Is there any MSBuild Interface available?

Question

Hi all,

Has anybody had call MSBuild via api interface from win form application? Currently, I'm able to call msbuild.exe from win form using process.start() method; however, I think it would be nice if I could call msbuild directly from api interface.

Best Regards,

Answer 1

There is object model for MSBuild that you can use (see MSDN for reference).

What you probably need is Engine object to build you projects.

Hope that helps.

Regards, Eugene

Answer 2

Thanks so much eugene. I'll give a try.

Best Regards,

Answer 3

Eugene,

I've tried and it seems work; however, I do have 2 issue:

1. how do I pass in target and configuration parameter? For an example, in command line I could passing /t:build /p:configuration=debug. Below is my code

2. how do I display compile output to rich textbox?

public void PerformBuild (string s_solutionfile)

{

// Instantiate a new Engine object

Engine engine = new Engine();

// Point to the path that contains the .NET Framework 2.0 CLR and tools

engine.BinPath = @"C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727";

// Instantiate a new FileLogger to generate build log

FileLogger logger = new FileLogger();

// Set the logfile parameter to indicate the log destination

logger.Parameters = @"logfile=C:\temp\build.log";

// Register the logger with the engine

engine.RegisterLogger(logger);

string[] s_test = targetNames;

// Build a project file

bool success = engine.BuildProjectFile(s_solutionfile);

//Unregister all loggers to close the log file

engine.UnregisterAllLoggers();

if (success)

{

richTextBox_DisplayOutput.AppendText("\n");

richTextBox_DisplayOutput.AppendText("EXECUTED COMMAND SUCCESSFULL: ........" + SELECTED_BUILD_CONFIG + "\n");

richTextBox_DisplayOutput.AppendText("********************************************************************************************" + "\n");

richTextBox_DisplayOutput.AppendText("\n");

}

else

{

richTextBox_DisplayOutput.AppendText("\n");

richTextBox_DisplayOutput.AppendText("ERROR EXECUTING COMMAND: ........ " + SELECTED_BUILD_CONFIG + "\n");

richTextBox_DisplayOutput.AppendText("********************************************************************************************" + "\n");

richTextBox_DisplayOutput.AppendText("\n");

}

}

Answer 4

Hi All,

I've search project and buildpropertygroup class but not help. I can't find anything that I could set configuration property. Could any body please help me out or point me to some usefull resource? I'm very appreciated.

Best Regards,

Answer 5

Andy,

To pass parameters to build, you may want to use GlobalProperties property of Engine class.

As to redirecting output to rich text control, you may want to implement custom logger - basicallly what you need is to develop your own implementation of ILogger interface, and register you implementation with an engine using RegisterLogger method Engine class.

Do not be discouraged - the tasks are doable, though as you are starting to find out, the documentation on MSBuild extensibility is very poor, and object model has lots of issues.

Best regards, Eugene

Answer 6

Use Project.GlobalProperties.SetProperty ("Configuration","debug").

Answer 7

Thanks so much for all of your responded.

Here are what I tried, but still no luck

====================================

      public void PerformBuild (string s_solutionfile, string s_targetName, string s_propertyGroup)
      {
            // Instantiate a new Engine object
            Engine engine = new Engine();
         
            engine.BinPath = @"C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727";
           

            // Instantiate a new FileLogger to generate build log
            FileLogger logger = new FileLogger();

            // Set the logfile parameter to indicate the log destination
            logger.Parameters = @"logfile=C:\temp\build.log";

            // Register the logger with the engine
            engine.RegisterLogger(logger);

            engine.GlobalProperties.SetProperty(Configuration, "Debug");
           

            // Build a project file
            bool success = engine.BuildProjectFile(s_solutionfile, new string[] { "Build" }, engine.GlobalProperties);

            //Unregister all loggers to close the log file
            engine.UnregisterAllLoggers();

           if (success)
            {
 //               Console.WriteLine("Build succeeded.");
                    richTextBox_DisplayOutput.AppendText("\n");
                    richTextBox_DisplayOutput.AppendText("EXECUTED COMMAND SUCCESSFULL:     ........" + SELECTED_BUILD_CONFIG + "\n");
                    richTextBox_DisplayOutput.AppendText("********************************************************************************************" + "\n");
                    richTextBox_DisplayOutput.AppendText("\n");
            }
            else
            {
  //              Console.WriteLine(@"Build failed. View C:\temp\build.log for details");
                    richTextBox_DisplayOutput.AppendText("\n");
                    richTextBox_DisplayOutput.AppendText("ERROR EXECUTING COMMAND:     ........ " + SELECTED_BUILD_CONFIG + "\n");
                    richTextBox_DisplayOutput.AppendText("********************************************************************************************" + "\n");
                    richTextBox_DisplayOutput.AppendText("\n");
            }

     }

=========================================================================

This I got error message: "The name "Configuration" does not exist in the current context

Answer 8

Thanks all.

I got it

It should be

Engine.GlobalProperties.SetProperty("Configuration", "Debug");