Post build event not working with msbuild.exe

Question

I have a post build event which is writing to a text file. It is working fine when I am building the project from Visual Studio. But when I am using msbuild.exe the Post build event is not writing to the file. I am using msbuild with following parameters:

msbuild.exe TestProj.Web.csproj /p:Configuration=Release /p:OutDir=C:\TestProj\bin\ /p:WebProjectOutputDir=C:\TestProj\ /p:DebugSymbols=false /p:DebugType=None

The post build event looks like:

  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(BUILD_NUMBER)'==''">
    <COMPUTERNAME>None</COMPUTERNAME>
    <BRANCH>None</BRANCH>
    <BUILD_NUMBER>None</BUILD_NUMBER>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <Target Name="AfterBuild">
    <WriteLinesToFile File="$(ProjectDir)$(OutputPath)\VersionInfo.txt" Overwrite="true" Lines="Project&#xD;&#xA;Created On $(COMPUTERNAME)&#xD;&#xA;Branch is $(BRANCH)&#xD;&#xA;Version Is $(BUILD_NUMBER)" />
  </Target>

can you run your msbuild.exe with /verbosity:diagnostic to see if the logs provide you some details? or replace the writetofile task with a console output to confirm that it is being fired. — allen
– allen, Commented Feb 21, 2013 at 10:01
Yes The Task Performance Summary shows that WriteLinesToFile is fired. — Mohammad Nadeem
– Mohammad Nadeem, Commented Feb 21, 2013 at 10:07
In that case your post build event is fired. just that the writelinestofile is not working as expected? — allen
– allen, Commented Feb 21, 2013 at 10:11
Well it looks like that the WriteLineToFile is writing to the file, but file is not being copied back to the output folder. Or may be the WriteLinesToFiles is writing to a wrong file location. — Mohammad Nadeem
– Mohammad Nadeem, Commented Feb 21, 2013 at 10:15

Mohammad Nadeem · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-21 11:01:10Z

4

I have got it fixed by changing the Task to

<WriteLinesToFile File="$(OutDir)\VersionInfo.txt" ...... />

answered Feb 21, 2013 at 11:01

Mohammad Nadeem

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2 Comments

granadaCoder Over a year ago

granadaCoder Over a year ago

When in doubt, you can convert a relative path (or a value in a variable) to an absolute path, and then show it. It'll show the full path for where its trying to write.

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