Conditional conditional symbol definition in a .csproj file

Question

I am an experienced C# developer, but a complete beginner when it comes to MSBuild, and now I have a .csproj file containing the following XML snippet:

<Choose>
  <When Condition=" $(UseSimulatedResx) == true ">
    <PropertyGroup>
      <DefineConstants>$(DefineConstants);SIMRESX</DefineConstants>
    </PropertyGroup>
    ... does something else ...
  </When>
</Choose>

Is there way any anyone can explain me how and when the excerpt above should work? Where and when should I issue this UseSimulatedResx?

What I have to do is try to let SIMRESX be a conditional compilation symbol for a project in my solution so as to enable some features of our massive product.

Thank you in advance!

Answer 1

The UseSimulatedResx can be set in one of the following ways:

• as an environment variable
• as the parameter when invoking msbuild (e.g. /p:UseSimulatedResx=true)

• in a PropertyGroup (e.g.

  <PropertyGroup> <UseSimulateResx>true</UseSimulateResx> ... </PropertyGroup>

)

If you invoke msbuild with /v:diag (e.g. msbuild myProj.csproj /v:diag) you will get the diagnostic output that shows everything MSBuild does plus all the variable values.