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MSBuild-Tips-&-Tricks.md

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MSBuild Command-Line Switches

See the MSBuild Command-Line Reference for more information on switches.

  • MSBuild.exe -pp:<FILE>
    • MSBuild preprocessor. Pass /pp to the command line to create a single huge XML project file with all project imports inlined in the correct order. This is useful to investigate the ordering of imports and property and target overrides during evaluation.
    • Example usage: msbuild MyProject.csproj /pp:inlined.xml
  • MSBuild.exe -nr:false
    • Disable node reuse (/nodeReuse:false). Don't leave MSBuild.exe processes hanging around (and possibly locking files) after the build completes. See more details in MSBuild command line help (/?). See also MSBUILDDISABLENODEREUSE=1 below. Note that using this when building repeatedly will cause slower builds.
  • MSBuild.exe -bl
    • Records all build events to a structured binary log file. The MSBuildStructuredLog tool can be used to analyze this file.
  • MSBuild.exe -noconlog
    • Used to suppress the usage of the console logger, which is otherwise always attached.
  • MSBuild.exe -flp:v=diag
    • Passes parameters to the file logger. If you want to attach multiple file loggers, you do so by specifying additional parameters in the switches /flp1, /flp2, /flp3, and so on.

Environment Variables

  • MSBUILDTARGETOUTPUTLOGGING=1
  • MSBUILDLOGTASKINPUTS=1
    • Log task inputs (not needed if there are any diagnostic loggers already).
  • MSBUILDEMITSOLUTION=1
    • Save the generated .proj file for the .sln that is used to build the solution.
  • MSBUILDENABLEALLPROPERTYFUNCTIONS=1
  • MSBUILDLOGVERBOSERARSEARCHRESULTS=1
    • In ResolveAssemblyReference task, log verbose search results.
  • MSBUILDLOGCODETASKFACTORYOUTPUT=1
    • Dump generated code for task to a .txt file in the TEMP directory
  • MSBUILDDISABLENODEREUSE=1
    • Set this to not leave MSBuild processes behind (see /nr:false above, but the environment variable is useful to also set this for Visual Studio for example).
  • MSBUILDLOGASYNC=1
    • Enable asynchronous logging.
  • MSBUILDDEBUGONSTART=1
    • Launch debugger on build start.
    • Setting the value of 2 allows for manually attaching a debugger to a process ID.
  • MSBUILDDEBUGSCHEDULER=1 & MSBUILDDEBUGPATH=<DIRECTORY>
    • Dumps scheduler state at specified directory

TreatAsLocalProperty

If MSBuild.exe is passed properties on the command line, such as /p:Platform=AnyCPU then this value overrides whatever assignments you have to that property inside property groups. For instance, <Platform>x86</Platform> will be ignored. To make sure your local assignment to properties overrides whatever they pass on the command line, add the following at the top of your MSBuild project file:

<Project TreatAsLocalProperty="Platform" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">

This will make sure that your local assignments to the Platform property are respected. You can specify multiple properties in TreatAsLocalProperty separated by semicolon.

Visual Studio Background Builds

Set the TRACEDESIGNTIME=true environment variable to output design-time build logs to TEMP: read more here: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/jeremykuhne/2016/06/06/vs-background-builds

Visual Studio Design-time (IntelliSense) builds

Use this command-line to approximate what the design-time build does:

/t:CollectResolvedSDKReferencesDesignTime;DebugSymbolsProjectOutputGroup;CollectPackageReferences;ResolveComReferencesDesignTime;ContentFilesProjectOutputGroup;DocumentationProjectOutputGroupDependencies;SGenFilesOutputGroup;ResolveProjectReferencesDesignTime;SourceFilesProjectOutputGroup;DebugSymbolsProjectOutputGroupDependencies;SatelliteDllsProjectOutputGroup;BuiltProjectOutputGroup;SGenFilesOutputGroupDependencies;ResolveAssemblyReferencesDesignTime;CollectAnalyzersDesignTime;CollectSDKReferencesDesignTime;DocumentationProjectOutputGroup;PriFilesOutputGroup;BuiltProjectOutputGroupDependencies;ResolvePackageDependenciesDesignTime;SatelliteDllsProjectOutputGroupDependencies;SDKRedistOutputGroup;CompileDesignTime /p:SkipCompilerExecution=true /p:ProvideCommandLineArgs=true /p:BuildingInsideVisualStudio=true /p:DesignTimeBuild=true

Extend all builds (at system-wide level)

See https://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/.net-tools/extending-msbuild, "Extending all builds" section. Also read about MSBuildUserExtensionsPath, CustomBeforeMicrosoftCommonProps, CustomBeforeMicrosoftCommonTargets, and CustomAfterMicrosoftCommonProps/CustomAfterMicrosoftCommonTargets.

Example: Create this file (Custom.props) in C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\MSBuild\14.0\Microsoft.Common.targets\ImportAfter:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="14.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <MyCustomProperty>Value!</MyCustomProperty>
  </PropertyGroup>
</Project>

then build any project. It will have MyCustomProperty set to Value!

Diagnose WPF temporary assembly compilation issues

Set the property GenerateTemporaryTargetAssemblyDebuggingInformation on the GenerateTemporaryTargetAssembly task: https://referencesource.microsoft.com/#PresentationBuildTasks/BuildTasks/Microsoft/Build/Tasks/Windows/GenerateTemporaryTargetAssembly.cs,4571677f19ba0d24,references

If the property $(GenerateTemporaryTargetAssemblyDebuggingInformation) is set, the temporary project generated during XAML project build will not be deleted and will be available for inspection. This is only available in the recent versions of .NET Framework, so check if your Microsoft.WinFX.targets file has it.

Also the name of the project was renamed from *.tmp_proj to *_wpftmp.csproj so the file extension is now C#: WpfApp1_jzmidb3d_wpftmp.csproj