Using MSBuild, how do I set a property to the contents of a file?

Question

I have a file that I set using PowerShell that contains the version number of my build. I need to get this within MSBuild so I can act on it within my build script. It seems simple enough; I just want to take the contents of the file and set a property to that value.

I thought maybe doing an Exec task, doing a "more" on my file, and capturing standard out would do the trick, but I can't seem to get this to work. It appears that others have had problems with stdout and MSBuild as well. Here is what I have tried:

<Exec Command="more $(BuildDirectory)\version.txt" Outputs="stdout">
    <Output TaskParameter="Outputs" ItemName="BuildNumber" />
</Exec>

score 9 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 27 '20 at 02:47

9

The ReadLinesFromFile task is what you want

<ReadLinesFromFile File="Version.Txt">
    <Output TaskParameter="Lines" ItemName="BuildNumber"/>
</ReadLinesFromFile>

that said, another way to do what your question implies is to store you build num info in an xml file, with a MSBuild schema

something like

<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
 <PropertyGroup>
   <BuildNumber>10</BuildNumber>
   <RevNumber>5</RevNumber>
 </PropertyGroup>
</Project>

and then import the version.properties file into your main msbuild file

edited Oct 27 '20 at 02:47

Kepboy

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answered Jul 02 '09 at 17:03

Scott Weinstein

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1

Thanks! I just couldn't find that task. FYI, there is a slight bug in your first code snippet. It is ItemName instead of Item: Then I can access the output using "@(BuildNumber)". – Kirk Liemohn Jul 02 '09 at 17:17
Ack - now I need to change from a list item (@) to a property ($). Any tips on this? – Kirk Liemohn Jul 02 '09 at 17:24
1

I think I figured it out: – Kirk Liemohn Jul 02 '09 at 17:28
Use the `PropertyName` attribute in the `Output` element to directly create a property in the `ReadLinesFromFile` task. – tm1 Jul 28 '20 at 09:12

Using MSBuild, how do I set a property to the contents of a file?

1 Answers1