I have a Visual studio solution that is made up of multiple test projects. Each project is a copy of a template project. When the template project is copied there is a batch script that is ran that does some file renamings and adds a couple other specified files. What i would like to do is then have the project added to the solution during that process. I was looking at devenv switches here on MSDN but i am not seeing anything about adding a project to a solution.
Is adding a project to a solution possible through the command line?
Thanks
If you are here after 2019 and using Asp.Net Core. Here is the way to do it:
dotnet sln yoursolution.sln add yourprojectpath/yourproject.csproj
If you don't mind writing a bit of PowerShell, you can do this pretty easily. First, read this question and its answers. You'll find a pointer to a nuget package (Microsoft.SQLServer.Compact) which includes PowerShell scripts to automate VS through its object model. This is a good place to start to have some examples of how to handle a solution file from PowerShell. Then you write a small PowerShell script using the SolutionFolder.AddFromFile to add your project to your solution. This might be even easier using StudioShell and its provider, but I haven't tried it yet.
For sln file try this question. For project file you can run some xslt or any other necessary transform to edit. For example you can create MSBuild proj file to run xslt transform over desired sln file and then run it in cmd like: MSBuild.exe MyProj.proj. The sample content of MyProj.proj is like:
<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<Target Name="Transform">
<TransformXml Source="Project.csproj" Transform="Transform.xml" Destination="New_Project.csproj" />
</Target>
</Project>
Related
The new .NET Core 2.0 projects provide and easy and convenient way to create Nuget Package from the project output. Just click on the "Generate Nuget package on build" check box and it is done.
It works fine but I have an issue with Post-build events.
I want to copy all of the packages from a solution after each build to a specific folder. So I use the "Post-build event command line" with a script:
xcopy "$(ProjectDir)$(OutDir)..*.nupkg" "$(SolutionDir)..\WebServicePracticesNuget\" /Y /I
And sometimes it works fine sometimes not at all. So far my investigation concluded that the Nuget package creation is not part of the build process itself. So the script (sometimes) will triggered before the package was generated and it is unpredictable. My solution is to add some delay. Unfortunately "timeout x" is not working with Post-build events. So I used the fallback option:
ping 127.0.0.1 -n 4 > NUL
Which makes it almost reliable (~95%) but I think it is "poor man's" solution. And looks ridiculous in a Post-build event script. I have already reported this issue to the VS team. But not much comments or solution so far.
So my question is: does anybody have the same issue? Or any idea for a better solution then I have now?
Thanks.
The GeneratePackageOnBuild feature executes the Pack target after Build so the post build event will potentially run before the NuGet packages have been created. In VS 15.3+, when you create a post-build event, it will create a Target element in the project file. You can change the AfterTargets attribute on it to AfterTargets="Pack" to run after packing and not after the core .net build. But it is a bit of a fragile approach.
The pack target will respect the PackageOutputPath msbuild property, which is what dotnet pack's --output parameter would set.
Since xcopy only works on windows, the most versatile solution would be to use msbuild to set up the property during the build.
For example you could put a Directory.Build.props file next to the solution file (directory above all projects) with the following contents:
<Project>
<PropertyGroup>
<PackageOutputPath>$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)nupkgs</PackageOutputPath>
<GeneratePackageOnBuild>true</GeneratePackageOnBuild>
</PropertyGroup>
</Project>
This file will be automatically imported into all project files in the directory hierarchy blow this file and set the target directory for the generated .nupkg files to a folder named nupkgs next to the Directory.Build.props file. It also enables the "generate package build" feature for all projects that support it ("sdk-based" projects like .net standard / .net core libraries) so you don't have to set it up in VS or edit all project files.
You can configure msbuild task order inside the project file.
I have a problem with building a Web Deployment Package from a Web Application Project (within a solution containing multiple projects, as well as multiple web applications).
This actually works
I can build the project just fine from the command line if I use this command for example:
msbuild D:\PathTo\Solution\Project\Project.csproj
/fl /flp:logfile="D:\buildadventures\Build.log";errorsonly;verbosity=diagnostic
/p:SolutionDir="D:\PathTo\Project\\";Configuration=Release;Platform=AnyCpu
But this does not work
But when I try the same command just a bit differently to build a deployment package for me like that:
msbuild D:\PathTo\Solution\Project\Project.csproj
/fl /flp:logfile="D:\buildadventures\Build.log";errorsonly;verbosity=diagnostic
/T:Package
/p:SolutionDir="D:\PathTo\Solution\\";Configuration=Release;Platform=AnyCpu;
PackageLocation="D:\buildadventures\Project.zip";
AutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStrings=false
...it fails miserably, spitting out hundreds of errors of the "The type or namespace name '' does not exist"-kind
And why does it work this way?
The strange thing however is, the second command I posted works fine if the first one was executed prior to that.
I suppose the tasks executed when doing a "normal" build are different to those that are executed when building a package, now I wonder in what way they are different.
What symptomatically seems to cause it
I noticed that in the project file of the project I want to build a package of contains a custom section towards the end:
<PropertyGroup>
<PreBuildEvent>
cscript $(ProjectDir)SvnRevision\svnrevision.vbs $(ProjectDir) $(ProjectDir)Version.cs
nuget install "$(ProjectDir)packages.config" -o "$(SolutionDir)Packages"
</PreBuildEvent>
</PropertyGroup>
This seems to be responsible for that difference; if I do a "normal" build I can see that after that a new "Packages" directory was created in my solution folder.
However, as you might have guessed, that directory is missing when I try to do the package creation command. I also do not run into this problem if I let Visual Studio create the package for me.
Maybe I do have to change the project file or passed properties to carry over this behavior for my package creation, too?
Or Is there maybe a way to force a "normal" build and then just append package creation to that somehow?
Silly me.
I was able to circumvent this issue by just calling multiple targets in my msbuild command such as that:
msbuild D:\PathTo\Solution\Project\Project.csproj
/fl /flp:logfile="D:\buildadventures\Build.log";errorsonly;verbosity=diagnostic
/t:Build;Package
/p:SolutionDir="D:\PathTo\Solution\\";Configuration=Release;Platform=AnyCpu;
PackageLocation="D:\buildadventures\Project.zip";
AutoParameterizationWebConfigConnectionStrings=false
I use SlowCheetah to transform my app.configs. I have a multi-project solution where one of the projects executes a post-build event where the output of the bin is copied elsewhere. I've found that SlowCheetah does it's transforms after the post-build event, so the app.config I'm copying is the pre-transformed version.
Does anyone have a suggestion of how I can execute my copy after the SlowCheetah transforms? Is this going to require that I write a custom build task?
If you are using msbuild 4.0 for building your projects - you can hook to slowcheetah targets with new AfterTargets BeforeTargets attributes.
I dont know what exactly target name you want to hook after but this code could gave you base concept how to do this
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<Target Name="Some_Target_Name" AfterTargets="TransformAllFiles" >
<Message Text="= Script here will run after SlowCheetah TransformAllFiles ="/>
</Target>
<Project>
Edited: I installed SlowCheetah and found that AfterTargets attribute should be "TransformAllFiles".
Just set up your target dependency AfterTargets="TransformAllFiles"
Alexey's answer leads to the correct solution but here it is in full:
Right-click your project and select Unload Project
Now right-click the project and select Edit [your project name].csproj
Scroll to the bottom and uncomment the target named AfterBuild and add this attribute AfterTargets="TransformAllFiles"
Move your post build actions into this target using the Exec command:
An example:
<Target Name="AfterBuild" AfterTargets="TransformAllFiles">
<Exec Command="ECHO Hello PostBuild World!" />
</Target>
I have bumped into this problem too... decided to update to latest version of SlowCheetah (current 2.5.8), and this problem appears to have been fixed! No more problems using post-build events to deploy a project with transformed XML!
After the NuGet package upgrade process, I had a strange issue, though... transforms were no longer happening. Editing the project like Naeem Sarfraz suggested, I have found that the SlowCheetah's PropertyGroup section was placed at the end of the .csproj.
It was just a matter of moving it to the top, near the other PropertyGroup sections, and now it works like a charm!
If you need to copy/move other .config files (other than web.config) around after the build before publishing here is how it can be done with Visual Studio 2013 (I didn't test it on earlier versions). This section can be added at the end of the .csproj file right before the closing tag </Project> and it'll be fired just before MSDeploy starts the Publishing process.
<Target Name="MoveConfigFile" BeforeTargets="MSDeployPublish">
<Move
SourceFiles="$(IntermediateOutputPath)Package\PackageTmp\ThirdPartyApp.config"
DestinationFolder="$(IntermediateOutputPath)Package\PackageTmp\bin"
OverwriteReadOnlyFiles="true"
/>
</Target>
The company I work for purchased a third party product that needs to have a .config files in the bin folder along with its assembly in order to work.
At the same time we need to process the product's .config file and be able to move it to the bin folder after transformations.
The $(IntermediateOutputPath)Package\PackageTmp folder contains the whole application that will be copied over the target server.
How can I make a project file (VS 2008) that just has some data files in and has no built output?
I can make an empty project and add my data files to it (which get copied to the output folder
), but it produces an EmptyProject.dll after I do a build. I want just my data files in the output directory and not some empty DLL or EXE.
I want the data files to be the only thing in this project as the project will be shared in a couple of solutions.
Our application is C#. All of our normal code projects are C#.
The data files are schemas (XSD). I want these schemas to be in the output folder, but I don't want them included with an existing project. I would like a project named "Schemas" that has nothing in except the XSD files and does nothing except copy the XSD files to the output folder. I would like this in a project file so that the same schemas project can be referenced in multiple solutions.
I don't know of a way to suppress the creation of the .dll file. BUT... here's an easy workaround. In the project properties, Build Events tab, write a Post-build event command line that will delete the file. Something like:
del path\filename.dll
Expanding on Scott's answer:
Create a new project of type Empty project
In Properties->Application, change Output type to Class Library
In Properties->Build->Advanced, change Debug Info to None
In Properties->Build Events, set the Post-build event command line to del $(TargetPath)
That way, the project creates only a DLL, which gets deleted. At the same time, the "copy to output directory" settings on your data files is respected.
Possibly another way is editing the csproj file by replacing this:
<Import Project="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets" />
with this:
<Target Name="Build" />
<Target Name="Rebuild" />
Then builds don't create anything. It worked for me.
Same general idea should work for any xxproj file. Just replace the <Import Project...> tags with the <Target...> tags.
I'd be interested in knowing if this causes any issues or doesn't work for anyone.
What do you need a project for if you're not building it?
You can use solution folders to "store" files...
Why not just disable building this project for all configurations (use the Configuration Manager) - that way it won't build.
Great stuff. Expanding on Scott > Daniel's answer:
Safe to remove all References and Properties (AssemblyInfo.cs)
If it is a node/grunt/gulp project then you can invoke it in your Build Events > *Post-build event command line * eg: gulp build or gulp clean
Perhaps you can add removal or obj and bin output folders to your node/grunt/gulp clean scripts mitigating the need for del $(TargetPath)
Is there a way to invoke an external script or batch file from VC6 (and later) project files?
I have a background process that I need to kill before attempting to build certain projects (DLLS, executables) and haven't found a way to successfully do so from the project itself. I'd like simply to call a batch file with a taskkill command in it.
(Yes, I could run the batch file from a command line before building the projects, but I don't always remember to do so and having it done automatically would be more convenient and less irritating for the whole development team.)
You can create a utility project (configuration type: Utility in the project property pages) that has a post build event. You then call the batch file from that Post-Build event. If I remember correctly, utility configuration appeared in VS2005. But I believe the same can be achieved with another type of configuration on VC6.
Here is an example of a setup (this is the text of the Command Line property of the Post-Build Event):
set solutionDir=$(SolutionDir)
set platformName=$(PlatformName)
set configurationName=$(ConfigurationName)
call $(SolutionDir)PostBuild.bat
As you can see, you have all the flexibility of customizing the batch environment based on VisualStudio macros.
If you want to have this batch file called every time you build, add a dependency to the requiring project (your main executable or dll project for example). You can add your batch file to the solution items for convenient access (right-click on the solution and select Add -> Existing Item...).
You can even invoke the build command on this utility project to force the execution of the batch file.
At work we have a similar setup to start our unit tests each time a build is triggered.
You could invoke it from a custom build step or a build event.
At least for C# in Visual Studio 2008, you can open the project file and find within the file the following comment:
<!-- To modify your build process, add your task inside one of the targets below and uncomment it.
Other similar extension points exist, see Microsoft.Common.targets.
<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
</Target>
<Target Name="AfterBuild">
</Target>
-->
Uncomment the one that works best for you, in this case the "BeforeBuild" item. Then substitute your batch file for the one I have here:
<Target Name="BeforeBuild">
<Exec Command="MyBatchFile.bat" />
</Target>
That's all there is to it; whenever you build that project, this will take place each and every time.
That said, I do not know if this works the same for VS 2005 or, especially, VC6. YMMV!