MSBuild task doesn't build project references

Question

Assuming the latest version of MSBuild, let's say I have 3 projects ProjA, ProjB and ProjC. I have a custom target in A and B that copy the individual outputs (bin items) into a custom path $(CustomOutputPath) - this all works fine individually. ProjC also has a custom target but in addition to copying its files to $(CustomOutputPath), it also cleans up the output path first, then chains ProjA and ProjB so that essentially all 3 projects have their files in the custom output path.

Let's assume I cannot change this requirement.

My ProjC target looks something like this:

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

    <!-- Contains groups and properties only like 
         CustomOutputPath and BuildProjects -->
    <Import Project="SharedGroups.msbuild"/>

    <Target Name="AfterBuild">

        <!-- Removing old output -->
        <RemoveDir Directories="$(CustomOutputPath)" />

        <ItemGroup>
            <!-- Arbitrary contents of this project -->
            <FilesToCopy Include="**\*.*" /> 
        </ItemGroup>

        <!-- this works fine -->
        <Copy SourceFiles="@(FilesToCopy)"
              DestinationFolder="$(CustomOutputPath)"
              OverwriteReadOnlyFiles="true" />

        <!-- Once cleanup and copy is completed, I want to run all the other 
             projects builds which contain similar but specific copy tasks as 
             above, with no clean up. BuildProjects is an ItemGroup of all 
             the projects I want to build -->
        <MSBuild Projects="@(BuildProjects)" 
                 Properties="Configuration=$(Configuration); BuildProjectReferences=true"/>

    </Target>

</Project>

The problem I'm having is that one of the projects I am trying to build in the last step is failing because it references another project in the solution, which is not being built as part of the BuildProjectReferences=true directive, so it can't find the DLL. If I build this dependency individually then the MSBuild task will work, but I don't want to have to build this project independently.

Why is my referenced project not being built and is there a better way to do this with MSBuild?

Note: I am open to other solutions - I have tried to make ProjA and ProjB references of ProjC (hence not needing the MSBuild task at the bottom of ProjC target) but then the cleanup step in C happens AFTER A and B copy their output out so that doesn't work.

JDługosz JDługosz · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-23T22:57:47

Use /verbosity:detailed and redirect output to a file. Look through the verbiage to see what's happening with the ResolveProjectReferences target. You can also use /verbosity:diag and see details of why is skipped things etc. That might be useful since the Condition on the various tasks used there are pretty hairy.

MSBuild task doesn't build project references

1 Answers