Chapter 2. MSBuild Deep Dive, Part 1

In the previous chapter, we gave a brief overview of all the key elements in MSBuild. In this chapter and the next, we’ll examine most of those ideas in more detail. We’ll examine properties, items, targets, tasks, transformations, and much more. After you have completed this chapter you will have a solid grasp of how to create and modify MSBuild files to suit your needs. After the next chapter we’ll explore ways to extend MSBuild as well as some advanced topics.

What is MSBuild? MSBuild is a general-purpose build system created by Microsoft and is used to build all managed .NET projects. MSBuild is shipped with the .NET Framework. What this means is that you do not need to have Visual Studio installed in order ...

Get Inside the Microsoft® Build Engine: Using MSBuild and Team Foundation Build now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.