Question

I have been studying MSBuild as I have the need to automate my development shop’s builds. I was able to easily write a .BAT file that invokes the VS command prompt and passes my MSBuild commands to it. This works rather well and is kinda nifty.

Here is the contents of my .BAT build file:

call "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\VC\bin\amd64\vcvars64.bat"
cd  C:\Sandbox\Solution
msbuild MyTopSecretApplication.sln /p:OutputPath=c:\TESTMSBUILDOUTPUT /p:Configuration=Release,Platform=x86
pause

^ This works well but I now have the need to use the MSBuild task for TeamCity CI. I have tried to write a few MSBuild scripts but I cannot get them to work the same. What is the equivalent build script to the command I am using in my .BAT file? Any ideas?

I have tried using something like this, but no success (I know this is wrong):

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<project name="Hello Build World" default="run" basedir=".">

<target name="build">
    <mkdir dir="mybin" />
    <echo>Made mybin directory!</echo>

  <csc target="exe" output="c:\TESTMSBUILDOUTPUT">
    <sources>
      <include name="MyTopSecretApplication.sln"/>
    </sources>
  </csc>
  <echo>MyTopSecretApplication.exe was built!</echo>
</target>

<target name="clean">
    <delete dir="mybin" failonerror="false"/>
</target>

<target name="run" depends="build">
  <exec program="mybin\MyTopSecretApplication.exe"/>
</target>

What I simply need is an MSBuild XML build script that compiles a single solution for Release mode to a specified output directory. Any help?

Answer 1

Use the MSBuild task to build the solution passing the properties you need.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003"
    ToolsVersion="4.0"
    DefaultTargets="Build">

    <PropertyGroup>
        <OutputDir>c:\TESTMSBUILDOUTPUT</OutputDir>
    </PropertyGroup>

    <ItemGroup>
        <ProjectToBuild Include="MySecretApplication.sln">
            <Properties>OutputPath=$(OutputDir);Configuration=Release</Properties>
        </ProjectToBuild>
    </ItemGroup>

    <Target Name="Build">
        <MSBuild Projects="@(ProjectToBuild)"/>
    </Target>

</Project>