each check-in builds and creates the binaries of all C# projects. However, C++ projects is kind of manual process so we are trying to automate it. But the problem is that all c++ projects contains relative path for the header files they refer. hence before compiling the projects we need to map the root directory to some drive. Suppose all our source code lies in C:\software2\ then we need to subst C:\software2\ with K: drive ( any other drive ) before proceeding. and should open the compilation project from K: drive only, otherwise it would not compile.
My difficulty is that when we move our c++ projects to Team Foundation server for automation builds then following thing happens. All the source code is copied over to build agent server. from there it runs the projects and generates the binaries. So, how I modify the build definition\ template such that after copying the source it maps that path and starts compilation from that mapped drive only. Any help is appreciated.
I just accomplished this recently with a custom activity placed inside the build template.
Use the activity to subst the directory and insert the drive in the "sourcesdirectory" field of the workspace creation.
<namespace:activity DisplayName="Creating Subst's here"/>
<mtbwa:CreateWorkspace ......... SourcesDirectory="["Z:\"]">
Sorry I can't go into more detail. Hope this helps!
Related
I have to share some code between multiple projects in Unity. This code is under constant changes during work on projects. So I need my code to be shared as separate assembly and be included in each Unity solution in Visual Studio 2015.
What is the way to make changes in common assembly so that it automatically updates for other projects and for Unity editor?
Your solution is in submodules with version control. You have one repo for the main project. Then you have a folder within that is another repo. This one is a submodule. It appears grey on your main repo and does not go into commit.
https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Tools-Submodules
It does work with other version control systems.
The point of that pattern is that you work on project A with utility-submodule. utility is a folder inside Assets folder. Then you modify Utility.cs and push it on Utility repo.
Project B is using utility-submodule and make a pull, your modification are there without altering the rest of Project B. Obviously, this includes all the hassle offered by version control, that is, conflicts if Project B has worked on utility, probable breaks on other projects if you change the implementation of utility and so on (nothin unusual though).
On the other hand, it is an easy way to pass common code over independent projects.
Let's say I have my shared project here: c:\UnityProjects\DesignPatterns\
and need to include in my Unity project here: c:\UnityProjects\Game\
Solution:
Move all shared code into separate project (c:\UnityProjects\DesignPatterns)
Include this project in solution for all your Unity projects. This allows you to make changes once you need them without reopening shared project separately.
Everything works fine at this moment except Unity editor can't see your external assembly. You have to copy it into any assets folder in Unity. Unity will automatically detect it and create .meta file. Let's create folder for this: c:\UnityProjects\Game\Assets\ExternalDLLs\
We don't want to copy recently built assembly into this directory, we want make it automatically. And Visual Studio post-build event command line is here to help with that. Right click on CSharp project and select properties, then go to Build Events tab and add the following line into post-build event command line:
xcopy $(ProjectDir)..\DesignPatterns\bin\$(ConfigurationName)\DesignPatterns.dll" "$(ProjectDir)\Assets\ExternalDLLs\DesignPatterns.dll" /Y
Now each time we make solution build this command copies our dll from output folder of shared project into our project's asset folder.
Please note: shared project must be built before your unity code assembly is built. It is the case when you always make solution build. In other cases consider copiing assembly from Unity temp directory (you have macros for this folder to select).
I'm evaluating TFS Build 2013 for use in a corporate environment.
TFs itself has been running fine for ages, and today I setup the Build components. No problem so far.
I grabbed a fairly simple project from source and created a manually triggered build definition, using the standard defaults.
I ran a test build and hit an issue straight away with a primary reference. The error in the logs is:
C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\12.0\bin\amd64\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(1697,5): warning MSB3245: Could not resolve this reference. Could not locate the assembly "XYZ.dll".
So a bit of back of background on how we store and use references:
We create a root folder for the solution, inside this goes the .sln file and sub directories for the projects as normal. We then add a "References" folder at this level, which holds all of the DLLs required for the project. These are generally DLLs from other in house code libraries, but also certain 3rd party ones (such as the old Enterprise Library DLLs, and anything else we don't get from NuGet).
Each of the projects that require these DLLs reference this folder (and from inspecting the .proj files I can see the link is stored as "..\References\XYZ.dll" etc. This works fine for local builds and nobody has ever had an issue. The reference folder gets checked into TFS and everybody gets a copy. From what I've read through trying to diagnose our issue, this is a fairly common and accepted way to manage references.
So, the build error that I receive is as above. Basically saying the build target can't find the DLL from the References folder. The log goes on to list all of the places it's tried to find it.
Crucially (it would seem) the first line reads:
For SearchPath "{HintPathFromItem}".
Considered "..\References\XYZ.dll", but it didn't exist.
Furthermore it looks in the Framework folder, various default assembly folders, the GAC and so on, none of which (of course) contains it.
So I'm wondering where I've gone wrong. Have I misconfigured one of the build/drop locations? Is there some other convention for referencing required DLLs (bearing in mind our entire company uses the "..\References" folder setup, or is there something else?
I'm fairly new to TFS Build, but I'm by no means new to TFS or Visual Studio
itself. I've spent about an hour or so Googling without finding anyone experiencing the same issue as me, so any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
UPDATE:
The build agent is configured as follows:
Build Agent- working directory:
D:\BuildAgent\$(BuildAgentId)\$(BuildDefinitionPath)
The build definition "Source Settings" have the (I assume) default values of:
Status: Active | Source Control Folder: $/ProjectRoot | Build Agent Folder: $(SourceDir)
Status: Cloaked | Source Control Folder: $/ProjectRoot/Drops | Build Agent Folder:
The references folder is not explicitly configured here, but when I look in the Build Agent's working directory I can see it:
D:\BuildAgent\1\ClientName\SolutionName\src\Dev\Evolution\Source\SolutionName.Solution\References
If I open VS2013 Command Prompt, navigate to the folder that contains the .sln file (and also the References folder) and run "msbuild d:\path\to\Solution.sln" then it builds successfully with no warnings or errors.
Well it turns out this wasn't a fault with TFS at all...
The problematic DLL, although present in the References folder, was not actually checked into TFS.
Right clicking the References folder in VS (added as a "Solution Folder") and selecting to Add Existing Item, then a check in fixed the issue.
So the References folder was being used as you would expect, in the same way that VS uses it. MSBuild worked locally because I had the file in my local folder, but because it wasn't part of the solution it wasn't with the rest of the source.
I would like to create a Build Definition inside TFS 2012 Express which will simply copy all files within my project source tree to another folder on my drive. Just to underline - I do not want the build output to go to another directory - I want the source files themselves to. The reason for this is I have IIS pointed at a specific folder, and I want the build to copy the latest asp and aspx files to the IIS hosted folder.
I am not sure of the intricacies of doing this, I did find : http://toadcode.blogspot.co.uk/2008/06/copy-multiple-files-via-tfs-build.html articles like this but I simply need a more direct list of what I need to do from somebody who understands this area.
Basically - when the build is queued, all I want is to copy my project source files to another directory :). I think this can be done by editing some Build.xml file...but when making a build definition I dont seem to be given the freedom to do what I would like to!
I think what I am looking for to alter my DefaultTemplate.11.1.xaml file to alter the build process which will let me run this / or a batch file after the build process completes?
My TFS build process edit screen looks like this:
Using this post as a guide on how to start editing TFS Build Templates (or the Wrox TFS 2012 book), you need to make the following changes:
Locate the Copy to Drop Folder Activity:
Drag in a "CopyDirectory" activity under the "Drop Files to Drop Location" (from the Toolbox under Team Foundation Build Activities):
Goto the Properties Window for the new Activity and set Source and Destination as follows:
Destination: Path.Combine(BuildDetail.DropLocation, "MyOutputFolder")
Source: Path.Combine(SourcesDirectory, "MyFileFolder")
You may need to repeat this if you don't have all your files in one folder.
I actually put something together for TFS2010 and 2013 (not 2012, unfortunately) a few weeks ago that does exactly that. Basically, anything in the workspace you define for your build just gets shoved over to the drop location.
Here's a link to the blog post where you can download them:
http://www.incyclesoftware.com/2014/06/deploying-uncompiled-resources-release-management/
For the record, I strongly recommend against using a build process template to deploy software. Don't try to overextend the build... its job is taking stuff from source control and compiling/packaging it for deployment. Use a real release management solution to actually handle deploying software.
Add a bat file to your source folder. within the batch file add an xcopy %1*.* TargetLocation.
Add an invoke process activity to your workflow, somewhere near the end. call the bat file and pass it the SourcesDirectory.
We are trying to adapt a build automation strategy for our ASP.NET web site (not a web project) in vs 2010 ultimate & tfs 2010.
Build definition makes the build and publishes the web site into folders like
<drop_folder>\<defn_name>\<defn_name>_<year><month><day>.<build no>\Release_PublishedWebsites
Now we try to delete particular files and folders from that folder. For instance the "images" or "files" folders, that we need to exclude before packaging. I know that if it were a web project, there exists a straightforward solution. We also tried to modify the build process template (xaml) file. There is a "DeleteDirectory" component but we couldn't figure out what to write to the Directory variable.
Thank you.
If you follow the XAML way, you would just have to feed the Directory argument of DeleteDirectory with the physical UNC path to the folder you 're trying to get rid of.Something along the lines of String.Format("{0}\\{1}\\{2}\\Release_PublishedWebsites", BuildDetail.DropLocation, BuildDetail.BuildNumber, Date.Now.Year)
should get you near to your target. Since the drop location of the build might be on a different machine, also ensure that the account conducting the build (by default = NetworkService) has the rights to delete folders on the target.
Is it possible to build projects to a common directory, instead of the per project bin folder?
The purpose would be to make it easier to source control all my binaries. How can I do it and, what are the pitfalls of this approach?
You have the option to build projects to another directory (a common directory?) rather than the bin/debug and bin/release.
If you mean building your projects and putting the DLL files in a shared folder, yes, we currently do this, but we use this using continuous integration (CI), so we can know when a change in a project caused another project to break.
You may also experience problems when you use a version-specific DLL file as referenced in your other projects.
You can also, rather than having a bat file copy over the DLL files, use Visual-Studio's built in post-build command. It's the same as a batch file, with the exception that no special setup is required in CruiseControl to copy over the files. If a developer makes a change to the post build command it and check it in it will automatically be executed by CruiseControl.
Also, if you'd like your developers to shared the binaries I'd put them in source control to make sure everyone share the same DLL files rather than their own local built copy of the DLL file (which might be different than the actual build server as some compile directives might/might not be defined).
If you mean DLL files/assemblies, then you build to bin/release as usual, then copy the DLL files you require to a common directory and then reference those, so when you rebuild the original solution, you don't have to worry about which version you are using or recompile other related projects as the version hasn't changed in the common dir.
It happens that people build to another folder than bin (e.g. the bin folder in the solution directory rather than the project directory). I doubt you would have any problems doing this. But since you're going to check it in, you must remember to not have it read-only (so you can build over them). Source control programs often lock the files.
You could also consider having a bat script that copies the files to another location after a successful build.
For C++ projects:
Right click on the project -> Properties -> Linker -> Output File
set your directory there.
For C# Projects:
Right click on the project -> Properties -> Builld -> Output Path
I would not put your binary output into source control. Only put the source files, project files and solution files.
We use post-build scripts to copy to the intended location. This works, but is very fiddly (as the scripts are awkward to write & awkward to debug).