Passing property group value from one MsBuild task to another

Question

How do I keep values defined in one build target alive in other targert? If PropertyGroup is not the write MsBuild entity I should use here, what is? ReleaseDir is printed ok in "Package" target, but is empty in "DoPackage"

<Target Name="Package">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <ReleasesDir>c:\tmp</ReleasesDirBase>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <Message Text="$(ReleaseDir)"/>
  <CallTarget Targets="DoPackage" Condition="!Exists('$(ReleaseDir)')"/>
</Target>

<!-- Do the acutal packaging -->
<Target Name="DoPackage">
  <Message Text="Creating package in '$(ReleaseDir)'"/>
  <Error Condition="'$(ReleaseDir)' == ''" Text="No ReleaseDir defined"/>
  <MakeDir Directories="$(ReleaseDir)"/>
  ...
</Target>

Answer 1

There is a well known issue with properties and the CallTarget task. You should use DependsOnTargets instead.

<Target Name="Package">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <ReleasesDir>c:\tmp</ReleasesDir>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <Message Text="$(ReleasesDir)"/>
</Target>

<Target Name="PrePackage" DependsOnTargets="Package">
  <CallTarget Targets="DoPackage" Condition="!Exists('$(ReleasesDir)')"/>
</Target>

<!-- Do the actual packaging -->
<Target Name="DoPackage" DependsOnTargets="Package">
  <Message Text="Creating package in '$(ReleasesDir)'"/>
  <Error Condition="'$(ReleasesDir)' == ''" Text="No ReleaseDir defined"/>
  <MakeDir Directories="$(ReleasesDir)"/>
</Target>