The BuildingInsideVisualStudio property provides the ability to detect whether a project is building inside Visual Studio.
Is there any way to determine which version of Visual Studio is being used ?
Since comments aren't formatted, here's investigation showing fsimonazzi is correct.
On 2008, VisualStudioVersion is NOT set. On 2010 (and up presumably) it is.
Created a project in VS2008 with the following added after <Import Project="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets" />:
<Target Name="PrintVisualStudioInfo">
<Message Text="VisualStudioVersion: '$(VisualStudioVersion)'" />
</Target>
<PropertyGroup>
<CompileDependsOn>
PrintVisualStudioInfo;
$(CompileDependsOn)
</CompileDependsOn>
</PropertyGroup>
Turned VS2008 output up to Normal. Result:
Target PrintVisualStudioInfo:
VisualStudioVersion: ''
On VS2010 Result:
PrintVisualStudioInfo:
VisualStudioVersion: '10.0'
Use the VisualStudioVersion property.
According to this post the property exists starting with the VS2012. It is defined in the Microsoft.Common.targets file when .NET 4.5 is installed (checked that original .NET 4.0 doesn't have the property defined).
Related
I have a C# class library project which I consume from a C++ project. This works perfectly well when:
the C# project has TargetFramework set to netstandard2.0
the C++ project has TargetFrameworkVersion set to v4.7.2
However, I now need to upgrade the C# library to net5.0...
the C# project has TargetFramework set to net5.0 (using new style project file)
the C++ project has TargetFrameworkVersion set to v5.0
and receive this error....
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual
Studio\2022\Preview\MSBuild\Current\Bin\amd64\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(1806,5):
error : Project '..\cslib\cslib.csproj' targets 'net5.0'.
It cannot
be referenced by a project that targets '.NETFramework,Version=v5.0'.
Note that it's not possible to set the TargetFrameworkVersion for the C++ project to "net5.0" or "net5.0-windows" since that results in a project load error:
It's not clear that "v5.0" is the correct TFM for a C++/vcxproj format file - it's possible msbuild is just falling back to v4.7.2 by default but I can't think of a better alternative.
Is there a way to accomplish this? It seems like it should be possible to target net5.0 in a C++ project by now. (I'm using Visual Studio 2022 Preview and PlatformToolset is set to v143 which is the latest).
It's a bit tricky, but the following should help:
If using the GUI, the following settings need to be made in properties: Under "Root->Extended" setting "Common language runtime support": "Net Core runtime support /clr:core" and ".NET Core Target framework": ".NET 5.0" (you might need to click "apply" after choosing the first, to get the possible settings in the second box to update)
In the .vxcproj, this results in:
...
<PropertyGroup Label="Globals">
<TargetFrameworkVersion>v5.0</TargetFrameworkVersion>
<Keyword>ManagedCProj</Keyword>
<TargetFramework>net5.0</TargetFramework>
...
</PropertyGroup>
and (once for each build configuration):
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|x64'" Label="Configuration">
<ConfigurationType>DynamicLibrary</ConfigurationType>
<CharacterSet>Unicode</CharacterSet>
<PlatformToolset>v142</PlatformToolset>
<CLRSupport>NetCore</CLRSupport>
...
</PropertyGroup>
Note that it is not possible to create C++ exes in .NET Core. C++/CLI projects must be libraries and cannot contain the main entry point (create a stub-loader C# project if you have to).
You may then experience:
error NETSDK1145: The Apphost pack is not installed
This documentation suggests this can be overcome by modifying the project file but if that does not work, a global.json file can be added in the solution root folder to point to the desired SDK.
Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2019.
Version 16.9.5.
I want *.Generated.cs files to be nested under corresponding *.cs file in a Class Library project exactly like in does in a RestApi Console Application project.
File nesting is enabled for both projects, Active Settings is set to 'Web' for both.
Using Visual Studio 2019 (16.10.3) here. Based on the recommendation of another answer I got it to work by putting the following in the .csproj file, then reopening the solution. I don't know if it matters or not, but I put this as the last elements group the closing </Project> tag in the file.
<ItemGroup>
<ProjectCapability Include="DynamicDependentFile" />
<ProjectCapability Include="DynamicFileNesting" />
</ItemGroup>
.NET Core 2.2 Web app, Visual Studio 2019 pro
I added this in my csproj file, but see no message in the output window?
<Target Name="DisplayMessages">
<Message Text="Project build config = $(Configuration)" />
</Target>
You could change your Importance to High or adjust your MSBuild settings to turn up the level, but that could create additional noise.
By default Visual Studio does Miminial logging which only High will get thru.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/msbuild/message-task?view=vs-2019
Today I installed the .NET Framework 4.5 on my machine expecting to be able to use it from Visual Studio 2010, since it's just a minor update that should't pose problems for Visual Studio 2010. Unfortunately I am not, even manually removing certain 4.0 and adding the corresponding 4.5 assemblies resulted in the original 4.0 assemblies still being referenced in the project.
Is it possible to target version 4.5 from Visual Studio 2010 and if yes, how? I'd really like to use the ribbons...
Each version of Visual Studio prior to Visual Studio 2010 is tied to a specific .NET framework. (VS2008 is .NET 3.5, VS2005 is .NET 2.0, VS2003 is .NET1.1) Visual Studio 2010 and beyond allow for targeting of prior framework versions but cannot be used for future releases. You must use Visual Studio 2012 in order to utilize .NET 4.5.
There are pretty limited scenarios that I can think of where this would be useful, but let's assume you can't get funds to purchase VS2012 or something to that effect. If that's the case and you have Windows 7+ and VS 2010 you may be able to use the following hack I put together which seems to work (but I haven't fully deployed an application using this method yet).
Backup your project file!!!
Download and install the Windows 8 SDK which includes the .NET 4.5 SDK.
Open your project in VS2010.
Create a text file in your project named Compile_4_5_CSharp.targets with the following contents. (Or just download it here - Make sure to remove the ".txt" extension from the file name):
<Project DefaultTargets="Build"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<!-- Change the target framework to 4.5 if using the ".NET 4.5" configuration -->
<PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Platform)' == '.NET 4.5' ">
<DefineConstants Condition="'$(DefineConstants)'==''">
TARGETTING_FX_4_5
</DefineConstants>
<DefineConstants Condition="'$(DefineConstants)'!='' and '$(DefineConstants)'!='TARGETTING_FX_4_5'">
$(DefineConstants);TARGETTING_FX_4_5
</DefineConstants>
<PlatformTarget Condition="'$(PlatformTarget)'!=''"/>
<TargetFrameworkVersion>v4.5</TargetFrameworkVersion>
</PropertyGroup>
<!-- Import the standard C# targets -->
<Import Project="$(MSBuildBinPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets" />
<!-- Add .NET 4.5 as an available platform -->
<PropertyGroup>
<AvailablePlatforms>$(AvailablePlatforms),.NET 4.5</AvailablePlatforms>
</PropertyGroup>
</Project>
Unload your project (right click -> unload).
Edit the project file (right click -> Edit *.csproj).
Make the following changes in the project file:
a. Replace the default Microsoft.CSharp.targets with the target file created in step 4
<!-- Old Import Entry -->
<!-- <Import Project="$(MSBuildBinPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets" /> -->
<!-- New Import Entry -->
<Import Project="Compile_4_5_CSharp.targets" />
b. Change the default platform to .NET 4.5
<!-- Old default platform entry -->
<!-- <Platform Condition=" '$(Platform)' == '' ">AnyCPU</Platform> -->
<!-- New default platform entry -->
<Platform Condition=" '$(Platform)' == '' ">.NET 4.5</Platform>
c. Add AnyCPU platform to allow targeting other frameworks as specified in the project properties. This should be added just before the first <ItemGroup> tag in the file
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Platform)' == 'AnyCPU'">
<PlatformTarget>AnyCPU</PlatformTarget>
</PropertyGroup>
.
.
.
<ItemGroup>
.
.
.
Save your changes and close the *.csproj file.
Reload your project (right click -> Reload Project).
In the configuration manager (Build -> Configuration Manager) make sure the ".NET 4.5" platform is selected for your project.
Still in the configuration manager, create a new solution platform for ".NET 4.5" (you can base it off "Any CPU") and make sure ".NET 4.5" is selected for the solution.
Build your project and check for errors.
Assuming the build completed you can verify that you are indeed targeting 4.5 by adding a reference to a 4.5 specific class to your source code:
using System;
using System.Text;
namespace testing
{
using net45check = System.Reflection.ReflectionContext;
}
When you compile using the ".NET 4.5" platform the build should succeed. When you compile under the "Any CPU" platform you should get a compiler error:
Error 6: The type or namespace name 'ReflectionContext' does not exist in
the namespace 'System.Reflection' (are you missing an assembly reference?)
FYI, if you want to create an Installer package in VS2010, unfortunately it only targets .NET 4. To work around this, you have to add NET 4.5 as a launch condition.
Add the following in to the Launch Conditions of the installer (Right click, View, Launch Conditions).
In "Search Target Machine", right click and select "Add Registry Search".
Property: REGISTRYVALUE1
RegKey: Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\v4\Full
Root: vsdrrHKLM
Value: Release
Add new "Launch Condition":
Condition: REGISTRYVALUE1>="#378389"
InstallUrl: http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=30653
Message: Setup requires .NET Framework 4.5 to be installed.
Where:
378389 = .NET Framework 4.5
378675 = .NET Framework 4.5.1 installed with Windows 8.1
378758 = .NET Framework 4.5.1 installed on Windows 8, Windows 7 SP1, or Windows Vista SP2
379893 = .NET Framework 4.5.2
Launch condition reference: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/vstudio/xxyh2e6a(v=vs.100).aspx
I have been struggling with VS2010/DNFW 4.5 integration and have finally got this working. Starting in VS 2008, a cache of assemblies was introduced that is used by Visual Studio called the "Referenced Assemblies". This file cache for VS 2010 is located at \Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework.NetFramework\v4.0. Visual Studio loads framework assemblies from this location instead of from the framework installation directory. When Microsoft says that VS 2010 does not support DNFW 4.5 what they mean is that this directory does not get updated when DNFW 4.5 is installed. Once you have replace the files in this location with the updated DNFW 4.5 files, you will find that VS 2010 will happily function with DNFW 4.5.
From another search. Worked for me!
"You can use Visual Studio 2010 and it does support it, provided your OS supports .NET 4.5.
Right click on your solution to add a reference (as you do). When the dialog box shows, select browse, then navigate to the following folder:
C:\Program Files(x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\.Net Framework\4.5
You will find it there."
Are the any MSBuild properties that Visual Studio sets? I'm looking to have some conditional behavior depending on the version (if any) of visual studio.
The property value you should be using is BuildingInsideVisualStudio, when you are building inside of Visual Studio this property will be set to true. Since ProductVersion is declared in the project file you cannot use it because it will have the same value whether building inside of VS or via msbuild.exe.
<PropertyGroup>
<MyProp Condition=" '$(BuildingInsideVisualStudio)' == 'true' ">Foo</MyProp>
<MyProp Condition=" '$(BuildingInsideVisualStudio)' != 'true' ">Bar</MyProp>
</PropertyGroup>
To directly address the question in your title - if you just want to know if you are being built from VS or not, check the value of IsDesktopBuild which will return true or false appropriately.
Yes, <ProductVersion> is listed in a project file. It matches the Visual Studio version number.
<ProductVersion> will give you the version of MSBuild that is running the build process.
Note that in VS 2010 the build process might be targeting either .Net 4.0 or 3.5 You need to consider carefully if your conditional compilation depends on the msbuild version itself or on the target framework of the build and the tools the build is using. If your condition is based on the target framework, use <TargetFrameworkVersion>.
Of course, if your build also might be run under VS 2008, you need to support proper fallback if <TargetFrameworkVersion> is missing.