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Extend the Visual Studio build process

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The Visual Studio build process is defined by a series of MSBuild .targets files that are imported into your project file. These imports are implicit, if you use an SDK as Visual Studio projects usually do. One of these imported files, Microsoft.Common.targets, can be extended to allow you to run custom tasks at several points in the build process. This article explains three methods you can use to extend the Visual Studio build process:

  • Create a custom target and specify when it should run by using BeforeTargets and AfterTargets attributes.

  • Override the DependsOn properties defined in the common targets.

  • Override specific predefined targets defined in the common targets (Microsoft.Common.targets or the files that it imports).

AfterTargets and BeforeTargets

You can use AfterTargets and BeforeTargets attributes on your custom target to specify when it should run.

The following example shows how to use the AfterTargets attribute to add a custom target that does something with the output files. In this case, it copies the output files to a new folder CustomOutput. The example also shows how to clean up the files created by the custom build operation with a CustomClean target by using a BeforeTargets attribute and specifying that the custom clean operation runs before the CoreClean target.

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

  <PropertyGroup>
     <TargetFramework>netcoreapp3.1</TargetFramework>
     <_OutputCopyLocation>$(OutputPath)..\..\CustomOutput\</_OutputCopyLocation>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <Target Name="CustomAfterBuild" AfterTargets="Build">
    <ItemGroup>
      <_FilesToCopy Include="$(OutputPath)**\*"/>
    </ItemGroup>
    <Message Text="_FilesToCopy: @(_FilesToCopy)" Importance="high"/>

    <Message Text="DestFiles:
        @(_FilesToCopy->'$(_OutputCopyLocation)%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')"/>

    <Copy SourceFiles="@(_FilesToCopy)"
          DestinationFiles=
          "@(_FilesToCopy->'$(_OutputCopyLocation)%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')"/>
  </Target>

  <Target Name="CustomClean" BeforeTargets="CoreClean">
    <Message Text="Inside Custom Clean" Importance="high"/>
    <ItemGroup>
      <_CustomFilesToDelete Include="$(_OutputCopyLocation)**\*"/>
    </ItemGroup>
    <Delete Files='@(_CustomFilesToDelete)'/>
  </Target>
</Project>

Warning

Be sure to use different names than the predefined targets (for example, the custom build target here is CustomAfterBuild, not AfterBuild), since those predefined targets are overridden by the SDK import which also defines them. Refer to the table at the end of this article for a list of predefined targets.

Extend the DependsOn properties

Another way to extend the build process is to use the DependsOn properties (for example, BuildDependsOn), to specify targets that should be run before a standard target.

This method is preferable to overriding predefined targets, which is discussed in the next section. Overriding predefined targets is an older method that is still supported, but, because MSBuild evaluates the definition of targets sequentially, there's no way to prevent another project that imports your project from overriding the targets you already have overridden. So, for example, the last AfterBuild target defined in the project file, after all other projects have been imported, will be the one that is used during the build.

You can guard against unintended overrides of targets by overriding the DependsOn properties that are used in DependsOnTargets attributes throughout the common targets. For example, the Build target contains a DependsOnTargets attribute value of "$(BuildDependsOn)". Consider:

<Target Name="Build" DependsOnTargets="$(BuildDependsOn)"/>

This piece of XML indicates that before the Build target can run, all the targets specified in the BuildDependsOn property must run first. The BuildDependsOn property is defined as:

<PropertyGroup>
    <BuildDependsOn>
        $(BuildDependsOn);
        BeforeBuild;
        CoreBuild;
        AfterBuild
    </BuildDependsOn>
</PropertyGroup>

You can override this property value by declaring another property named BuildDependsOn at the end of your project file. In an SDK-style project, this means you have to use explicit imports. See Implicit and explicit imports, so that you can put the DependsOn property after the last import. By including the previous BuildDependsOn property in the new property, you can add new targets to the beginning and end of the target list. For example:

<PropertyGroup>
    <BuildDependsOn>
        MyCustomTarget1;
        $(BuildDependsOn);
        MyCustomTarget2
    </BuildDependsOn>
</PropertyGroup>

<Target Name="MyCustomTarget1">
    <Message Text="Running MyCustomTarget1..."/>
</Target>
<Target Name="MyCustomTarget2">
    <Message Text="Running MyCustomTarget2..."/>
</Target>

Projects that import your project file can further extend these properties without overwriting the customizations that you have made.

To override a DependsOn property

  1. Identify a predefined DependsOn property in the common targets that you want to override. See the following table for a list of the commonly overridden DependsOn properties.

  2. Define another instance of the property or properties at the end of your project file. Include the original property, for example $(BuildDependsOn), in the new property.

  3. Define your custom targets before or after the property definition.

  4. Build the project file.

Commonly overridden DependsOn properties

Property name Added targets run before this point:
BuildDependsOn The main build entry point. Override this property if you want to insert custom targets before or after the entire build process.
RebuildDependsOn The Rebuild
RunDependsOn The execution of the final build output (if it's a .EXE)
CompileDependsOn The compilation (Compile target). Override this property if you want to insert custom processes before or after the compilation step.
CreateSatelliteAssembliesDependsOn The creation of the satellite assemblies
CleanDependsOn The Clean target (Deleting of all intermediate and final build outputs). Override this property if you want to clean up output from your custom build process.
PostBuildEventDependsOn The PostBuildEvent target
PublishBuildDependsOn Build publishing
ResolveAssemblyReferencesDependsOn The ResolveAssemblyReferences target (finding the transitive closure of dependencies for a given dependency). See ResolveAssemblyReference.

Example: BuildDependsOn and CleanDependsOn

The following example is similar to the BeforeTargets and AfterTargets example, but shows how to achieve similar functionality. It extends the build by using BuildDependsOn to add your own task CustomAfterBuild that copies the output files after the build, and also adds the corresponding CustomClean task by using CleanDependsOn.

In this example, this is an SDK-style project. As mentioned in the note about SDK-style projects earlier in this article, you must use the manual import method instead of the Sdk attribute that Visual Studio uses when it generates project files.

<Project>
  <Import Project="Sdk.props" Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk"/>

  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>netcoreapp3.1</TargetFramework>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <Import Project="Sdk.targets" Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk"/>

  <PropertyGroup>
    <BuildDependsOn>
      $(BuildDependsOn);CustomAfterBuild
    </BuildDependsOn>

    <CleanDependsOn>
      $(CleanDependsOn);CustomClean
    </CleanDependsOn>

    <_OutputCopyLocation>$(OutputPath)..\..\CustomOutput\</_OutputCopyLocation>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <Target Name="CustomAfterBuild">
    <ItemGroup>
      <_FilesToCopy Include="$(OutputPath)**\*"/>
    </ItemGroup>
    <Message Importance="high" Text="_FilesToCopy: @(_FilesToCopy)"/>

    <Message Text="DestFiles:
      @(_FilesToCopy-&gt;'$(_OutputCopyLocation)%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')"/>

    <Copy SourceFiles="@(_FilesToCopy)"
          DestinationFiles="@(_FilesToCopy-&gt;'$(_OutputCopyLocation)%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')"/>
  </Target>

  <Target Name="CustomClean">
    <Message Importance="high" Text="Inside Custom Clean"/>
    <ItemGroup>
      <_CustomFilesToDelete Include="$(_OutputCopyLocation)**\*"/>
    </ItemGroup>
    <Delete Files="@(_CustomFilesToDelete)"/>
  </Target>
</Project>

The order of elements is important. The BuildDependsOn and CleanDependsOn elements must appear after importing the standard SDK targets file.

Override predefined targets

The common .targets files contain a set of predefined empty targets that are called before and after some of the major targets in the build process. For example, MSBuild calls the BeforeBuild target before the main CoreBuild target and the AfterBuild target after the CoreBuild target. By default, the empty targets in the common targets do nothing, but you can override their default behavior by defining the targets you want in a project file. The methods described earlier in this article are preferred, but you might encounter older code that uses this method.

If your project uses an SDK (for example Microsoft.Net.Sdk), you need to make a change from implicit to explicit imports, as discussed in Explicit and implicit imports.

To override a predefined target

  1. If the project uses the Sdk attribute, change that to the explicit import syntax. See Explicit and implicit imports.

  2. Identify a predefined target in the common targets that you want to override. See the following table for the complete list of targets that you can safely override.

  3. Define the target or targets at the end of your project file, immediately before the </Project> tag and after the explicit SDK import. For example:

    <Project>
    <Import Project="Sdk.props" Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk" />
    ...
    <Import Project="Sdk.targets" Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk" />
    <Target Name="BeforeBuild">
        <!-- Insert tasks to run before build here -->
    </Target>
    <Target Name="AfterBuild">
        <!-- Insert tasks to run after build here -->
    </Target>
</Project>

    Note that the Sdk attribute on the top-level Project element has been removed.

  4. Build the project file.

Table of predefined targets

The following table shows all of the targets in the common targets that you can override.

Target name Description
BeforeCompile, AfterCompile Tasks that are inserted in one of these targets run before or after core compilation is done. Most customizations are done in one of these two targets.
BeforeBuild, AfterBuild Tasks that are inserted in one of these targets will run before or after everything else in the build. Note: The BeforeBuild and AfterBuild targets are already defined in comments at the end of most project files, allowing you to easily add pre- and post-build events to your project file.
BeforeRebuild, AfterRebuild Tasks that are inserted in one of these targets run before or after the core rebuild functionality is invoked. The order of target execution in Microsoft.Common.targets is: BeforeRebuild, Clean, Build, and then AfterRebuild.
BeforeClean, AfterClean Tasks that are inserted in one of these targets run before or after the core clean functionality is invoked.
BeforePublish, AfterPublish Tasks that are inserted in one of these targets run before or after the core publish functionality is invoked.
BeforeResolveReferences, AfterResolveReferences Tasks that are inserted in one of these targets run before or after assembly references are resolved.
BeforeResGen, AfterResGen Tasks that are inserted in one of these targets run before or after resources are generated.

There are many more targets in the build system and .NET SDK, see MSBuild targets - SDK and default build targets.

Best practices for custom targets

The properties DependsOnTargets and BeforeTargets can both specify that a target must run before another target, but they are both needed in different scenarios. They differ in which target the dependency requirement is specified. You only have control over your own targets and can't safely modify the system targets or other imported target, so that constraints your choice of methods.

When authoring a custom target, follow these general guidelines to ensure your target is executed in the intended order.

  1. Use the DependsOnTargets attribute to specify targets that you require to be done before your target executes. For a chain of targets you control, each target can specify the previous member of the chain in DependsOnTargets.

  2. Use BeforeTargets for any target that you do not control that you must execute before (like BeforeTargets="PrepareForBuild" for a target that needs to run early in the build).

  3. Use AfterTargets for any target that you do not control that guarantees the outputs you need are available. For example, specify AfterTargets="ResolveReferences" for something that will modify a list of references.

  4. You can use these in combination. For example, DependsOnTargets="GenerateAssemblyInfo" BeforeTargets="BeforeCompile".

Explicit and implicit imports

Projects generated by Visual Studio usually use the Sdk attribute on the project element. These types of projects are called SDK-style projects. See Use MSBuild project SDKs. Here's an example:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.Net.Sdk">

When your project uses the Sdk attribute, two imports are implicitly added, one at the beginning of your project file, and one at the end.

The implicit imports are equivalent to having an import statement like this as the first line in the project file, after the Project element:

<Import Project="Sdk.props" Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk" />

and the following import statement as the last line in the project file:

<Import Project="Sdk.targets" Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk" />

This syntax is referred to as explicit SDK imports. When you use this explicit syntax, you should omit the Sdk attribute on the project element.

The implicit SDK import is equivalent to importing the specific "common" .props or .targets files that is a typical construct in older project files, such as:

<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props" Condition="Exists('$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props')" />

and

<Import Project="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets" />

Any such old references should be replaced with the explicit SDK syntax shown earlier in this section.

Using the explicit SDK syntax means you can add your own code before the first import, or after the final SDK import. That means you can change the behavior by setting properties before the first import that will take effect in the imported .props file, and you can override a target that's defined in one of the SDK .targets files after the final import. Using this method, you can override BeforeBuild or AfterBuild as discussed next.

Next steps

There's much more you can do with MSBuild to customize the build. See Customize your build.

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