MSBuild command won't run from inside Visual Studio - visual-studio-2010

I've been doing a few mods on the open-source MarkdownDeep but I'm having trouble getting a release out - the project includes a post-build task to do some package-ing using Nuget.exe.
I can execute the command without errors from a dos box, but the step always fails (with Error: 9009 when run from VisualStudio as part of a Release build configuration.
Can anyone think why this is?

I would guess that when you are running manually from the command line you are either,
executing 'locally', the working directory is that of the required paths used in the build step
you are fully qualifying paths appropriately
The bottom line would seem that the path/s do not work out when executed from Visual Studio (can't find directory / file required to perform an operation, due to line-breakage, file not present in the PATH environment variable, and the like).
Pre- and post-build steps in Visual Studio get 'converted' into a single batch script and executed, the paths in this step should be properly enclosed in quotes, absolutely or relatively specified etc. but ultimately need to be able to properly expand/resolve to complete paths.
As an example, I'll quote the following snippet:
SvcUtil.exe parameter1 parameter2 will fail
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\bin\SvcUtil.exe
parameter1 parameter2 will fail
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\bin\SvcUtil.exe"
parameter1 parameter2 will do.

Related

Build specific Visual studio project under project solution using Msbuild and devenv

I have Visual studio project solution which has multiple .csproj. Each .csproj has some reference libraries.The project settings are made in such a way the reference libraries are built first and then .csproj is built. This works as expected when i run it in visual studio IDE. But when i try to execute using msbuild i'm getting an error saying target doesn't exist. Gone through many posts related to this issue ,tried possible things.But didn't built.Looks like i might be doing something silly or missing something in the settings.
Also tried using devenv from commandline. With this option i dont see any error but at same time the project doesnt build.I dont see any message after execution of command.Im using visual studio 2015
Here is my project structure
Poject.sln
ProjectA
porjectB
projectC
Libraries
libA
libB
msbuild "project.sln" target:"D:\Projects\Source\Demo\ProjectA\ProjectA.csproj" /t:build
"/p:Configuration=Debug" "/p:platform=x86"
I see the below error
"D:\project.sln" (D:\Projects\Source\Demo\ProjectA\;build target) (1) ->
D:\project.sln.metaproj : error MSB4057: The target "D:\Projects\Source\Demo\ProjectA" does not exist in the project. [D:\project.sln]
Here is the command used using devenv
devenv.exe "project.sln" /build Debug /project `"D:\Projects\source\Demo\Applications\ProjectA\ProjectA.csproj" /projectconfig Debug
After executing the above its doesnt build and i dont see any error too.
error MSB4057: The target "D:\Projects\Source\Demo\ProjectA" does not
exist in the project.
The error indicates your path in command is not valid and project.sln can't recognize the path. So you actually meet one path-related issue. And you should pass the ProjectA to the targets argument instead of ProjectA.csproj! More details see tip3 in For MSBuild.
For MSBuild:
1.If you're only trying to build ProjectA and its reference libraries.
Navigate(cd) to path where ProjectA.csproj exists, and then use command msbuild ProjectA.csproj /t:build /p:Configuration=Debug /p:platform=x86
Also you can directly use command msbuild AbsolutePath\ProjectA.csproj /t:build /p:Configuration=Debug /p:platform=x86. It's not necessary to use " to cover the path and arguments.
(ProjectA.csproj file should have definitions about the reference to those two library projects, so msbuild ProjectA.csproj will build those two projects first. You don't need to specify the xx.sln in your command.)
2.If you're trying to build whole solution(all the projects):
msbuild project.sln /t:build /p:Configuration=xxx /p:platform=xxx
Navigate to solution folder when you run above command, or use absolutepath\project.sln with that command.
3.When you want to build specific projects(more than one) in solution:
Check How to: Build Specific Targets in Solutions By Using MSBuild.exe. Since you're only build ProjectA, you don't need to use this format. For example: Only when you need to build both ProjectA and ProjectB, but not build ProjectC... You can use command like:
msbuild xxx.sln /t:NotInSlnfolder:Build;NewFolder\InSolutionFolder:Build
Pay attention to the path when you use this format. Whether your project is in solution folder can affect the build result a lot ! And, the direct cause of your issue, this command's targets argument needs one ProjectName as input instead of ProjectName.csproj.
For Devenv command:
1.I always use VS2017 and VS2019,so I'm not certainly sure if VS2015's devenv related command has big difference from VS2017's or VS2019's. But according to details from this VS2017 document:
Commands that begin with devenv are handled by the devenv.com utility, which delivers output through standard system streams, such as stdout and stderr.
Alternatively, commands that begin with devenv.exe can use the same switches, but the devenv.com utility is bypassed. Using devenv.exe directly prevents output from appearing on the console.
I think that's why you don't see any message after execution of command. You should use devenv.com command to see the output in console. And it's by design that devenv.exe will prevents output from appearing on the console.
2.The following command builds the project CSharpWinApp, using the Debug project build configuration within MySolution.
devenv "%USERPROFILE%\source\repos\MySolution.sln" /build Debug /project "CSharpWinApp\CSharpWinApp.csproj" /projectconfig Debug
More details about devenv reference please check this document.
In addition:
1.Looks like you have one strange project structure. I checked your error message above and it seems your several projects(xx.csproj) are not under Solution(xx.sln) folder. Just a suggestion, the normal folder structure for VS2015 is always:
Solution folder
xx.sln
ProjectA folder
ProjectA.csproj
ProjectB folder
ProjectB.csproj
2.For most of the projects, build using msbuild is more powerful and convenient than build using devenv. So if you don't have special reason, I recommend using Msbuild, the build engine of VS.
Hope all above helps to resolve your issue and puzzle. Let me know if your issue persists:)
File "/Users/morel893/Desktop/env/lib/python3.7/site-packages/django/db/backends/utils.py", line 84, in _execute
return self.cursor.execute(sql, params)
django.db.utils.ProgrammingError: relation "projects_project" does not exist
LINE 1: ...ct"."technology", "projects_project"."image" FROM "projects_...

What is the default location for MSBuild logs?

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.

Force VS2010 to keep the build output path absolute

We want to have our build server send the output of each build to
C:\Projects\{project name}\build\{build configuration}\.
To accomplish this, I set the Build Output path property for my projects to that in Visual Studio 2010, and build locally to make sure everything works. When I do so, visual studio changes the path to a relative one, for example ..\..\build\Debug.
Since the project directory is not the same on the build server (we use TeamCity, so the project url there is something like C:\BuildAgent\work\9358A92GF92), the output doesn't end up where we want it.
How do I make Visual Studio not change the build output paths to relative paths?
You cannot convince the IDE to make it absolute. Possible solutions:
Use a post-build event to xcopy the build output
It won't make the path relative if the output directory is on another drive. You could use the SUBST command to map a drive letter like z: to a folder on c: and fool the IDE that way
Run msbuild.exe directly on the build machine. Use the /p command line option to force the OutDir property to another value.
Solution 3 is probably best since you can make it specific to the build machine without tinkering with the project files and make the devs' lives difficult. The command should look similar to this:
msbuild /p:outdir=c:\mumble\ projectOrSolutionFileName
Beware that the output directory name must end with a trailing backslash
You can not convince IDE to use absolute path, but you can change the Project file:
<OutputPath>C:\Dir1\Dir2</OutputPath>
Your IDE will still show relative path but it will store the absolute path.
Works for me with Visual studio 2010 Sp1

Build one project inside a solution from the command line

I am working on a large C++ solution in Visual Studio 2005. I want to log all of the output from the build of one project within that solution. The output window in VS seems to be malfunctioning. I suspect there is too much output for it to handle. I can't copy the output and I can't even save it to disk.
My idea is to build the project on the command line and just redirect the output to a file. I'm not sure what command I have to execute in order to build a project in the context of a solution. I tried to just vcbuild the project, but I think it's missing data inherited from the solution.
Any ideas?
Use DevEnv from the command line:
DevEnv /Build Debug /Project ProjectName %SOLUTION_FILE%
where %SOLUTION_FILE% is an environment variable holding the full
path to the solution file and ProjectName is the name of the project.
The output will go to standard output.
The entire solution can be rebuild with:
DevEnv /Rebuild Debug %SOLUTION_FILE%
Example; for an (installer) project named MSQuantSetup:
set SOLUTION_FILE=D:\dproj\MSQall\MSQuant\MSQuant.sln
DevEnv /Build Debug /Project MSQuantSetup %SOLUTION_FILE%
Or directly without the environment variable:
DevEnv /Build Debug /Project MSQuantSetup D:\dproj\MSQall\MSQuant\MSQuant.sln
Take a look at this page, I think this is what you are looking for. Don't forget the /Project parameter if you want to build only one project.
C# version with MSBuild (put the below code in a .bat file)
set msBuildDir=%WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319
set msBuildDir=%WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727
call %msBuildDir%\msbuild ".\SomeFolder\MyCSharpProject.csproj" /p:Configuration=Release /l:FileLogger,Microsoft.Build.Engine;logfile=Manual_MSBuild_ReleaseVersion_One_Project_CSharp_LOG.log
set msBuildDir=
Or for C++:
set msBuildDir=%WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727
set msBuildDir=%WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319
call %msBuildDir%\msbuild ".\Project1\Project1\Project1.vcxproj" /p:Configuration=Release /l:FileLogger,Microsoft.Build.Engine;logfile=Manual_MSBuild_ReleaseVersion_One_Project_C_Plus_Plus_LOG.log
set msBuildDir=
You'll need to pick your framework (2.0 or 4.0 (or other??), where I have
set msBuildDir=%WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\vA.BCDEF
Just comment out or remove the framework version you do not want.
I had a solution with five (sub) projects. I built the "bottom most" project. And it only built this (single) assembly.
Keep in mind if the project you pick has dependencies, it'll build those as well. AKA, if you pick the "top most" assembly, it will build everything it needs.

How to call Nunit from Visual Studio in a batch file

I have set my Visual Studio to start Nunit as an external program to run all the tests written in a module.
Now what I am trying to do is to create a batch file which will call Myproj.exe. What I am expecting is that it will run Nunit as I have set it to run an external program and execute all my tests in nunit.exe, but when I run that batch file it starts running from Visual Studio instead of opening NUnit.
Can any one please give me a clear idea as how to accomplish it?
I am too much stuck.
Now I am trying to run the following commands in shell
nunit-x86.exe
Can you please tell how should I load my visualbasic project file (exe) here and then run all the tests from here
as unable to execute following command
nunit nunit.tests.vbproj /config:release
You can make NUnit start everytime you debug your "NUnit tests".
You can attach the debugger in Visual Studio Express doing it that way.
If you use a "full version" of VS do it that way:
Note that if you’re using the full and
not the express version of Visual
Studio 2005, you can do this by
opening up the project’s properties,
and in the Debug tab select Start
External Program: and navigate to the
NUnit executable, and set
YourCompanyname.YourProject.Test.dll as the
Command Line Arguments.
I got that ideas from this tutorial(Page 4/5) and love it.
You can also run NUnit after every successful build in Visual Studio with a Post-Build Event.
In VS2005, right-click on the project that has your tests and select Properties. Then on the Build Events tab, in the "Post-build event command line", put this* to use the console:
nunit-console /xml:$(ProjectName).xml $(TargetPath)
or this to use the GUI::
nunit $(TargetPath) /run
In "Run the post-build event:", leave the default: "On successful build"
If you use the GUI, know that your build will appear to be hung up until you close the GUI app.
*NOTE: The nunit console command line docs say "By default the nunit-console program is not added to your path."
you can just shell nunit.exe with the command line to your assembly to run tests in.
You can load nUnit.exe (nUnit-Console.exe for command line execution) using external tool features in Visual studio. Once you add the command via external tools feature (as explained in this blog), you can use it for any project to execute the tests. (Other is to add through project properties but that needs to be done for every project). Also in the arguments you can pass /include or /exclude to include or exclude categories of the tests.
The advantage of this method is you need not worry about giving path to DLL file and it works for any project you are on and gets executed with few clicks

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