How to make F# projects which will work same on VS2010 / VS2013-preview?

Question

New F# projects comes with

  <Choose>
    <When Condition="'$(VisualStudioVersion)' == '11.0'">
      <PropertyGroup Condition="Exists('$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\..\Microsoft SDKs\F#\3.0\Framework\v4.0\Microsoft.FSharp.Targets')">
        <FSharpTargetsPath>$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\..\Microsoft SDKs\F#\3.0\Framework\v4.0\Microsoft.FSharp.Targets</FSharpTargetsPath>
      </PropertyGroup>
    </When>
    <Otherwise>
      <PropertyGroup Condition="Exists('$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v$(VisualStudioVersion)\FSharp\Microsoft.FSharp.Targets')">
        <FSharpTargetsPath>$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v$(VisualStudioVersion)\FSharp\Microsoft.FSharp.Targets</FSharpTargetsPath>
      </PropertyGroup>
    </Otherwise>
  </Choose>
  <Import Project="$(FSharpTargetsPath)" />

msbuild just fails with it so I even can't write an build script based on this project file.

My solution:

<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v12.0\FSharp\Microsoft.FSharp.Targets" />

I set v12.0 instead of $(VisualStudioVersion) because VisualStudioVersion is 11 for my msbuild. So but this breaks compatibility with other Visual Studio versions.

I guess I need to make something alike

<FSharpTargetsPath Condition="'$(VisualStudioVersion)' == '11.0'">$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\..\Microsoft SDKs\F#\3.0\Framework\v4.0\Microsoft.FSharp.Targets</FSharpTargetsPath>

and

<FSharpTargetsPath Condition="'$(VisualStudioVersion)' == '12.0'">$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v12.0\FSharp\Microsoft.FSharp.Targets</FSharpTargetsPath>

But that even doesn't look alike good solution. Is there proper way?

Also I have problems with running 3.0 F# compiler fsc.exe and software alike FAKE :

Could not load file or assembly FSharp.Core, Version=4.3.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' or one of its dependencies

So how to not break compatibility between 3.0 / msbuild and 3.1 and newer VS2013-preview stuff ?

VS2013 projects are [supposed to be backwards-compatible with VS2012](https://blogs.msdn.com/b/fsharpteam/archive/2013/06/27/announcing-a-pre-release-of-f-3-1-and-the-visual-f-tools-in-visual-studio-2013.aspx?Redirected=true), though VS2012 projects do require a one-time upgrade for this to work. If you've upgraded a VS2012 project to VS2013 and you're not able to build it with VS2012 afterwards, you should report the issue so it can be fixed for VS2013 RTM. — Jack P., Jul 08 '13 at 12:25
What about VS2010? I have no VS2012 to test if this `` works there. — cnd, Jul 08 '13 at 12:43
I don't know. The VS2013 preview announcement didn't say anything about VS2010, so I'd take that to mean you won't (easily) be able to create project files that work across all 3 versions. — Jack P., Jul 08 '13 at 17:24

knocte · Accepted Answer · 2021-12-26T06:46:04.403

The more specific answer that I guess Danny should have given is:

<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(FSharpTargetsPath)' == '' OR (!(Exists('$(FSharpTargetsPath)')))">
  <FSharpTargetsPath>$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\..\Common7\IDE\CommonExtensions\Microsoft\FSharp\Tools\Microsoft.FSharp.Targets</FSharpTargetsPath>
</PropertyGroup>
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(FSharpTargetsPath)' == '' OR (!(Exists('$(FSharpTargetsPath)')))">
  <FSharpTargetsPath>$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v$(VisualStudioVersion)\FSharp\Microsoft.FSharp.Targets</FSharpTargetsPath>
</PropertyGroup>
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(FSharpTargetsPath)' == '' OR (!(Exists('$(FSharpTargetsPath)')))">
  <FSharpTargetsPath>$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\..\Microsoft SDKs\F#\4.0\Framework\v4.0\Microsoft.FSharp.Targets</FSharpTargetsPath>
</PropertyGroup>
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(FSharpTargetsPath)' == '' OR (!(Exists('$(FSharpTargetsPath)')))">
  <FSharpTargetsPath>$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\..\Microsoft SDKs\F#\3.1\Framework\v4.0\Microsoft.FSharp.Targets</FSharpTargetsPath>
</PropertyGroup>
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(FSharpTargetsPath)' == '' OR (!(Exists('$(FSharpTargetsPath)')))">
  <FSharpTargetsPath>$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\..\Microsoft SDKs\F#\3.0\Framework\v4.0\Microsoft.FSharp.Targets</FSharpTargetsPath>
</PropertyGroup>
<Import Project="$(FSharpTargetsPath)" />

This should work with all versions.

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 27 '13 at 16:31

0

I would start by creating projects in both versions and diffing the project files. If you build a project file that contains the superset of both files, with appropriate Condition attributes so that each version of VS reads the correct parts, in theory it should work.

edited Oct 27 '13 at 16:31

Guy Coder

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answered Oct 27 '13 at 15:53

Danny Tuppeny

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I just hope this suggestion will work but I can't confirm it for now since some things changed, VS2013 is out and I have no 2012 install anymore so I even can't represent this issue by myself. – cnd Oct 27 '13 at 18:31

How to make F# projects which will work same on VS2010 / VS2013-preview?

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