SolutionDir set to *Undefined* in post-build xcopy event

msbuild xcopy
Justin picture Justin · Jul 1, 2010 · Viewed 12.7k times · Source

I have a project that has a post-build event that xcopies a DLLs to a certain directory:

xcopy "$(TargetDir)$(TargetName).dll" "$(SolutionDir)..\UdpLocationService\bin\Plugins\" /d /y
xcopy "$(TargetDir)$(TargetName).pdb" "$(SolutionDir)..\UdpLocationService\bin\Plugins\" /d /y

However, I have CruiseControl.NET set up as a build server and MSBuild is failing on building that project due to this xcopy post-build event:

MSB3073: The command "xcopy "C:\Build\Services\Windows\VehicleServer\Plugins\Payload\bin\Debug\Payload.dll" "*Undefined*..\UdpLocationService\bin\Plugins\" /d /y xcopy "C:\Build\Services\Windows\VehicleServer\Plugins\Payload\bin\Debug\Payload.pdb" "*Undefined*..\UdpLocationService\bin\Plugins\" /d /y" exited with code 4. in Microsoft.Common.targets(3397, 13)

Any suggestions to get this fixed?

Answer

andypaxo picture andypaxo · Feb 15, 2012

I just ran into the same problem with TeamCity.

The issue here is the $(SolutionDir) property in your build file. You haven't defined it in your call to MsBuild (this is why you see the word undefined in your output).

Call msbuild with the property set, like this:

msbuild myproject.csproj /property:SolutionDir="solution directory"\

Where "solution directory" is the directory containing your solution file. Note the trailing slash, you'll need that to make sure the path is correctly formed.

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