Should UWP Desktop Bridge app rebuild all the referenced project?

AI 6

We have an UWP app and recently we wanted to make it a Desktop Bridge app for other business needs.
So, our project configuration is like this:

Windows app packaging project  
    |  
    |------- UWP App Project  
    |------- Console Application (.NET Core)

When we build the project, at first it builds all the dependencies of UWP App project and the project itself.
Then, it builds the Console Application project.
Finally, during building the WAPP, we can see that it once again builds the UWP App project.

This seems strange. I am not sure if this is the intended behavior.
I guess, there might be some problems in our project/solution configuration which can be fixed to prevent building the UWP project twice.

This is a huge project and the build time is too much, which is frustrating.
I can' t share the full solution/project config file here as this is an enterprise app.
Please let me know the minimal information you need to debug the problem.

Tianyu Sun-MSFT 27,106 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2022-12-02T06:57:54.603+00:00

Hi @AI ,

In VS Output window(Tools > Options > Projects and Solutions > Build and Run > MSBuild project build output verbosity > Detailed/Diagnostic), can you find any message which indicates that VS considers that the project(s) is not up-to-date and needs to be rebuilt?

If you separately test to build the UWP project and the Console Application, will they be rebuilt?

I did a simple test on my side with the same project structure that you shared and I didn’t see the same behavior(if you test with a newly created Windows app packaging project, a UWP App project and a Console App project, will the same issue appear?).

Besides, are you using the latest version of Visual Studio 2022?
AI 6 Reputation points

2022-12-02T07:41:50.553+00:00
Thanks @Tianyu Sun-MSFT for your assistance.
If I try to build the projects individually, I can find that one of the projects always rebuilds.
So, I tried to investigate with Diagnostic verbosity for MSBuild output and found this type of error:

1>Project '---------' is not up to date. CopyLocal reference 'D:\workspace\----------------------.dll' is missing from output location.

Do you have any idea what is causing this or how can I find the root cause of this error?

In the meantime, is it possible for you to share the demo bridge project you tested - if it is only demo (not confidential)?
I want to cross-check some parameters with your project.
Sorry that I can't share my project with you because it is an commercial project, otherwise I would.

BTW, my VS version is not the latest. Currently, I am using VS 2022 version 17.3.0
AI 6 Reputation points

2022-12-02T11:07:47.697+00:00

I have another question,
In my mentioned project structure - which project try to build the actual binary?

I mean, in my mentioned diagram, "UWP App Project" and "Console Application" should be built first as they are referenced by WAPP.
But, in correctly configured solution, after both of them are finished building, does WAPP project builds any other project or it just packages the already built 2 executables?
AI 6 Reputation points

2022-12-02T11:09:58.587+00:00
I have another concern from the build output.
Following warning is shown always:

1>This project uses the 'runFullTrust' capability. You should use the Windows Application Packaging Project to produce the store and sideload packages. See https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=871803 for more information.

We added "runFullTrust" capability in both UWP app and the Installer (WAPP) app.
Is it correct? Otherwise we were getting build error.
Tianyu Sun-MSFT 27,106 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2022-12-06T07:29:11.823+00:00

Hi @AI ,

Following warning is shown always: … We added "runFullTrust" capability in both UWP app and the Installer (WAPP) app.

I’m not very familiar with WAPP app, see if this answer helps.

In my mentioned project structure - which project try to build the actual binary?

From MSBuild side, you may check the detailed output information and try to confirm this, and I would also recommend posting this question on MSIX Community for better help.

I created three projects(WAPP, Console and UWP) and added related references(Console and UWP project) to WAPP project for testing. I didn’t set other things, and I didn’t see the same situation that appeared on your side. So the MSBuild output log and the sample project which can reproduce this issue should be more important. I suspect it’s caused by specific codes/settings. The error message doesn’t provide enough information, is there any other error listed?

Regards,
Tianyu