CODEWITHSUNDEEP
asp.net-coremsbuild.net-corecsproj
Daniel
Daniel

Reputation: 9534

msbuild - Is it possible to share items defined in a child project to its parent without using Import?

Question

How do I get items defined in a child project to its parent without using the <Import> element? The reason I want to avoid <Import> is because it also imports targets which execute at the parent project, which is not desired.

Example

Say I have the following child.csproj:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
    <PropertyGroup>
        <TargetFramework>netstandard2.0</TargetFramework>
    </PropertyGroup>

    <ItemGroup>
        <MyItem Include="some.file" />
    </ItemGroup>

    <Target Name="MyChildPreBuild" BeforeTargets="Build">
        <Message Text="MyChildPreBuild" Importance="high" />
        <Message Text="%(MyItem.FullPath)" Importance="high" />
    </Target>
</Project>

And this is referenced by a parent.csproj:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
    <PropertyGroup>
        <TargetFramework>netstandard2.0</TargetFramework>
    </PropertyGroup>

    <ItemGroup>
        <MyItem Include="some.other.file" />
    </ItemGroup>

    <ItemGroup>
        <ProjectReference Include="..\child\child.csproj" />
    </ItemGroup>

    <Target Name="MyPreBuild" BeforeTargets="Build">
        <Message Text="MyPreBuild" Importance="high" />
        <Message Text="%(MyItem.FullPath)" Importance="high" />
    </Target>
</Project>

Building parent.csproj, I get the following build output message:

1>------ Rebuild All started: Project: child, Configuration: Debug Any CPU ------
1>child -> C:\Users\dan\test\child\bin\Debug\netstandard2.0\child.dll
2>------ Rebuild All started: Project: parent, Configuration: Debug Any CPU ------
2>parent -> C:\Users\dan\test\parent\bin\Debug\netstandard2.0\parent.dll
2>C:\Users\dan\test\parent\some.other.file
========== Rebuild All: 2 succeeded, 0 failed, 0 skipped ==========

As can be seen, only the parent.csproj MyItem items are printed.

Adding <Import Project="..\child\child.csproj" /> to parent.csproj does print all of the MyItems but the child's target is executed as well:

1>------ Rebuild All started: Project: child, Configuration: Debug Any CPU ------
1>child -> C:\Users\dan\test\child\bin\Debug\netstandard2.0\child.dll
1>MyChildPreBuild
1>C:\Users\dan\test\child\some.file
2>------ Rebuild All started: Project: parent, Configuration: Debug Any CPU ------
2>C:\Users\dan\test\child\child.csproj : warning MSB4011: "C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\2.1.403\Sdks\Microsoft.NET.Sdk\Sdk\Sdk.props" cannot be imported again. It was already imported at "C:\Users\dan\test\parent\parent.csproj". This is most likely a build authoring error. This subsequent import will be ignored.
2>C:\Users\dan\test\parent\parent.csproj : warning MSB4011: "C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\2.1.403\Sdks\Microsoft.NET.Sdk\Sdk\Sdk.targets" cannot be imported again. It was already imported at "C:\Users\dan\test\child\child.csproj". This is most likely a build authoring error. This subsequent import will be ignored.
2>parent -> C:\Users\dan\test\parent\bin\Debug\netstandard2.0\parent.dll
2>MyChildPreBuild
2>C:\Users\dan\test\parent\some.other.file
2>C:\Users\dan\test\parent\some.file
2>MyPreBuild
2>C:\Users\dan\test\parent\some.other.file
2>C:\Users\dan\test\parent\some.file
========== Rebuild All: 2 succeeded, 0 failed, 0 skipped ==========

Upvotes: 0

Views: 521

Answers (1)

Simply Ged
Simply Ged

Reputation: 8672

If you use the import method you can add a condition to the child targets to only execute when that flag is not set. Then, in your parent, set the flag to a value.

Child

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
    <PropertyGroup>
        <TargetFramework>netstandard2.0</TargetFramework>
    </PropertyGroup>

    <ItemGroup>
        <MyItem Include="some.file" />
    </ItemGroup>

    <Target Name="MyChildPreBuild" BeforeTargets="Build" Condition="'$(ParentProject}'==''">
        <Message Text="MyChildPreBuild" Importance="high" />
        <Message Text="%(MyItem.FullPath)" Importance="high" />
    </Target>
</Project>

And then, in your parent project

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
    <PropertyGroup>
        <TargetFramework>netstandard2.0</TargetFramework>
        <ParentProject>parent.csproj</ParentProject>
    </PropertyGroup>

    <ItemGroup>
        <MyItem Include="some.other.file" />
    </ItemGroup>

    <Import Project="..\child\child.csproj" />

    <Target Name="MyPreBuild" BeforeTargets="Build">
        <Message Text="MyPreBuild" Importance="high" />
        <Message Text="%(MyItem.FullPath)" Importance="high" />
    </Target>
</Project>

This should prevent the child targets from being called when imported.

Upvotes: 1

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