How can I build a VSTO project on my build server which has not installed the Visual Studio?

Question

How can I build a VSTO project on my build server which has not installed the Visual Studio?

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Answer 1

The build process of VSTO projects relies on a number of MSBuild tasks used together with the Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Office.Office2003.targets and Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Office.Office2007.targets files. These tasks register Add-Ins, generate the application and deployment manifest and update the security on the build machine. The assemblies which include these tasks are shipped with Visual Studio. To build the VSTO projects using MSBuild, we need to copy these targets and task assemblies file to our build server.

The following files are needed:

1.       The folder C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v9.0\OfficeTools and its content: 2003/2007 targets file.

2.       Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Applications.BuildTasks.

3.       Microsoft.VisualStudio.Tools.Office.BuildTasks.

You can get the detailed steps in Kent’s blog:

http://kentb.blogspot.com/2008/08/building-vsto-projects-without-visual.html

(Related forum thread http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/vsto/thread/0e072b91-925d-48a2-abb6-8c752e56ff25/ )

For more FAQ about Visual Studio Tools for Office, please see Visual Studio Tools for Office FAQ

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