I'm working on a project that requires a property named $(LibPath) to be set. This value should be set by a plugin, however it is saved in the projectname.vcxproj.user file. This is a problem for when someone has this file removed (through git clean for example) or someone new starting on the project.
In order to have a default value, I've created a Property Sheet which is impoted in the project file at the very top.
<PropertyGroup Label="UserMacros">
<LibPath Condition="'$(LibPath)' == ''">PathToLib</LibPath>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<BuildMacro Include="LibPath">
<Value>$(LibPath)</Value>
</BuildMacro>
</ItemGroup>
It now works for everyone whose path matches the default. When it doesn't, they can change it from within VS by going to Property Manager -> Properties Sheet file -> User Macros.
Now the remaining issue is that when this path doesn't match and needs to be changed, the value inside the Propety Sheet is changed too.
So my question: Is there a way to define a property that can be edited from within VS, and that is then saved in the vcxproj.user file (or any other user-specific file which overrides the default value)?
Is there a way to define a property that can be edited from within VS that is saved in the vcxproj.user file?
AFAIK, I am afraid the reason why you can not edit the defined property in Visual Studio when that path does not match is that the vcxproj.user file is imported after than the Propety Sheet.
If we create a property sheet, we will get following import file TestSheet.props in the project file:
<ImportGroup Label="PropertySheets" Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|Win32'">
<Import Project="$(UserRootDir)\Microsoft.Cpp.$(Platform).user.props" Condition="exists('$(UserRootDir)\Microsoft.Cpp.$(Platform).user.props')" Label="LocalAppDataPlatform" />
<Import Project="TestSheet.props" />
</ImportGroup>
The vcxproj.user file is imported by following Import：
<Import Project="$(VCTargetsPath)\Microsoft.Cpp.targets" />
This file is under the TestSheet.props in the project file:
In this case, MSBuild will use the value of $(LibPath) in the vcxproj.user file replace the value in the propety sheet. So it only works for everyone whose path matches the default, if you change the value by going to Property Manager -> Properties Sheet file -> User Macros, the value will be overwrite by the next import file Microsoft.Cpp.targets.
To resolve this issue, you can comment all the <Import Project="TestSheet.props" />lines in the project file, and add this line after import Microsoft.Cpp.targets file:
<Import Project="$(VCTargetsPath)\Microsoft.Cpp.targets" />
<Import Project="TestSheet.props" />
With this setting, if you change the value in the User Macros, this value will overwrite the value in the vcxproj.user file.
I want to allow in my project template (c++) to add files with specific extension ".myext" and in msbuild I'll find the suitable header and ".cpp" files and add them accordingly to the and to but I need also to add these files to the "Source Files" filter after adding the items with the ".myext" extension.
this is how I find the files and add them accordingly :
<Target Name="FilterMyFiles">
<ItemGroup>
<Filtered Include="#(None)" Condition="'%(Extension)' == '.myext'" />
<SourceFiles Include="#(Filtered->'%(rootdir)%(directory)%(filename)_source.cpp')" />
<HeaderFiles Include="#(Filtered->'%(rootdir)%(directory)%(filename)_header.h')" />
</ItemGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<ClInclude Include="%(HeaderFiles.Identity)" Condition="Exists('%(HeaderFiles.Identity)')" />
<ClCompile Include="%(SourceFiles.Identity)" Condition="Exists('%(SourceFiles.Identity)')" />
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
I tried to add some changes to the msbuild file (".vcxproj") and to the filter file (".vcxproj.filter") but nothing helped.
I have an msbuild script I wrote to compile Google Protocol Buffers files:
<ItemGroup>
<ProtocolBuffer Include="Whitelist.proto" />
<ProtocolBuffer Include="Whitelist2.proto" />
</ItemGroup>
<ItemDefinitionGroup>
<ProtocolBuffer>
<ProtoPath>$(ProjectDir)</ProtoPath>
</ProtocolBuffer>
</ItemDefinitionGroup>
<PropertyGroup>
<ProtoC>$([System.IO.Path]::GetFullPath($(ProjectDir)..\ThirdParty\protobuf-2.4.1\protoc.exe))</ProtoC>
<ProtoOutPath>$(IntDir)CompiledProtocolBuffers</ProtoOutPath>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="CompileProtocolBuffers"
BeforeTargets="ClCompile"
Inputs="#(ProtocolBuffer)"
Outputs="#(ProtocolBuffer->'$(ProtoOutPath)\%(FileName).pb.cc');#(ProtocolBuffer->'$(ProtoOutPath)\%(FileName).pb.h')">
<MakeDir Directories="$(ProtoOutPath)" />
<Exec
Command=""$(ProtoC)" --proto_path="$([System.IO.Path]::GetDirectoryName(%(ProtocolBuffer.ProtoPath)))" --cpp_out="$(ProtoOutPath)" "%(ProtocolBuffer.FullPath)" --error_format=msvs"
/>
<ItemGroup>
<ClInclude Include="$(ProtoOutPath)\%(ProtocolBuffer.FileName).pb.h" />
<ClCompile Include="$(ProtoOutPath)\%(ProtocolBuffer.FileName).pb.cc">
<AdditionalIncludeDirectories>$(MSBuildThisDirectory)..\ThirdParty\protobuf-2.4.1\src</AdditionalIncludeDirectories>
<PrecompiledHeader></PrecompiledHeader>
<DisableSpecificWarnings>4244;4276;4018;4355;4800;4251;4996;4146;4305</DisableSpecificWarnings>
<PreprocessorDefinitions>GOOGLE_PROTOBUF_NO_RTTI</PreprocessorDefinitions>
<WarningLevel>Level3</WarningLevel>
</ClCompile>
</ItemGroup>
</Target>
This compiles the protocol buffers files perfectly, and adds them to the compiler's inputs (yay!). However, my other source files that want to include the .pb.h files need to know where these files got generated -- that generation location needs to be put on the include path.
Therefore, if and only if the user has included a <ProtocolBuffer item somewhere in their script, I want to add the generation location (in this case $(ProtoOutPath) to ClCompile's <AdditionalIncludeDirectories>.
Is that possible or do I need to make .cpp files that want to use these generated bits jump through hoops?
Read your question and thought "can't be that hard". Man, was I wrong. First I thought just putting a condition on it, but of course one can't use ItemGroups in toplevel conditions because of evaluation order. Then I figured it's also not possible to put an ItemDefinitionGroup in a target (cause there one can use conditions) and modify it there. Then I bonked my head on the keyboard a couple of times after I realized that's probably why you asked the question :] (btw you know including a nonexisting directory is not really a problem since the compiler will happily ignore it?)
Maybe there's a simpler solution, but lastly I figured: if nothing works, my favourite msbuild toy aka CodeTaskFactory must be able to fix it. It does (I hope, didn't fully test the result), but it's not straightforward at all. Here you go, make sure to invoke the Test target somewhere before the C++ build starts.
<!--Uncomment the below to define some ProtocolBuffers-->
<!--<ItemGroup>
<ProtocolBuffer Include="Whitelist.proto" />
<ProtocolBuffer Include="Whitelist2.proto" />
</ItemGroup>-->
<!--Suppose these are your default include files defined in your C++ project-->
<ItemDefinitionGroup Label="DefaultIncludes">
<ClCompile>
<AdditionalIncludeDirectories>/path/to/x;/path/to/y</AdditionalIncludeDirectories>
</ClCompile>
</ItemDefinitionGroup>
<!--Include at least one item so we can play with it-->
<ItemGroup>
<ClCompile Include="iamaninclude"/>
</ItemGroup>
<!--Use code to append to AdditionalIncludeDirectories-->
<UsingTask TaskName="AppendMetadata" TaskFactory="CodeTaskFactory"
AssemblyFile="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.Build.Tasks.v4.0.dll">
<ParameterGroup>
<Append ParameterType="System.String" Required="true"/>
<ItemList ParameterType="Microsoft.Build.Framework.ITaskItem[]" Required="true"/>
<OutputItemList ParameterType="Microsoft.Build.Framework.ITaskItem[]" Output="true" />
</ParameterGroup>
<Task>
<Code>
<![CDATA[
const string dirz = "AdditionalIncludeDirectories";
foreach( var item in ItemList )
{
var cur = item.GetMetadata( dirz );
item.SetMetadata( dirz, cur + ";" + Append );
}
OutputItemList = ItemList;
]]>
</Code>
</Task>
</UsingTask>
<!--Main target-->
<Target Name="Test">
<!--stage 1: copy the itemgroup, then clear it:
if an Output TaskParameter is an Itemgroup, apparently the content
gets appended to the group instead of replacing it.
Found no documentation about this whatsoever though???-->
<ItemGroup Condition="#(ProtocolBuffer) != ''">
<ClCompileCopy Include="#(ClCompile)"/>
<ClCompile Remove="#(ClCompile)"/>
</ItemGroup>
<!--stage 2: append 'ProtoBufIncludeDir' to AdditionalIncludeDirectories,
and append the result to the origiginal again-->
<AppendMetadata ItemList="#(ClCompileCopy)" Append="ProtoBufIncludeDir" Condition="#(ProtocolBuffer) != ''">
<Output ItemName="ClCompile" TaskParameter="OutputItemList"/>
</AppendMetadata>
<!--stage 3: use modified itemgroup-->
<Message Text="#(ClCompile->'%(Identity): %(AdditionalIncludeDirectories)')"/>
</Target>
This prints
iamaninclude: /path/to/x;/path/to/y
unless the ProtocolBuffer is not empty in which case it prints
iamaninclude: /path/to/x;/path/to/y;ProtoBufIncludeDir
I'm trying to integrate a custom build tool in VS2010 that generates a .h-file from a source file. I've created a .xml, .targets and .props for the step. The XML is mostly copy-pasted from the MASM-file and ends with:
<ItemType Name="FOO" DisplayName="Foo compiler" />
<FileExtension Name="*.foo" ContentType="FOO" />
<ContentType Name="FOO" DisplayName="Foo compiler" ItemType="FOO" />
This maps all my .foo files to the Foo compiler that's defined in the .props:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<ItemGroup>
<PropertyPageSchema Include="$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)$(MSBuildThisFileName).xml" />
<AvailableItemName Include="FOO">
<Targets>FooCompile</Targets>
</AvailableItemName>
</ItemGroup>
<UsingTask TaskName="FOO" TaskFactory="XamlTaskFactory" AssemblyName="Microsoft.Build.Tasks.v4.0">
<Task>$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)$(MSBuildThisFileName).xml</Task>
</UsingTask>
<Target Name="FooCompile" BeforeTargets="$(FOOBeforeTargets)" AfterTargets="$(FOOAfterTargets)" Condition="'#(FOO)' != ''" Outputs="%(FOO.Outputs)" Inputs="%(FOO.Identity);%(FOO.AdditionalDependencies);$(MSBuildProjectFile)" DependsOnTargets="_SelectedFiles">
<Message Importance="High" Text="#(FOO)" />
<FOO Condition="'#(FOO)' != '' and '%(FOO.ExcludedFromBuild)' != 'true'"
CommandLineTemplate="%(FOO.CommandLineTemplate)"
OutputFileName="%(FOO.OutputFileName)"
Inputs="%(FOO.Identity)" />
</Target>
</Project>
When I compile my project it successfully identifies and compiles my foo files:
1>FooCompile:
1> apa.foo
1>FooCompile:
1> banan.foo
1>ClCompile:
1> test.cpp
1> main.cpp
My question is why does it print "FooCompile:" once for each file while the ClCompile doesn't? Is there any way to change this?
If I change a cpp file and build, I'll also get this output once for each file, which I want to avoid:
1>FooCompile:
1>Skipping target "FooCompile" because all output files are up-to-date with respect to the input files.
1>FooCompile:
1>Skipping target "FooCompile" because all output files are up-to-date with respect to the input files.
The FooCompile target is using "target batching" which causes the target to iterate once for each item in the array specified for the Outputs attribute, %(Foo). The ClCompile target on the other hand operates using the entire item array #(ClCompile).
You can alter the verbosity of the logger to avoid the messages, specify /v:minimal, but of course you may be filtering out other information as well.
I decided to use log4net as a logger for a new webservice project. Everything is working fine, but I get a lot of messages like the one below, for every log4net tag I am using in my web.config:
Could not find schema information for
the element 'log4net'...
Below are the relevant parts of my web.config:
<configSections>
<section name="log4net"
type="log4net.Config.Log4NetConfigurationSectionHandler, log4net" />
</configSections>
<log4net>
<appender name="RollingFileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender">
<file value="C:\log.txt" />
<appendToFile value="true" />
<rollingStyle value="Size" />
<maxSizeRollBackups value="10" />
<maximumFileSize value="100KB" />
<staticLogFileName value="true" />
<layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
<conversionPattern value="%date [%thread] %-5level: %message%newline" />
</layout>
</appender>
<logger name="TIMServerLog">
<level value="DEBUG" />
<appender-ref ref="RollingFileAppender" />
</logger>
</log4net>
Solved:
Copy every log4net specific tag to a separate xml-file. Make sure to use .xml as file extension.
Add the following line to AssemblyInfo.cs:
[assembly: log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator(ConfigFile = "xmlFile.xml", Watch = true)]
nemo added:
Just a word of warning to anyone
follow the advice of the answers in
this thread. There is a possible
security risk by having the log4net
configuration in an xml off the root
of the web service, as it will be
accessible to anyone by default. Just
be advised if your configuration
contains sensitive data, you may want
to put it else where.
#wcm: I tried using a separate file. I added the following line to AssemblyInfo.cs
[assembly: log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator(ConfigFile = "log4net.config", Watch = true)]
and put everything dealing with log4net in that file, but I still get the same messages.
You can bind in a schema to the log4net element. There are a few floating around, most do not fully provide for the various options available. I created the following xsd to provide as much verification as possible:
http://csharptest.net/downloads/schema/log4net.xsd
You can bind it into the xml easily by modifying the log4net element:
<log4net
xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="http://csharptest.net/downloads/schema/log4net.xsd"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
I had a different take, and needed the following syntax:
[assembly: log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator(ConfigFile = "log4net.xml", Watch = true)]
which differs from xsl's last post, but made a difference for me. Check out this blog post, it helped me out.
Just a word of warning to anyone follow the advice of the answers in this thread. There is a possible security risk by having the log4net configuration in an xml off the root of the web service, as it will be accessible to anyone by default. Just be advised if your configuration contains sensitive data, you may want to put it else where.
I believe you are seeing the message because Visual Studio doesn't know how to validate the log4net section of the config file. You should be able to fix this by copying the log4net XSD into C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\XML\Schemas (or wherever your Visual Studio is installed). As an added bonus you should now get intellisense support for log4net
In Roger's answer, where he provided a schema, this worked very well for me except where a commenter mentioned
This XSD is complaining about the use of custom appenders. It only allows for an appender from the default set (defined as an enum) instead of simply making this a string field
I modified the original schema which had a xs:simpletype named log4netAppenderTypes and removed the enumerations. I instead restricted it to a basic .NET typing pattern (I say basic because it just supports typename only, or typename, assembly -- however someone can extend it.
Simply replace the log4netAppenderTypes definition with the following in the XSD:
<xs:simpleType name="log4netAppenderTypes">
<xs:restriction base="xs:string">
<xs:pattern value="[A-Za-z_]\w*(\.[A-Za-z_]\w*)+(\s*,\s*[A-Za-z_]\w*(\.[A-Za-z_]\w*)+)?"/>
</xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>
I'm passing this back on to the original author if he wants to include it in his official version. Until then you'd have to download and modify the xsd and reference it in a relative manner, for example:
<log4net
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="../../../Dependencies/log4net/log4net.xsd">
<!-- ... -->
</log4net>
Actually you don't need to stick to the .xml extension. You can specify any other extension in the ConfigFileExtension attribute:
[assembly: log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator(ConfigFile = "log4net.config", ConfigFileExtension=".config", Watch = true)]
#steve_mtl: Changing the file extensions from .config to .xml solved the problem. Thank you.
#Wheelie: I couldn't try your suggestion, because I needed a solution which works with an unmodified Visual Studio installation.
To sum it up, here is how to solve the problem:
Copy every log4net specific tag to a separate xml-file. Make sure to use .xml as file extension.
Add the following line to AssemblyInfo.cs:
[assembly: log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator(ConfigFile = "xmlFile.xml", Watch = true)]
For VS2008 just add the log4net.xsd file to your project; VS looks in the project folder as well as the installation directory that Wheelie mentioned.
Also, using a .config extension instead of .xml avoids the security issue since IIS doesn't serve *.config files by default.
Have you tried using a separate log4net.config file?
I got a test asp project to build by puting the xsd file in the visual studio schemas folder as described above (for me it is C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\XML\Schemas) and then making my web.config look like this:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!--
Note: As an alternative to hand editing this file you can use the
web admin tool to configure settings for your application. Use
the Website->Asp.Net Configuration option in Visual Studio.
A full list of settings and comments can be found in
machine.config.comments usually located in
\Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\v2.x\Config
-->
<configuration>
<configSections>
<section name="log4net"
type="log4net.Config.Log4NetConfigurationSectionHandler, log4net"/>
</configSections>
<appSettings>
</appSettings>
<connectionStrings>
</connectionStrings>
<system.web>
<trace enabled="true" pageOutput="true" />
<!--
Set compilation debug="true" to insert debugging
symbols into the compiled page. Because this
affects performance, set this value to true only
during development.
-->
<compilation debug="true" />
<!--
The <authentication> section enables configuration
of the security authentication mode used by
ASP.NET to identify an incoming user.
-->
<authentication mode="Windows" />
<customErrors mode="Off"/>
<!--
<customErrors mode="Off"/>
The <customErrors> section enables configuration
of what to do if/when an unhandled error occurs
during the execution of a request. Specifically,
it enables developers to configure html error pages
to be displayed in place of a error stack trace.
<customErrors mode="On" defaultRedirect="GenericErrorPage.htm">
<error statusCode="403" redirect="NoAccess.htm" />
<error statusCode="404" redirect="FileNotFound.htm" />
</customErrors>
-->
</system.web>
<log4net xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="http://csharptest.net/downloads/schema/log4net.xsd" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<appender name="LogFileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.FileAppender">
<!-- Please make shure the ..\\Logs directory exists! -->
<param name="File" value="Logs\\Log4Net.log"/>
<!--<param name="AppendToFile" value="true"/>-->
<layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
<param name="ConversionPattern" value="%d [%t] %-5p %c %m%n"/>
</layout>
</appender>
<appender name="SmtpAppender" type="log4net.Appender.SmtpAppender">
<to value="" />
<from value="" />
<subject value="" />
<smtpHost value="" />
<bufferSize value="512" />
<lossy value="true" />
<evaluator type="log4net.Core.LevelEvaluator">
<threshold value="WARN"/>
</evaluator>
<layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
<conversionPattern value="%newline%date [%thread] %-5level %logger [%property] - %message%newline%newline%newline" />
</layout>
</appender>
<logger name="File">
<level value="ALL" />
<appender-ref ref="LogFileAppender" />
</logger>
<logger name="EmailLog">
<level value="ALL" />
<appender-ref ref="SmtpAppender" />
</logger>
</log4net>
</configuration>
Without modifying your Visual Studio installation, and to take into account proper versioning/etc. amongst the rest of your team, add the .xsd file to your solution (as a 'Solution Item'), or if you only want it for a particular project, just embed it there.
I noticed it a bit late, but if you look into the examples log4net furnishes you can see them put all of the configuration data into an app.config, with one difference, the registration of configsection:
<!-- Register a section handler for the log4net section -->
<configSections>
<section name="log4net" type="System.Configuration.IgnoreSectionHandler" />
</configSections>
Could the definition it as type "System.Configuration.IgnoreSectionHandler" be the reason Visual Studio does not show any warning/error messages on the log4net stuff?
I followed Kit's answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/11780781/6139051 and it didn't worked for AppenderType values like "log4net.Appender.TraceAppender, log4net". The log4net.dll assembly has the AssemblyTitle of "log4net", i.e. the assembly name does not have a dot inside, that was why the regex in Kit's answer didn't work. I has to add the question mark after the third parenthetical group in the regexp, and after that it worked flawlessly.
The modified regex looks like the following:
<xs:pattern value="[A-Za-z_]\w*(\.[A-Za-z_]\w*)+(\s*,\s*[A-Za-z_]\w*(\.[A-Za-z_]\w*)?+)?"/>