CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#.netvisual-studiomsbuild
SuperJMN
SuperJMN

Reputation: 13952

MSBuild - Copy one file or another depending on the Build Configuration

I have a file inside my solution that is currently copied to the build output on this path: Core\Bootstrap.txt

(My application uses it when it runs, but I would like it to have different contents depending on the Build Configuration)

I suspect this is done modifying the csproj and playing with MSBuild, but I don't have any clue.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 2971

Answers (2)

Mr Qian
Mr Qian

Reputation: 23715

The only function is that you should create wo other txt files called Bootstrap.Debug.txt and Bootstrap.Release.txt.

First, set Copy to Output Directory of these two other files to No not copy.

And remember to clear Bootstrap.txt and then make your all content into Bootstrap.Debug.txt or Bootstrap.Release.txt. If you want to use Debug mode, make changes on the Bootstrap.Debug.txt while make changes on the Bootstrap.Release.txt under Release mode.

Second, unload your project, add this in the csproj file:

 <ItemGroup>
    <Content Include="Core\Bootstrap.txt">
      <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
    </Content>
    <Content Include="Core\Bootstrap.Debug.txt">
      <DependentUpon>Bootstrap.txt</DependentUpon>
    </Content>
    <Content Include="Core\Bootstrap.Release.txt">
      <DependentUpon>Bootstrap.txt</DependentUpon>
    </Content>
  </ItemGroup>
  <Target Name="CopyFiles" BeforeTargets="PrepareForBuild">
    <Exec Command="xcopy /y $(ProjectDir)Core\Bootstrap.$(Configuration).txt $(ProjectDir)Core\Bootstrap.txt" />
  </Target>

enter image description here

Then, change your build configuration, then build your project. After that, you can check the Bootstrap.txt under the output folder, and it already contains the related content based on your configuration.

Update

If you did not want to use copy task, then you can directly copy the related Bootstrap.Debug or Release.txt into the output folder. And then you can directly use Bootstrap.Debug.txt or Bootstrap.Release.txt based on the configuration. That is an easier way.

Not sure whether you need the fixed name file Bootstrap.txt, if you do not need that, you can directly use Bootstrap.Debug.txt or Bootstrap.Release.txt.

<ItemGroup>
    <Content Include="Core\Bootstrap.txt">
    </Content>
    <Content Include="Core\Bootstrap.Debug.txt" Condition="'$(Configuration)'=='Debug'">
      <DependentUpon>Bootstrap.txt</DependentUpon>
        <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
    </Content>
    <Content Include="Core\Bootstrap.Release.txt" Condition="'$(Configuration)'=='Release'">
      <DependentUpon>Bootstrap.txt</DependentUpon>
        <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
    </Content>
  </ItemGroup>

If you still want the fixed name file Bootstrap.txt, you have to use Copy task to make the related txt file overwrite the main Bootstrap.txt file. And MSBuild is not flexible enough to write some info based on the
configuration condition on the txt file and then it will add corresponding information to the corresponding build file according to the build configuration.

MSBuild does not have such a function, so you can only write logic manually, and overwrite the main file according to different configuration-based files.

If you do not want xcopy command, you can use the msbuild copy task, and it belongs to MSBuild.

<ItemGroup>
    <Content Include="Core\Bootstrap.txt">
      <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
    </Content>
    <Content Include="Core\Bootstrap.Debug.txt" >
      <DependentUpon>Bootstrap.txt</DependentUpon>

    </Content>
    <Content Include="Core\Bootstrap.Release.txt">
      <DependentUpon>Bootstrap.txt</DependentUpon>  
    </Content>
  </ItemGroup>
  <Target Name="CopyFiles" BeforeTargets="PrepareForBuild">
      <Copy SourceFiles="$(ProjectDir)Core\Bootstrap.$(Configuration).txt" DestinationFiles="$(ProjectDir)Core\Bootstrap.txt"></Copy>
  </Target>

Otherwise, there is no other way.

Upvotes: 2

bturner1273
bturner1273

Reputation: 710

A ton of the time I see people do this I see them have a separate file named Bootstrap.Development.txt and when you load the file you can check the Environment type in dotnet and load $"Bootstrap.{envName}.json" and just always load Bootstrap.json but don't use it if your envName is 'Development'

edit: just remember in the properties for both files to always copy to output dir if newer

Upvotes: 0

Related Questions