MSBuild and BuildUri

Question

I am trying to add a BuildStep to the AfterBuild target in MSBuild and I am using the following

<Target Name="AfterCompile">    
 <ItemGroup>      
  <TestAssemblies Include="$(OutDir)\DataStoreUnitTests.dll" />   
 </ItemGroup>    

 <BuildStep      
  Name="Run unit Tests"
  TeamFoundationServerUrl="$(TeamFoundationServerUrl)"     
  BuildUri="$(BuildUri)"      
  Message="Running unit tests">      
  <Output TaskParameter="Id" PropertyName="StepId" />    
 </BuildStep>    

 <Gallio      
  Assemblies="@(TestAssemblies)"      
  ReportTypes="html"      
  ReportFileNameFormat="buildreport{0}{1}"      
  ReportOutputDirectory="." />    

 <BuildStep      
  TeamFoundationServerUrl="$(TeamFoundationServerUrl)"      
  BuildUri="$(BuildUri)"      
  Id="$(StepId)"      
  Message="Yay! All tests succeded!"      
  Status="Succeeded" />    
  <OnError ExecuteTargets="MarkBuildStepAsFailed" />  
 </Target>  

 <Target Name="MarkBuildStepAsFailed">    
  <BuildStep      
   TeamFoundationServerUrl="$(TeamFoundationServerUrl)"      
   BuildUri="$(BuildUri)"      
   Id="$(StepId)"      
   Message="Tests have failed. See test report in drop folder for details." 
   Status="Failed" />  
</Target>

And when I run it in MSBuild I get the following error:

error MSB4044: The "BuildStep" task was not given a value for the required parameter "BuildUri".

And I cannot see why, does anyone know?

Answer 1

My thoughts are that $(BuildUri) is evaluating to nothing. Try doing a print statement to debug and target the line number that VS/MSBuild is giving as an error.

<Message Text="$(BuildUri)" />

MSBuild can be run from the command line (I find MSBuild to be easier to work with that way) with the following command:

C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\%FrameWork_Version%\MSBuild /verbosity:n
%Solution or Project file%

To set $(BuildUri):

<Target Name="AfterCompile">    
    <PropertyGroup>
        <BuildUri>Build_Uri_Value</BuildUri >
    </PropertyGroup>

    <ItemGroup>
        ...

Information on BuildUri can be found here:

What is the BuildUri and where do i get it from when i'm just trying to get some source?

Answer 2

Indeed, when I add the Message statement, I get back an empty string. Any ideas how I set this to something valid?

Colin

Answer 3

My problem is I have no idea what the BuildUri is or what a valid value would be. Is there any documentation that describes it?

The link provided gives me enough information to crack on, many thanks!!

Colin

Answer 4

Are you running this target as part of a Team Build (on the build server) or as a Desktop build (i.e. locally)?

The BuildUri property is normally populated passed in to the build by the build agent when it is triggering a new team build. In your script the Uri is used to tell TFS what build detail to attach the build step to. If you are running a desktop build then this will be empty unless you pass the property in on the command line.

Answer 5

Martin, thanks for this, it all makes sense now. I was testing the script using a desktop build! I'll try a server build now and see if that makes any difference.

Worked a treat on the build server! Many thanks.

Thanks

Colin