How to execute msbuild (csproj) targets based on input files being out of date

Question

I'm required to add a target to my csproj file which specifies input files as well as output files. Going by this link, I tried to define my target like so:

<ItemGroup>  
    <ins Include="A.txt" />  
    <outs Include="B.txt" />  
</ItemGroup>  
  
<Target Name="ExecuteTarget" Inputs="@(ins)" Outputs="@(outs)">  
    <Exec Command="echo hello world" />  
</Target>  

The intention here is to echo hello world in the Visual Studio output window every time the csproj is built in VS IDE if and only if the file A.txt is newer than B.txt OR B.txt does not exist. Both A.txt and B.txt exist in the same directory as the csproj file.

However, this does not seem to work as I'm not able to get the string "hello world" to print in the output window when I build this csproj. I'm using VS 16.11.5 along with .NET 5.0 enabled csproj (WinUI).

Any help/ideas/suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Hi, @Anurag Shekhar Sharma

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A!

You can try use AfterTargets.
This is my csproj file:

<Project DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">  
<PropertyGroup>  
  <AssemblyName>MSBuildSample</AssemblyName>  
  <OutputPath>Bin\</OutputPath>  
</PropertyGroup>  
  
<ItemGroup>  
  <Compile Include="helloworld.cs" />  
</ItemGroup>  
<ItemGroup>  
    <ins Include="a.txt" />  
    <outs Include="b.txt" />  
</ItemGroup>  
  
<Target Name="Build" Inputs="@(Compile)" Outputs="$(OutputPath)$(AssemblyName).exe">  
<MakeDir Directories="$(OutputPath)"      Condition="!Exists('$(OutputPath)')" />  
<Csc Sources="@(Compile)" OutputAssembly="$(OutputPath)$(AssemblyName).exe" />  
</Target>  
  
<Target Name="ExecuteTarget" Inputs="@(ins)" Outputs="@(outs)" AfterTargets="Build">  
    <Exec Command="echo Well Done" />  
</Target>  
  
</Project>  

Sincerely,
Peng
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Answer 2

Thanks @PengGe-MSFT . One follow-up query - how do I ensure that this targets always gets executed in VS IDE build regardless of FUTD (fast-up-to-date) being enabled or disabled?

Answer 3

No I meant incremental build.