You need to make a reference to Microsoft.Build.Engine. We also need a file logger class to record the outputs thrown by the MSBuild while compiling.

Output of the C# program while compiling solution “Web1”,

Actual error listing made by Visual Studio on the while compiling solution “Web1”,

Here just shown the output first, don’t get confused. Find the code below,

C# code for MSBuild:

The solution builder class which is the core of this application is as follows,

using Microsoft.Build.BuildEngine;
using Microsoft.Build.Framework;
using Microsoft.Build.Utilities;public class SolutionBuilder
{
BasicFileLogger b;
public SolutionBuilder() { }

[STAThread]
public string Compile(string solution_name,string logfile)
{
b = new BasicFileLogger();

b.Parameters = logfile;

b.register();

Microsoft.Build.BuildEngine.Engine.GlobalEngine.BuildEnabled = true;

Project p = new Project (Microsoft.Build.BuildEngine.Engine.GlobalEngine);

p.BuildEnabled = true;

p.Load(solution_name);

p.Build();

string output = b.getLogoutput();

output += “\n\t” + b.Warningcount + ” Warnings. “;
output += “\n\t” + b.Errorcount + ” Errors. “;

b.Shutdown();

return output;
}
}

The above class is used and compilation is initiated by the following code,

static void Main(string[] args)
{
SolutionBuilder builder = new SolutionBuilder();string output = builder.Compile(@”G:\Codes\Testing\Testing2\web1.sln”, @”G:\Codes\Testing\Testing2\build_log.txt”);

Console.WriteLine(output);

Console.ReadKey();

}

About the code:
Apart from these two codes, one more to be noticed is “BasicFileLogger” class which is used for the logging operations. This code is available in MSDN. You can also download from here: BasicFileLogger.cs

This code worked for the properly created solutions. You can refer the way my previous post, creating a blank solution. It is built and compiled using Microsoft Visual C# 2008. It works successfully in compiling a Visual Studio solutions.

I hope this would be helpful to build a system to build .NET projects.

My final year project is “Release management application”.  It makes the software release process easier for the software companies. The application is set to work for .NET and PHP projects.  One of the important module is that automated compilation process. This module will automatically compile the projects stored in VSS (Visual SourceSafe) to ensure no errors before making a release in that module. We won’t continue release process when there are errors.

MSBuild to compile .NET projects

The visual studio solution file usually will have an ASP.NET project and business layer and data access layer class libraries in majority of web based projects. People call it “3-tier application architecture”. Actually the solution file will be created in developer’s machine and saved in the VSS, the compilation process will occur at the release management application server which will be at a different location.

MSBuild failed for some solutions

It worked for me initially when we simply compiled a simple “Console application”, but with solution containing ASP.NET web application, it was unable to locate projects rightly and failed.

I found the flaw when I opened that solution file using notepad. ASP.NET applications use two paths, virtual and physical path, whereas the console application didn’t. The following lines give you an idea about them,

Debug.AspNetCompiler.VirtualPath = “/Release_management”

Debug.AspNetCompiler.PhysicalPath = “E:\tdb\Release_management\”

Debug.AspNetCompiler.TargetPath = “PrecompiledWeb\Release_management\”

Release.AspNetCompiler.VirtualPath = “/Release_management”

Release.AspNetCompiler.PhysicalPath = “E:\tdb\Release_management\”

Release.AspNetCompiler.TargetPath = “PrecompiledWeb\Release_management\”

The physical path is set statically as “E:\tdb\Release_management”, it will lead to mismatch and build process will ultimately fail when we compile in a different machine.

Starting with a blank solution is the key

The cause of this problem is that, the way we created the solution file when we started coding phase of the project. When we start coding, we should make a blank solution and then proceed adding projects further; this is the right way of creating a new visual studio solution.

When you click File -> New Project -> Other Project Types -> Visual Studio Solutions -> Blank Solution (under “Visual Studio installed templates”), you will get the following window.

I finally compiled ASP.NET applications easily with projects created using above method, thereby completed the automated compilation process which is crucial for my project.

You can find Sample C# code here to build .NET projects.

I am thankful to my guide Guru sir for his guidance.