CODEWITHSUNDEEP
msbuild
Micha Wiedenmann
Micha Wiedenmann

Reputation: 20843

How can I get the path of the call to MSBuild?

Is it possible to access (in a build file) the directory from which MSBuild.exe was called?

I have only been able to get the path of the build file itself. I want the directory from which MSBuild was called instead.

Expected

D:\> msbuild foo\foo.proj
...
  MSBuild was called from: D:\>

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <Target Name="BeforeBuild">
    <Message Text="MSBuild was called from: ???" />
  </Target>
</Project>

Why

I was wondering if one could replace the absolute path in

D:\workdir> msbuild foo\foo.proj /p:Parameter=d:\workdir\Projects\bar\

with a relative path

D:\workdir> msbuild foo\foo.proj /p:Parameter=Projects\bar\

Upvotes: 2

Views: 192

Answers (1)

PerryC
PerryC

Reputation: 1281

See MSBuild Reserved and Well-Known Properties

It looks like MSBuildStartupDirectory will help you:

TestBuild.vcxproj snippet

  <Target Name="BeforeBuild">
    <Message Text="MSBuild was called from: $(MSBuildStartupDirectory)" />
  </Target>

Build

d:\Data\Visual Studio 2013\Projects>msbuild /m .\TestMsBuild\TestMsBuild\TestMsBuild.vcxproj /verbosity:detailed /t:BeforeBuild

Task "Message"
    MSBuild was called from: d:\Data\Visual Studio 2013\Projects

Upvotes: 3

Related Questions