VS 2010 Solution Configuration build for a project context

Question

I have a Visual Studio solution containing 30+ projects. There are 2 build configurations, Debug and Release. Ten of the project files (.csproj) are generated reasonably frequently using an external tool and the templates for that generation include the Debug and Release configurations. Modifying the templates to include additional configurations is not really an option.

So the problem I have is that I have a new project that is hosted in AppFabric/IIS. I'm using Web.Config transformations to update the Web.Config for deployment to 4 different environments: Development, Test, Staging, Production. I've add those contexts to the specific project using the Configuration Manager. That works so I can update the Configuration Manager for e.g. the Release build to use the Production context for the project. Right-clicking and building a deployment package for the project results in the appropriate transformation being applied to the Web.Config.

Now I want to automate the process so I have an MSBuild script:

<ItemGroup>
    <BuildMode Include="Dev"/>
    <BuildMode Include="Test"/>
    <BuildMode Include="Staging"/>
    <BuildMode Include="Prod"/>
</ItemGroup>

<Target Name="Build" DependsOnTargets="Package"></Target>

<!--
  Build deployment package for each target environment
-->
<Target Name="Package" Outputs="%(BuildMode.Identity)">
    <Message Text="Building %(BuildMode.Identity)"/>
    <MSBuild Projects="..\SynchWorkflow\SynchWorkflow.csproj"
        Targets="Package"
        Properties="Platform=AnyCPU;Configuration=%(BuildMode.Identity);"/>
</Target>

Unfortunately this errors because it is trying to build e.g. a Prod configuration when it doesn't exist - Prod is only a context for the SynchWorkflow project. What I want to do is have the Prod context package generated using the Release configuration. Is that possible using the MSBuild task? Is there an extra setting I can provide to the MSBuild task in the Properties attribute that would allow this?

David Clarke David Clarke · Accepted Answer · 2011-12-01T01:15:37

I added new solution configurations for each environment (without adding new project configurations) and then used Configuration Manager to set the contexts to Release for the dependent projects. Unfortunately this didn't work because the MSBuild task was building against the project file and not the solution. Resolved using Julien Hoarau's SO answer. Adding the new solution configurations was the correct approach but the linked answer closed the loop for me. The build script has been updated to the following:

  <ItemGroup>
    <BuildMode Include="Development"/>
    <BuildMode Include="Test"/>
    <BuildMode Include="Staging"/>
    <BuildMode Include="Production"/>
  </ItemGroup>
  <PropertyGroup>
    <PackageLocation>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)</PackageLocation>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <Target Name="Build" DependsOnTargets="Package"></Target>

  <!--
    Build deployment package for each target environment
  -->
  <Target Name="Package" Outputs="%(BuildMode.Identity)">
    <Message Text="Building %(BuildMode.Identity)"/>

    <MSBuild Projects="..\SynchWorkflow.sln"
       Properties="Platform=Any CPU;
                   Configuration=%(BuildMode.Identity);
                   DeployOnBuild=true;
                   DeployTarget=Package;
                   PackageLocation=$(PackageLocation)\SynchWorkflow.%(BuildMode.Identity)Package.zip;"/>
  </Target>

The script builds against the solution file and generates the correct package for each target environment. For the purposes of the example script I'm creating the packages in the MSBuildProjectDirectory which is a bit suboptimal.

VS 2010 Solution Configuration build for a project context

1 Answers