Question

I would like to get the .Net version number in C# code, so in the .csproj file, I added the following line:

<DefineConstants Condition=" $(TargetFrameworkVersion.Replace('v', '')) &gt;= 3.5 ">$(DefineConstants);NET35_ABOVE</DefineConstants>

Then in the C# code I can use “#if NET35_ABOVE” to check if the current .Net version is newer than 3.5. The line above works OK in MSBuild 4.0, but MSBuild 3.5 doesn’t recognize the “Replace” function. If I were to dynamically check .Net version in a similar fashion, how can I do it in MSBuild 3.5?

Answer 1

Your example seems to work just fine in VS2010.

Here’s what I tried:

<PropertyGroup>
    <DefineConstants Condition=" $(TargetFrameworkVersion.Replace('v', '')) &gt;= 3.5 ">$(DefineConstants);TEST1</DefineConstants>
    <DefineConstants Condition=" $(TargetFrameworkVersion.SubString(1,3)) &gt;= 3.5 ">$(DefineConstants);TEST2</DefineConstants>
    <DefineConstants Condition=" $(TargetFrameworkVersion.SubString(1,3)) &gt;= 4.0 ">$(DefineConstants);TEST3</DefineConstants>
    <DefineConstants Condition=" $(TargetFrameworkVersion.SubString(1,3)) &gt;= 4.5 ">$(DefineConstants);TEST4</DefineConstants>
</PropertyGroup>

Edit:

But since you’re using VS2008 you can use the the and do something like this

<Choose>
  <When Condition=" $(TargetFrameworkVersion) == 'v3.5' ">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <DefineConstants >$(DefineConstants);TEST1</DefineConstants>
  </PropertyGroup>
  </When>
</Choose>