Inside the Microsoft® Build Engine: Using MSBuild and Team Foundation Build

Chapter 3. MSBuild Deep Dive, Part 2

In the previous chapter, we discussed a variety of topics, including static properties, static items, and transformations. In this chapter, we will extend that discussion and conclude with a foundation that is required to successfully use MSBuild. We will start by discussing dynamic properties and items. We will also see how properties and items are evaluated as well as how you can extend your own build process. Following this chapter, we will discuss custom tasks, custom loggers, and other advanced topics.

Dynamic Properties and Items

Many times when building software, static items and properties, those defined outside of targets, will do the job fine. For example, most of the time you know what files you are ...