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MS Build project file: properties

The values of properties are referenced by $(property-name). Property names are not case sensitive ($(foo) is considered the same as $(FOO)`).

In an MS Build project file, properties can be defiened or referenced in various ways:

<PropertyGroup> tag
reserved properties
environment variables
the -property command line option

The following simple project file tries to demonstrate these possibilities:

<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">

   <PropertyGroup>
   <!-- «Hard coded» property-values: -->
       <Property-one>42</Property-one>
       <Property-two>Hello world</Property-two>

   <!-- It's possible to assign C# expressions to properties: -->
       <time>$([System.DateTime]::Now.ToString("HH:mm:ss"))</time>
   </PropertyGroup>

   <Target Name="Print some property-possibilites">

   <!-- Reserved property -->
       <Message Text=" MSBuildBinPath = $(MSBuildBinPath)"                                />

   <!-- Show «hard coded values» -->
       <Message Text=" Property-one   = $(Property-one)"                                  />
       <Message Text=" Property-two   = $(Property-two)"                                  />

   <!-- Registry value. The at-sign separates registry-key from value -->
       <Message Text=" TEMP           = $(registry:HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Environment@TEMP)"   />

   <!-- Use dynamic expressions: -->
       <Message Text=" time           = $(time)"                                          />
       <Message Text=" date           = $([System.DateTime]::Now.ToString('yyyy-MM-dd'))" />

   </Target>

</Project>

Github repository about-MSBuild, path: /project-files/properties/various-ways.csproj

In order to test the -property command line option, the file might be invoked like so:

P:\ath\to\project\file:> msbuild -property:Property-two=foo various-ways.csproj

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