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I simply wondered whether people thought it was worth learning to use the MSBuild syntax in order to customise the build process for a .net project, or whether it is really not worth it given the ease with which one can build a project using visual studio.
I am thinking in terms of nightly builds, etc., but then couldn't I use a scheduled event which uses the command-line build option built into VS? Are there superior tools out there?
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The Microsoft Build Engine is a platform for building applications. This engine, which is also known as MSBuild, provides an XML schema for a project file that controls how the build platform processes and builds software. Visual Studio uses MSBuild, but MSBuild doesn't depend on Visual Studio.
To install MSBuild on a system that doesn't have Visual Studio, go to Build Tools for Visual Studio 2019, or install the . NET SDK. If you have Visual Studio, then you already have MSBuild installed. With Visual Studio 2022, it's installed under the Visual Studio installation folder.
Visual Studio determines the build order and calls into MSBuild separately (as needed), all completely under Visual Studio's control. Another difference arises when MSBuild is invoked with a solution file, MSBuild parses the solution file, creates a standard XML input file, evaluates it, and executes it as a project.
Microsoft Build Engine, better known as MSBuild, is a free and open-source build tool set for managed code as well as native C++ code and was part of . NET Framework.
@kronoz
I would say YES.
The neat thing about MSBuild is that if you modify your csproj files to include custom build steps then those steps will happen from within VS or from MSBuild. Also if you ever have a build server you will not need to install full VS, only the SDK to build your projects.
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MSBuild is absolutely worth the time to learn. After the initial learning curve (which might be very steep actually) it becomes fairly easy to do the most common build automation steps.
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