Is there a way to list all the build targets available in a build file?

Question

Given a build file (.csproj or msbuild.xml or whatever), I\'d like to run a msbuild command that lists all the available, defined targets.

Does that function exist?

Answer 1

Using MSBuild 2.0/3.5 : Custom Task

You could write a custom msbuild task like this :

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using Microsoft.Build.BuildEngine;
using Microsoft.Build.Framework;
using Microsoft.Build.Utilities;

namespace MSBuildTasks
{
  public class GetAllTargets : Task
  {
    [Required]
    public String ProjectFile { get; set; }

    [Output]
    public ITaskItem[] Targets { get; set; }

    public override bool Execute()
    {
      var project = new Project(BuildEngine as Engine);
      project.Load(ProjectFile);

      var taskItems = new List(project.Targets.Count);
      foreach (Target target in project.Targets)
      {
        var metadata = new Dictionary
                        {
                          {"Condition", target.Condition},
                          {"Inputs", target.Inputs},
                          {"Outputs", target.Outputs},
                          {"DependsOnTargets", target.DependsOnTargets}
                        };
        taskItems.Add(new TaskItem(target.Name, metadata));
      }

      Targets = taskItems.ToArray();

      return true;
    }
  }
}    

That you'll use like that:

Using MSBuild 4.0 : Inline task

With MSBuild 4 you could use the new shiny thing : the inline task. Inline task allows you to define the behavior directly in msbuild file.

  
    
    
  
  
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
      (project.Targets.Count);
        foreach (KeyValuePair kvp in project.Targets)
        {
          var target = kvp.Value;
          var metadata = new Dictionary
                          {
                            {"Condition", target.Condition},
                            {"Inputs", target.Inputs},
                            {"Outputs", target.Outputs},
                            {"DependsOnTargets", target.DependsOnTargets}
                          };
          taskItems.Add(new TaskItem(kvp.Key, metadata));
        }

        TargetsOut = taskItems.ToArray();
      ]]>