R – the point of MSBUILD/NANT if you are just going to write procedural code? Isn’t Powershell better

msbuildpowershell

I am currently writing a deployment script in MSBUILD, and after downloading several extensions, I have found myself looking at the build file and thinking:

What was the point in doing this in MSBUILD?

This deployment script is completely procedural: stop website, delete folder, copy files, change permissions, start website, etc. There is no fancy dependency stuff which I assume is the natural domain of tools like MSBUILD, NANT and MAKE.

The only reason I can see to use MSBUILD is that it comes as standard, and its easy to put the extensions into your SVN so builds 'just work'.

The problem with it is I have to spend all this time working out how to do 'basic stuff' in MSBUILD (locating extensions, working out syntax) which would be trivial (although more verbose) in Powershell or even command line.

So to sum up:
Are procedural tasks suited to MSBUILD or are you better of using something like Powershell?

Best Answer

MSBuild is not a scripting language and shouldn't be used as such. It's almost unfortunate that MSBuild has such a rich extensibility and is flexible enough to be used for just about anything. Use the tools that are most appropriate to the task, if you find yourself spending too much time creating functionality that is too limited and too low quality compared to what you'd be able to create with other technology, you should switch.

Related Solutions

C# – How to get the current project directory from C# code when creating a custom MSBuild task

using System;
using System.IO;

// This will get the current WORKING directory (i.e. \bin\Debug)
string workingDirectory = Environment.CurrentDirectory;
// or: Directory.GetCurrentDirectory() gives the same result

// This will get the current PROJECT bin directory (ie ../bin/)
string projectDirectory = Directory.GetParent(workingDirectory).Parent.FullName;

// This will get the current PROJECT directory
string projectDirectory = Directory.GetParent(workingDirectory).Parent.Parent.FullName;

R – MSBuild vs. NAnt for a mixed 2005 and 2003 codebase

I think a hybrid approach might be best here as well. Just use your MSBuild scripts for the VS2005 projects, and build NAnt scripts for the older VS2003 projects. If you need a build script to manage both, use NAnt to control the process, along with the NAnt MSBuild task.

The downside here is that you will have to maintain some knowledge of two build systems, but my bet is that you'd be migrating to MSBuild over the long-term anyway.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

C# – How to get the current project directory from C# code when creating a custom MSBuild task

R – MSBuild vs. NAnt for a mixed 2005 and 2003 codebase

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