I have a solution with 9 projects. All references in each project have their CopyLocal property set to False.
When I build it from VS, none of these referenced binaries are copyed to the output build directory. Similarly, when I build using msbuild, I only see the project binaries and no references.
However, when I specify an output path in the msbuild command, some references are copied and I don't know why? Is there some setting I am forgetting to set? Has anyone seen this before?
When you build your application without setting the OutDir property, the files are copied to the path specified in project properties (Build\Output path). After this, there is another step that copies the referenced project output (*.dll file) to the OutDir of your application (*.exe). But if you set CopyLocal to false, this last step doesn't happen. Like this:
ProjectEXE\OutDir = c:\a\bin
ProjectDLL\OutDir = c:\b\bin
Pay attention to the fact that the two OutDir are different (and differently specified in your projects properties).
But when you set the OutDir using the command-prompt, you are setting both OutDir parameters to the same path. Still there is no final copy of the DLL to the same directory of your application, except for the fact that it is the same location you built the DLL and EXE first time. Like this:
msbuild yourSolution.sln /p:OutDir="c:\a\bin\"
ProjectEXE\OutDir = c:\a\bin
ProjectDLL\OutDir = c:\a\bin
Related
We have two projects A and B. B referes to A. We created two targets for MSBuild to compile where difference is only in output path (it is separated file, not projects csproj's). Immidiate folder for both project are standard I mean obj folder.
We run first target (MSBuild from command line with /t switch) - everything compile ok. We didn't change anything in cs but we changed output path and compile. In that case A is not recompiled but B is fully recompiled. So in output path we had A with the same version but B versions are different.
Do you know why B project is recompiled?
EDIT
After some research it looks like MSBuild takes output path as part of cache hash (this file: obj\Debug\CoreCompileInputs.cache).
We call MSBuild like this:
msbuild mysolution.sln /p:OutputPath=c:\mydir
and csprojs are standard VS2017 csproj.
I realize that similar questions were posted earlier but I need slightly different solution.
I have VS2012 C++ project A.vcxproj,that has debug1 configuration( platform x64) , and it builds corresponding .exe. It also uses a dll from other VS2012 C project B.vcxproj from a path that must be added to the environment variables. A.vcxproj.user file has following text
<LocalDebuggerEnvironment>PATH=%PATH%;C:\Program Files\libsndfile\bin;..\..\lib\simulink\;$(LocalDebuggerEnvironment) </LocalDebuggerEnvironment>
I need to add this setting automatically to the "A"project with following constraints
I cannot export user file as it as "per user", so cannot upload to our SCM system where other users can download it.
I tried adding code in main function, something like
_putenv("PATH = ....\lib\simulink");
but this does not work, as before the main file is compiled, it needs to search for the dll from specified path, which it dosn't .
Can anyone suggest a easy, portable fix , that i could distribute to all users through SCM, along with the project file.
I have also tried following:
--Created batch file setpath.bat with following content
#ECHO %PATH% set PATH = %PATH%;C:\Program Files\libsndfile\bin;C:\dev\lib\simulink
-- added to A.vcxproj settings->build event->Pre-build->Command line
call C:\setpath.bat
and I don't see the added paths under vS op window. neither does the VS User file gets the change, and running the project complains for missing dll error.
--I tried to execute the batch file in
A.vcxproj settings->
Custom build step->Execute before "Run"
and still no result.
I guess the solution needs to add needed path to current environment variable for the time VS project is "run".
Thanks
sedy
added to A.vcxproj settings-> Build Events ->Pre-Build event
call setdllpath.bat
where the file contains the following:
#ECHO %PATH%
set COMSPEC = "%VCINSTALLDIR%\vcvarsall.bat" amd64
setx PATH "C:\Program Files\libsndfile\bin;..\..\lib\simulink"
#ECHO %PATH%
So, once I build the Project, close Visual studio and open it again, and run the files wiithin project, it picks up dll correctly.
Contents in *.vcxproj.user, *.vcxproj.user or *.props use the same xml schema so can be easily exchanged or included.
First if usefull you can add UserMacros to define the path to your libraries.
Like bellow for the following two variable
PYTHONHOME=$(USERPROFILE)\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37
PYTHONPATH=$(PYTHONHOME)\DLLs;$(PYTHONHOME)\Lib;$(PYTHONHOME)\Lib\site-packages
Edit the .vcxproj adding inside <Project>:
<Project .... >
...
<PropertyGroup Label="UserMacros">
<PYTHONHOME>$(USERPROFILE)\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python37</PYTHONHOME>
<PYTHONPATH>$(PYTHONHOME)\DLLs;$(PYTHONHOME)\Lib;$(PYTHONHOME)\Lib\site-packages;</PYTHONPATH> </PropertyGroup>
...
</Project>
After you can add inside your build configuration, the following to set the $(Path) variable.
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|x64'" Label="Configuration">
<LocalDebuggerEnvironment>Path=$(Path);$(PYTHONHOME);$(PYTHONHOME)\DLLs;$(PYTHONHOME)\Lib;$(PYTHONHOME)\Lib\site-packages;$(PYTHONHOME)\Scripts;$(PYTHONHOME);</LocalDebuggerEnvironment>
I have a number of projects which are joined into a solution. Every project has it's own directory structure, and csproj files are located on diferrent level of folder structure.
Every csproj has OutputPath property specified. OutputPath - is a relative path and it varies from project to project in such a way so all projects have the same output dir.
It is work OK if I build a separate project. But everything changes if I try to build solution file. In this case every project output folder differs (depends on a number of '..\' in that project's OutputPath).
I do know, that before some moment all was working fine. Nobody changed build.cmd neither any sln or csproj files. But now I have situation described above.
So my question is - what affects how relative path is evaluated? I mean how can I force relative OutputPath to be evaluated starting from folder where csproj file of that particular project is located. Not from folder where .sln file is.
Let's assume I have following directory structure:
dir1
a.sln
dir2
a.csproj
dir21
dir3
b.csproj
a.csproj has output path set to '../../_bin' which is just above dir1 if counted from a.csproj folder
b.csproj has output path set to '../../../_bin' which is same - just about dir1 if counted from b.csproj
a.sln contains both - a.csproj and b.csproj.
When I run msbuild I get a project build to 'dir1/../../_bin' and b project to 'dir1/../../../_bin' - both relative paths of projects files are counted from solution file location, not project files.
Well, I was able to find out what was causing this. That was custom .targets file, which was inferring SolutionDir property at the start of any msbuild.
I did find out that by using MSBuild Explorer. The tool proved to be very useful in my case - I was not aware of third party .target files on my system.
From Msbuild Import Element description
Relative paths in imported projects are interpreted relative to the
directory of the importing project. Therefore, if a project file is
imported into several project files in different locations, the
relative paths in the imported project file will be interpreted
differently for each imported project.
All MSBuild reserved properties that relate to the project file, for example, MSBuildProjectDirectory
and MSBuildProjectFile, that are referenced in an imported project are
assigned values based on the importing project file.
If you add more details or few samples to your question - it will be easier to understand exact problem.
Edit:
Okay, lets try to pinpoint that mystery. First of all - OutputPath could be affected by Environment variables.
2nd - during build sln file transformed into msbuild project file format and stored in temp file. You can get that temporary file if you execute in cmd "set msbuildemitsolution=1" and then trigger build via command line. There you can check that file and see how your individual projects called. But I suppose you will see multiple .csproj /> entries. And global msbuild properties inherited by that calls.
So I suspect if everything was fine before some point and no changes were made - you are missing OutputPath environment variable or some other variable that contributed to construction of OutputPath.
BTW - I think if you want to fix your issue with forcing relative dir - you also can use $(MSBuildProjectDirectory). This is one of msbuild reserved properties (from here), but this will require yo adjust your OutputPath in each csproj file. What i, personally, prefer to avoid, because it could affect some other targets and introduce subtle issues.
I'm about to start doing some benchmarking/testing of our builds, and I'd like to drive the whole thing from a command line. I am aware of DevEnv but am not convinced it can do what I want.
If I could have a single file built within a single project, I'd be happy.
Can this be done?
The magical incantation is as follows. Note that this has only been tested with VS 2010 - I have heard this is the first version of Visual Studio with this capability:
The Incantation
<msbuild> <project> <settings> <file>
Where
msbuild is a path to MSBuild.exe. Usually this should be set up for you by the VS2010 bat file so the right one will end up in your PATH, but if not I found one at C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\msbuild.exe
project is the path to the vcxproj file within which your source file resides.
settings include the following:
/p:Configuration="Debug" // or whatever your Configuration is
/p:Platform=x64 // or x86
/t:ClCompile // to specify specifically you're looking to compile the file
file is actually another setting:
/p:SelectedFiles="path_to_file"
Notes
For <project> I had to specify a project (vcxproj) file instead of a solution (sln) file. The sln I would have used has multiple projects within it, so there would have been extra work to go that route anyhow (if it can even be done).
For the /p:Platform=x64 setting, there are several environment variables that pivot on what platform you are targeting (x64 v. x86) so make sure you set those up properly via Visual Studio's vcvarsall.bat.
Regarding path_to_file in the SelectedFiles parameter, this path must be the path as specified in the project file. If the path does not match the path used in the project file to reference the source, it doesn't seem to work.
I am getting the following error when building my code.
C:\Program Files
(x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft.Cpp\v4.0\Microsoft.CppBuild.targets(990,5):
warning MSB8012:
TargetPath(E:\Study\FWIF\demola\ext-libs\libcommoncpp2-1.6.0\w32\Debug\ccgnu2.dll)
does not match the Linker's OutputFile property value
g\CapeCommon14.dll). This may cause your project to build incorrectly.
To correct this, please make sure that $(OutDir), $(TargetName) and
$(TargetExt) property values match the value specified in
%(Link.OutputFile).
I hope that some one will know what to do.
Did you upgrade a project to Visual Studio 2010 from a previous version? If so, this is a well-known issue.
Visual Studio 2010 C++ Project Upgrade Guide
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vcblog/archive/2010/03/02/visual-studio-2010-c-project-upgrade-guide.aspx
Warnings during upgrade
Here are some of the common warnings that you may run into during conversion:
1) Linker output directory
One of the warnings you may see when upgrading you applications is MSB8012: $(TargetPath) and Linker’s OutputFile property value does not match:
MSB8012: $(TargetExt) ('.dll') does not match the Linker's OutputFile property value 'C:\foo\Debug\MFCActiveX.ocx' ('.ocx') in project configuration 'Debug|Win32'. This may cause your project to build incorrectly. To correct this, please make sure that $(TargetExt) property value matches the value specified in %(Link.OutputFile).
MSB8012: $(TargetPath) ('C:\foo\Debug\MFCActiveX.dll') does not match the Linker's OutputFile property value 'C:\foo\Debug\MFCActiveX.ocx' ('C:\foo\Debug\MFCActiveX.ocx') in project configuration 'Debug|Win32'. This may cause your project to build incorrectly. To correct this, please make sure that $(TargetPath) property value matches the value specified in %(Link.OutputFile).
Link.OutputFile is the value defined at Linker -> General -> Output File on the property page. By default, its value is $(OutDir)$(TargetName)$(TargetExt), which is the same as the value of $(TargetPath). When we convert an application from a previous version, however, there is not an easy way for conversion to parse Link.OutputFile to figure out what exactly the values are for $(TargetName) and $(TargetExt), as different customers may have formatted them in different ways. To work around that, we decided to preserve the value of Linker.OutputFile during conversion. After conversion, $(TargetName) will default to $(ProjectName). $(TargetExt) will default to the default extension for the application type: .dll for Dynamic Library, .lib for Static Library and .exe for Application. Link.OutputFile value will be preserved. Warning MSB8012 will be issued in the conversion log if Link.OutputFile and $(TargetPath) are not the same. You will get the same warnings when building the application.
$(OutDir), $(TargetName) and $(TargetExt) are exposed on the "General" property page, as "Output Directory", "Target Name", "Target Extension", respectively. You can manually change the values of these properties so that you no longer get the warning.
If your project produces Import Library (Linker -> Advanced -> Import Library), you may need to change the Output folder of the Import Library as well after conversion if the Linker output directory is not the default output directory. Otherwise, the generated import lib maybe in a different directory than the linker output.
Debugging.Command is set to default $(TargetPath) after conversion. You may need to make changes so that the right executable will be launched upon F5 (Debugging) or Ctrl + F5 (Start without debugging).
See also here Stackoverflow MSB8012.
What worked for me when converting a VS2008 C++ project to VS2012: right click the project in solution explorer, select properties, in the pop-up: configuration properties, linker, general. Select Output file on the right, this gives a drop-down, select inherent from parent or project defaults. Click apply. This gives the default linker setting: $(OutDir)$(TargetName)$(TargetExt). Re-build the project and the warning should no longer appear.
The same problem occured to me for debug DLLs, that I wanted to have a trailing "D" in the basename. For example, foo.dll (Release) but fooD.dll (Debug). When you refine the output name in the Linker settings of the Debug-Configuration -- the ugly MSB8012 warning occurs.
The only solution that works with Visual-Studio 2010 seems to be a Postbuild-Event for the Debug-Configuration:
#echo off
echo Copying $(OutDir)$(TargetName)$(TargetExt) as $(TargetName)D$(TargetExt)
copy /Y $(OutDir)$(TargetName)$(TargetExt) $(OutDir)$(TargetName)D$(TargetExt)
I had the scenario where my executable name was different than the project name AND I wanted it to build the executable/dll to a different location than where the project was located.
1)Change the default project name to be different.
General->TargetName
< my executable name>
2) Output to a different location where I want the executable to build.
General->OutputDirectory
< my new location goes here >
3) Update the Linker settings.
Linker->General
new value: $(OutDir)$(TargetName)$(TargetExt)
This takes on the new settings from 1 and 2.
I obtained the same error after converting from old project to VS 2010.
To fix this I created empty project of the same type (e.g. .dll, .lib, .exe).
Then I copied its default values in Project Propeties to my project for Output Directory, Intermediate directory and Output File
Goto Project->Properties->Configuration Properties -> Linker->General section
Specify 'Output File' as $(OutDir)$(TargetName)$(TargetExt)
I managed to fix a similar issue by editing the vcxproj file manually.
The OutDir and TargetName settings were at the bottom of the project file.
...
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|Win32'">
<OutDir>$(OUTPUT_DIRECTORY)\</OutDir>
<IntDir>$(ProjectDir)\$(Configuration)\$(ProjectName)\</IntDir>
<TargetName>$(ProjectName)</TargetName>
</PropertyGroup>
</Project>
Moving the block above the ClCompile block solved the issue.
I solved this by comparing the project to a very similar project that was working properly. All of the settings in the project properties matched but I found the following extra lines in the vcxproj file of the malfunctioning project:
<Lib>
<OutputFile>.\MCtlDrvX.lib</OutputFile>
</Lib>
I deleted them and the message went away and the output went to the directory specified in the project settings.