How to: Select the Files to Build
When you build a project that contains several files, you can list each file separately in the project file, or you can use wildcards to include all the files in one directory or a nested set of directories.
Specifying Inputs
Items represent the inputs for a build. For more information on items, see MSBuild Items.
To include files for a build, they must be included in an item list in the MSBuild project file. Multiple files can be added to item lists by either including the files individually or using wildcards to include many files at once.
To declare items individually
Use the Include attributes similar to following:
<CSFile Include="form1.cs"/>
– or –
<VBFile Include="form1.vb"/>
Poznámka
If items in an item collectio are not in the same directory as the project file, you must specify the full or relative path to the item. For example: Include="..\..\form2.cs".
To declare multiple items
Use the Include attributes similar to following:
<CSFile Include="form1.cs;form2.cs"/>
– or –
<VBFile Include="form1.vb;form2.vb"/>
Specifying Inputs with Wildcards
You can also use wildcards to recursively include all files or only specific files from subdirectories as inputs for a build. For more information about wildcards, see MSBuild Items
The following examples are based on a project that contains graphics files in the following directories and subdirectories, with the project file located in the Project directory:
Project\Images\BestJpgs
Project\Images\ImgJpgs
Project\Images\ImgJpgs\Img1
To include all .jpg files in the Images directory and subdirectories
Use the following Include attribute:
Include="Images\\**\*.jpg"
To include all .jpg files starting with "img"
Use the following Include attribute:
Include="Images\**\img*.jpg"
To include all files in directories with names ending in "jpgs"
Use one of the following Include attributes:
Include="Images\**\*jpgs\*.*"
– or –
Include="Images\**\*jpgs\*"
Passing Items to a Task
In a project file, you can use the @() notation in tasks to specify an entire item list as the input for a build. You can use this notation whether you list all files separately or use wildcards.
To use all Visual C# or Visual Basic files as inputs
Use the Include attributes similar to the following:
<CSC Sources="@(CSFile)">...</CSC>
– or –
<VBC Sources="@(VBFile)">...</VBC>
Poznámka
You must use wildcards with items to specifiy the inputs for a build; you cannot specify the inputs using the Sources attribute in MSBuild tasks such as Csc or Vbc. The following example is not valid in a project file:
<CSC Sources="*.cs">...</CSC>
Example
The following code example shows a project that includes all of the input files separately.
<Project DefaultTargets="Compile"
xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" >
<PropertyGroup>
<Builtdir>built</Builtdir>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<CSFile Include="Form1.cs"/>
<CSFile Include="AssemblyInfo.cs"/>
<Reference Include="System.dll"/>
<Reference Include="System.Data.dll"/>
<Reference Include="System.Drawing.dll"/>
<Reference Include="System.Windows.Forms.dll"/>
<Reference Include="System.XML.dll"/>
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="PreBuild">
<Exec Command="if not exist $(builtdir) md $(builtdir)"/>
</Target>
<Target Name="Compile" DependsOnTargets="PreBuild">
<Csc Sources="@(CSFile)"
References="@(Reference)"
OutputAssembly="$(builtdir)\$(MSBuildProjectName).exe"
TargetType="exe" />
</Target>
</Project>
The following code example uses a wildcard to include all the .cs files.
<Project DefaultTargets="Compile"
xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" >
<PropertyGroup>
<builtdir>built</builtdir>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<CSFile Include="*.cs"/>
<Reference Include="System.dll"/>
<Reference Include="System.Data.dll"/>
<Reference Include="System.Drawing.dll"/>
<Reference Include="System.Windows.Forms.dll"/>
<Reference Include="System.XML.dll"/>
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="PreBuild">
<Exec Command="if not exist $(builtdir) md $(builtdir)"/>
</Target>
<Target Name="Compile" DependsOnTargets="PreBuild">
<Csc Sources="@(CSFile)"
References="@(Reference)"
OutputAssembly="$(builtdir)\$(MSBuildProjectName).exe"
TargetType="exe" />
</Target>
</Project>
See Also
Tasks
How to: Exclude Files from the Build