Import targets during build process with MSBuild - c++

Question

I am using vcpkg as package manager with Visual Studio C++ project. I have created initial target to basically set up vcpkg (clone vcpkg repo and download vcpkg.exe):
<Target Name="EnsureVcpkgBuild" BeforeTargets="PrepareForBuild">
<Exec Command="git clone $(VcpkgRepo).git ..\packages\vcpkg" Condition="!Exists('..\packages\vcpkg\.git')" ContinueOnError="true" />
<Exec Command="git --git-dir=..\packages\vcpkg\.git --work-tree=..\packages\vcpkg pull --ff-only" Condition="Exists('..\packages\vcpkg\.git')" ContinueOnError="true" />
<Exec Command="..\packages\vcpkg\bootstrap-vcpkg.bat" Condition="!Exists('..\packages\vcpkg\vcpkg.exe')" ContinueOnError="true" />
<PropertyGroup>
<ErrorText>This project uses vcpkg that is missing on this computer. Manually download from $(VcpkgRepo) and place the contents in {0}. Or install git and add it to your path, for more information see https://git-scm.com. The missing file is {1}.</ErrorText>
</PropertyGroup>
<Error Condition="!Exists('..\packages\vcpkg\vcpkg.exe')" Text="$([System.String]::Format('$(ErrorText)', '..\packages\vcpkg\', '..\packages\vcpkg\vcpkg.exe'))" />
<Error Condition="!Exists('..\packages\vcpkg\scripts\buildsystems\msbuild\vcpkg.targets')" Text="$([System.String]::Format('$(ErrorText)', '..\packages\vcpkg\', '..\packages\vcpkg\scripts\buildsystems\msbuild\vcpkg.targets'))" />
</Target>
In my project I am importing the vcpkg targets file:
<ImportGroup>
<Import Project="..\packages\vcpkg\scripts\buildsystems\msbuild\vcpkg.targets" Condition="Exists('..\packages\vcpkg\scripts\buildsystems\msbuild\vcpkg.targets')" />
</ImportGroup>
This setup ensures build works smoothly in Visual Studio without any additional work. However when working with CI/CD pipeline I have to first invoke EnsureVcpkgBuild first before trying to build the project. Can I set up this project in such way that I don't have to invoke EnsureVcpkgBuild and initiating build automatically sets up vcpkg and imports vcpkg.targets?

Answer 1

You can directly use nuget package to realize them all automatically.
What I think is that you wrote a target to download the reop project vcpkg into the local and then manually import the core target from the dowloadeded vcpkg project.
It could be done easily on the local area but on the cl pipeline, it is not suitable.
So use nuget could be more easier.
Just install the nuget package Vcpkg.Nuget into your c++ project.
All the import targets are in the nuget package and it could be imported into your project automatically with the installation of nuget.
When you are on the CI/CD pipeline, just add a nuget restore task to restore the nuget packages on the pipeline.