BuildItem Class

Definition

Represents a single item in an MSBuild project.

public ref class BuildItem
public class BuildItem
type BuildItem = class
Public Class BuildItem
Inheritance
BuildItem

Examples

The following example creates a Project object and uses the LoadXml method to add content to the project. The BuildItem, BuildItemGroup, and BuildItemGroupCollection classes are used to add, remove, and change items in the project.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;

using Microsoft.Build.BuildEngine;

namespace AddNewItem
{
    class Program
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// This code demonstrates the use of the following methods:
        ///     Engine constructor
        ///     Project constructor
        ///     Project.LoadFromXml
        ///     Project.Xml
        ///     BuildItemGroupCollection.GetEnumerator
        ///     BuildItemGroup.GetEnumerator
        ///     BuildItem.Name (get)
        ///     BuildItem.Include (set)
        ///     BuildItem.GetMetadata
        ///     BuildItem.SetMetadata
        ///     BuildItemGroup.RemoveItem
        ///     BuildItemGroup.AddNewItem
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="args"></param>
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Create a new Engine object.
            Engine engine = new Engine(Environment.CurrentDirectory);

            // Create a new Project object.
            Project project = new Project(engine);

            // Load the project with the following XML, which contains
            // two ItemGroups.
            project.LoadXml(@"
                <Project xmlns='http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003'>

                    <ItemGroup>
                        <Compile Include='Program.cs'/>
                        <Compile Include='Class1.cs'/>
                        <RemoveThisItemPlease Include='readme.txt'/>
                    </ItemGroup>

                    <ItemGroup>
                        <EmbeddedResource Include='Strings.resx'>
                            <LogicalName>Strings.resources</LogicalName>
                            <Culture>fr-fr</Culture>
                        </EmbeddedResource>
                    </ItemGroup>

                </Project>
                ");

            // Iterate through each ItemGroup in the Project.  There are two.
            foreach (BuildItemGroup ig in project.ItemGroups)
            {
                BuildItem itemToRemove = null;

                // Iterate through each Item in the ItemGroup.
                foreach (BuildItem item in ig)
                {
                    // If the item's name is "RemoveThisItemPlease", then
                    // store a reference to this item in a local variable,
                    // so we can remove it later.
                    if (item.Name == "RemoveThisItemPlease")
                    {
                        itemToRemove = item;
                    }

                    // If the item's name is "EmbeddedResource" and it has a metadata Culture
                    // set to "fr-fr", then ...
                    if ((item.Name == "EmbeddedResource") && (item.GetMetadata("Culture") == "fr-fr"))
                    {
                        // Change the item's Include path to "FrenchStrings.fr.resx",
                        // and add a new metadata Visiable="false".
                        item.Include = @"FrenchStrings.fr.resx";
                        item.SetMetadata("Visible", "false");
                    }
                }

                // Remove the item named "RemoveThisItemPlease" from the
                // ItemGroup
                if (itemToRemove != null)
                {
                    ig.RemoveItem(itemToRemove);
                }

                // For each ItemGroup that we found, add to the end of it
                // a new item Content with Include="SplashScreen.bmp".
                ig.AddNewItem("Content", "SplashScreen.bmp");
            }

            // The project now looks like this:
            //
            //     <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>
            //     <Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
            //         <Compile Include="Program.cs" />
            //         <Compile Include="Class1.cs" />
            //         <Content Include="SplashScreen.bmp" />
            //         <EmbeddedResource Include="FrenchStrings.fr.resx">
            //           <LogicalName>Strings.resources</LogicalName>
            //           <Culture>fr-fr</Culture>
            //           <Visible>false</Visible>
            //         <Content Include="SplashScreen.bmp" />
            //
            Console.WriteLine(project.Xml);
        }
    }
}
Module Module1

    ''' <summary>
    ''' This code demonstrates the use of the following methods:
    '''     Engine constructor
    '''     Project constructor
    '''     Project.LoadFromXml
    '''     Project.Xml
    '''     BuildItemGroupCollection.GetEnumerator
    '''     BuildItemGroup.GetEnumerator
    '''     BuildItem.Name (get)
    '''     BuildItem.Include (set)
    '''     BuildItem.GetMetadata
    '''     BuildItem.SetMetadata
    '''     BuildItemGroup.RemoveItem
    '''     BuildItemGroup.AddNewItem
    ''' </summary>
    ''' <remarks></remarks>
    Sub Main()

        ' Create a new Engine object.
        Dim engine As New Engine(Environment.CurrentDirectory)

        ' Create a new Project object.
        Dim project As New Project(engine)

        ' Load the project with the following XML, which contains
        ' two ItemGroups.
        project.LoadXml( _
            "<Project xmlns='http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003'>" & _
                "<ItemGroup>" & _
                    "<Compile Include='Program.cs'/>" & _
                    "<Compile Include='Class1.cs'/>" & _
                    "<RemoveThisItemPlease Include='readme.txt'/>" & _
                "</ItemGroup>" & _
                "<ItemGroup>" & _
                    "<EmbeddedResource Include='Strings.resx'>" & _
                        "<LogicalName>Strings.resources</LogicalName>" & _
                        "<Culture>fr-fr</Culture>" & _
                    "</EmbeddedResource>" & _
                "</ItemGroup>" & _
            "</Project>" _
            )

        ' Iterate through each ItemGroup in the Project.  There are two.
        For Each ig As BuildItemGroup In project.ItemGroups

            Dim itemToRemove As BuildItem
            itemToRemove = Nothing

            ' Iterate through each Item in the ItemGroup.
            For Each item As BuildItem In ig

                ' If the item's name is "RemoveThisItemPlease", then
                ' store a reference to this item in a local variable,
                ' so we can remove it later.
                If item.Name = "RemoveThisItemPlease" Then
                    itemToRemove = item
                End If

                ' If the item's name is "EmbeddedResource" and it has a metadata Culture
                ' set to "fr-fr", then ...
                If (item.Name = "EmbeddedResource") And (item.GetMetadata("Culture") = "fr-fr") Then
                    ' Change the item's Include path to "FrenchStrings.fr.resx", 
                    ' and add a new metadata Visiable="false".
                    item.Include = "FrenchStrings.fr.resx"
                    item.SetMetadata("Visible", "false")
                End If
            Next

            ' Remove the item named "RemoveThisItemPlease" from the
            ' ItemGroup
            If Not itemToRemove Is Nothing Then
                ig.RemoveItem(itemToRemove)
            End If

            ' For each ItemGroup that we found, add to the end of it
            ' a new item Content with Include="SplashScreen.bmp".
            ig.AddNewItem("Content", "SplashScreen.bmp")
        Next

        ' The project now looks like this:
        '
        '     <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>
        '     <Project xmlns="http:'schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
        '         <Compile Include="Program.cs" />
        '         <Compile Include="Class1.cs" />
        '         <Content Include="SplashScreen.bmp" />
        '         <EmbeddedResource Include="FrenchStrings.fr.resx">
        '           <LogicalName>Strings.resources</LogicalName>
        '           <Culture>fr-fr</Culture>
        '           <Visible>false</Visible>
        '         <Content Include="SplashScreen.bmp" />
        '
        Console.WriteLine(project.Xml)

    End Sub

End Module

Remarks

An element in a project can represent multiple items through the use of wildcards. Therefore, each BuildItem object does not necessarily represent an Item element in the project.

Constructors

BuildItem(String, ITaskItem)

Initializes a new instance of the BuildItem class based on an ITaskItem object.

BuildItem(String, String)

Initializes a new instance of the BuildItem class with the specified Name and Include property values.

Properties

Condition

Gets or sets the Condition attribute value of the item.

CustomMetadataCount

Gets the number of custom attributes that are set on this item.

CustomMetadataNames

Gets all user-defined or custom attribute names.

Exclude

Gets or sets the Exclude attribute value of the item.

FinalItemSpec

Gets the final specification of the item after all wildcards and properties have been evaluated.

Include

Gets or sets the Include attribute that created the BuildItem.

IsImported

Gets a value indicating whether the item was imported into the project.

MetadataCount

Gets the number of metadata set on the item.

MetadataNames

Gets the names of metadata on the item, including pre-defined or reserved item-spec modifiers.

Name

Gets or sets the name of the item collection to which the item belongs.

Methods

Clone()

Creates a shallow copy of the BuildItem.

CopyCustomMetadataTo(BuildItem)

Copies all item metadata on this BuildItem to the specified BuildItem.

GetEvaluatedMetadata(String)

Returns the value of the specified item metadata after all item and property references have been evaluated.

GetMetadata(String)

Returns the value of the specified item metadata.

HasMetadata(String)

Indicates whether the item has the specified item metadata.

RemoveMetadata(String)

Removes the specified item metadata.

SetMetadata(String, String)

Assigns the specified value to the specified item metadata.

SetMetadata(String, String, Boolean)

Assigns the specified value to the specified item metadata, and optionally treats the metadata as a literal value.

Applies to