Chapter 2. MSBuild Deep Dive, Part 1

In the previous chapter, we gave a brief overview of all the key elements in MSBuild. In this chapter and the next, we’ll examine most of those ideas in more detail. We’ll discuss properties, items, targets, tasks, transformations, and much more. After you have completed this chapter, you will have a solid grasp of how to create and modify MSBuild files to suit your needs. After the next chapter, we’ll explore ways to extend MSBuild as well as some advanced topics.

What is MSBuild? MSBuild is a general-purpose build system created by Microsoft and is used to build most Microsoft Visual Studio projects. MSBuild is shipped with the Microsoft .NET Framework. What this means is that you do not need to have Visual ...

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