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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-20T08:01:59+00:00

I’m creating an automated build system for a group of projects. Most are C#

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I’m creating an automated build system for a group of projects. Most are C# and VB but we have a few VC++. I need to extract the AssemblyName properties for all of the projects before the build starts to perform some custom stuff. The C# and VB projects have an AssemblyName element inside the .csproj and .vbproj files and I can grab them using xml dom. There is no equivelant in the .vcxproj file. How do I figure out what the AssemblyName is going to be for a VC++ project by just looking at the project file (vcxproj) or the files included in the project? Does the compiler simply use whatever file contains the main entry point as the AssemblyName?

e.g. Win32ConsoleApp1.cpp -> Win32ConsoleApp1.exe?

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  1. Editorial Team

    Thanks, those elements were not in my .vcxproj. Perhaps you have an older .vcproj? Anyway it did lead me to find <TargetName/> in the Microsoft.Cpp.props file that is imported into every .vcxproj file. In there is the following line:
    <TargetName Condition=”‘$(TargetName)’ == ””>$(ProjectName)</TargetName>

    This was no good for my goal of retrieving the name of the assembly that will ultimately be generated because the value $(ProjectName) is expanded during runtime. So I started tracking down were ProjectName is set. It’s in Microsoft.Common.targets and is set to $(MSBuildProjectName). Again no use to me because that too is expanded during run time. I then had to disassemble MSBuild.exe, its dependents, and finally found the Microsoft.Build.Evaluation.Evaluator class were MSBuildProjectName it is set. It’s simply the project file’s name minus the extension. E.g. MyConsoleApp1.vcxproj -> MyConsoleApp1.

    I also did some experimenting and by simply right clicking my VC++ project in Visual Studio and selecting “rename” and saving the project a new element is added to the project file called <ProjectName/> with the new value I entered. So based on all of this the logic I’m going with is to parse the .vcxproj file and look for the <ProjectName/> element. If it’s in there then use it; if not simply use the project file’s name minus the extension.

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