The Visual Studio Build Tools 15.x installers do not include all the necessary dependencies to build a solution containing projects using both the classic “Full Framework” .csproj format and the new “VS 2017” .csproj format out of the box.
The benefit of using the newer format where possible (in class libraries and console applications), is that the .csproj no longer requires listing every individual file in the project, which reduces merge conflicts and auto-merge failures that break the build and halt development when merging in feature branches.
In order to get the solution building on our CI server, it was necessary to do the following:
Install Visual Studio Build Tools 15.3 (or higher)
https://www.visualstudio.com/thank-you-downloading-visual-studio/?sku=BuildTools&rel=15
Install the .NET Core 2.0 SDK (or later)
https://aka.ms/dotnet-sdk-2.0.0-win-gs-x64
Copy the “Sdks” folder from the .NET Core 2.0 install location to the MSBuild installation:
Copy from “C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\2.0.0" to “C:\Program Files(x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\BuildTools\MSBuild\15.0"
Copy the NuGet Targets folder from a machine that has the full VS 15.3 (or later) IDE installed on it
Copy from “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\Common7\IDE\CommonExtensions\Microsoft" to “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\BuildTools\Common7\IDE\CommonExtensions\Microsoft"
Update - Visual Studio Build Tools 15.4.1 (and later)
It seems as though the Build Tools installer now includes an option to install the required NuGet targets and project dependencies required to build both types of .csproj formats as of version 15.4.1. There’s now an option for “NuGet targets and build tasks” that can be selected in the installer, which should obviate the need for this step.
NuGet Restore
The build scripts need to perform two different methods of NuGet Restore for the different project types.
rem *********************************************************************
rem Restore NuGet Packages 1 - Use MSBuild with /t:restore switch for projects that use the new .csproj format
rem *********************************************************************
"%MSBUILD%" MySolution.sln /t:restore /p:RestoreConfigFile=..\.nuget\Nuget.config;RestorePackagesPath=packages;RestoreNoCache=true
rem *********************************************************************
rem Restore NuGet Packages 2 - Use NuGet.exe for old-style .csproj projects
rem *********************************************************************
.nuget\nuget.exe restore MySolution.sln -PackagesDirectory packages -nocache -configfile .nuget\nuget.config -verbosity detailed
Obviously, these commands assume the solution has a “.nuget” folder containing the nuget.exe executable and a “nuget.config” file, and an “%MSBUILD% environment variable that points to the location of the msbuild executable installed above. For us it points to:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\BuildTools\MSBuild\15.0\Bin\msbuild.exe
Safety Not Guaranteed
I can’t guarantee these steps will work for everyone, but they have the “Works on My Machine” guarantee, so I’m providing them here for posterity in case anyone else is looking to do this.
