MSBuild Sidekick Walkthroughs

Walkthrough 2: Building and using build logs

In this walkthrough, you will run build on existing build project and review logs of the build process.

In the walkthrough, the project created in Creating project "from scratch" will be used. To review the project build logic and logs it is advisable also to create a temprorary folder containing files with object (*.obj) or precompiled header (*.pch) extensions.

Basic knowledge of MSBuild schema and build logic is assumed for this walkthrough.

Step1 : Load saved project (part 1)
Click File->Open menu or Standard toolbar Open Project button and select the existing project
Step2 : Specify external parameters for the build
Click Build->Build Options menu or Build toolbar Build Options button
Switch to Project properties page by selecting Project properties shortcut on the left pane of Build Options dialog Add new record to table: Name = "Property1", Value = "some/other/path"
Step3 : Build project
Click Build->Build Project menu or Build toolbar Build Project button
Step4 : Review logs (errors, detailed, console)
Build Console log
Open log window if not (View->Log window menu or View toolbar Show Log window button)
Switch to Build Console log by choosing corresponding item from log window combobox
Log contains all build information provided by msbuild engine
Build Errors/Warning log
Switch to Build Errors/Warnings by choosing corresponding item from log window combobox If all previous steps were done correctly this log should be empty
If there were errors/warning during build log contains information about them (filename, line, column and message if provided by msbuild engine). Fix problem using provided information
Build Detailed Log
Switch to Build Detailed log by choosing corresponding item from log window combobox Log contains elements build order information and status of build operation Review elements with failed status: Choose "Failed" from Status combobox dropdown list located on the window toolbar
If list is not empty perform jump to element in project tree by double-clicking on it. Note: Application will perform jump to first occurrence of element with same name and type in project tree

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