What are the best books for learning MSBuild?

Question

I am working to redevelop our build/deploy system, and in aid of this I want to get a book that will cover what I need to do.

We will be using MSBuild, followed up by MSDeploy (web app) upon completion.

I have found exactly one book dealing with MSBuild, namely Deploying .NET Applications: Learning MSBuild and ClickOnce (Expert's Voice in .Net), but it seems not to cover ASP.NET.

There may be books out there that don't cover just MSBuild, but which cover MSBuild, too. Which is your favorite

Answer 1

I read the book you mentioned:

Deploying .NET Applications: Learning MSBuild and ClickOnce

And it told me everything I needed to know, no special coverage of ASP.NET needed. Once you have learned some basics, go and read through the build scripts that come with Visual Studio and TFS, as these will be the basis for most of your builds and it's imporant to know exactly what can be overwritten/extended.

I would be surprised if there are any books specific on MSDeploy, as it hasn't been released yet.

Answer 2

I've always preffered to read a succint, technical documentation when dealing with a new tool that doesn't involve complicated concepts, rather than reading an entire book about it. In this case, MSDN
You'll find a plethora of good msbuild samples on the Internet. Using some samples and the MSDN reference doc will get you up to speed quickly.
I've been using Ant to do a complex build system in the past, and had fun with it. I think it's worth diving into it, maybe you'll find yourself using it in future projects that don't involve the .Net framework.

Answer 3

Here's a book for you: http://blogs.msdn.com/microsoft_press/archive/2009/01/31/sayed.aspx

Answer 4

check out the msbuild automation information with MSDeploy & VS 2010 at http://bit.ly/21naYV

Thanks Vishal