Gathering outputs from an MSBuild exec task

Question

I have a batch script that I want to call from an MSBuild project, and the documentation says I can't use output from the batch (either console / environment variables) in the MSBuild project.

Is there a workaround?

Answer 1

You can redirect the output of the command to a file using "> output.txt" and read that into a variable.

<PropertyGroup>
   <OutputFile>$(DropLocation)\$(BuildNumber)\Output.txt</OutputFile>
</PropertyGroup>
<Exec Command="dir > &quot;$(OutputFile)&quot;" />
<ReadLinesFromFile File="$(OutputFile)">
   <Output TaskParameter="Lines" ItemName="OutputLines"/>
</ReadLinesFromFile>
<Message Text="@(OutputLines->'%(Identity)', '%0a%0d')" />