[ACCEPTED]-MSBuild.exe not accepting either /p:DefineConstants nor /p:PreprocessorDefinitions-c-preprocessor

Accepted answer

Score: 10

If you are calling MSBuild on the command 10 line you cannot specify the value for DefineConstants. But 9 if you are building a .csproj, or another 8 MSBuild script, then you can specify it. If 7 you create a msbuild file to "replace" your 6 solution file then you can use that an specify 5 the value for that when you build your projects. For 4 example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="3.5" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <!-- Default value here -->
    <DefineConstants Condition=" '$(DefineConstants)'==''" >DEBUG;TRACE</DefineConstants>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <Projects Include="one.csproj" />
    <Projects Include="two.csproj" />
  </ItemGroup>

  <Target Name="Build">
    <MSBuild Projects="@(Projects)"
                 Properties="DefineConstants=$(DefineConstants)"/>
  </Target>
</Project>

Then you can use msbuild.exe buid.proj /p:DefineConstants="YourValue;Debug;Trace"

Note the usage 3 of the quotes on the command line.

I have 2 written a blog post a while back about something 1 related to this at http://sedodream.com/2008/05/07/MSBuildBuildingTheSameProjectMultipleTimes.aspx.

Score: 7

If you want to define TRACE & DEBUG 1 Constants this should work:

msbuild mysln.sln /t:Rebuild /p:Configuration=Release /p:DefineConstants="DEBUG;TRACE"

Score: 6

The below are needed modification to the 7 vcxproj for the /p to work.

put <DefineConstants>< /DefineConstants>

under 6 the <PropertyGroup Label=Globals >

<PreprocessorDefinitions>$(DefineConstants);WIN32;_DEBUG;_CONSOLE;UNIT_TEST_SIM;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)

This 5 way MSBuild will know that for the preprocessor 4 it needs to use the values from the DefineConstants 3 which come from the Globals PropertyGroup 2 unless provided from the command line by 1 the /p:DefineConstants="MY_DEFINE"

Score: 3

For completeness, this is what I found worked 2 when I wanted THING_TO_BE_DEFINED="VALUE WANTED", for VB.NET, and msbuild 1 version 3.5.30729.1, in a batch file:

@msbuild /t:Rebuild /p:Configuration=Release;Platform="Any CPU";
DefineConstants="THING_TO_BE_DEFINED=\"VALUE WANTED\"" mysln.sln

_{(all on one line of course)}

Source: stackoverflow.com

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[ACCEPTED]-MSBuild.exe not accepting either /p:DefineConstants nor /p:PreprocessorDefinitions-c-preprocessor

C++ macro expansion, debugging

Opposite of C preprocessor "stringification

C macros and use of arguments in parentheses

How to detect Intel's compiler (ICC) with ifdef?

Preprocessor: Concatenate string to each argument in __VA_ARGS__

Variadic recursive preprocessor macros - is it possible?

How can I generate unique values in the C preprocessor?

Which macro is more exact? __TIME__ or __TIMESTAMP__?

Can I determine if an argument is string literal?

Detect ARM NEON availability in the preprocessor?

Which macro is more exact? TIME or TIMESTAMP?