What's an easy way to access prebuild macros such as $(SolutionDir) and $(DevEnvDir) from code in C#?

Question

Right now I'm thinking write the paths to a file in the pre-build event and then read from that file in the code, but I'm wondering if there's an easier more elegant way.

edit: This is sort of a follow up to Help with one step build all projects + installer (.NET + WiX) since I didn't really get an answer to that, seeing if I can get an answer to a simpler question.

Very interesting what for do you need to know the solution path? — abatishchev, Jan 27 '09 at 09:38
Basically trying to create a 1-step build process without hardcoding in the paths since it needs to work on different build machines — Davy8, Jan 27 '09 at 17:04

Shalom Craimer · Accepted Answer · 2009-05-14T06:06:53.137

8

Here's a dirty hack: dump them to a file.

Add an action to the pre-build events to output your solution's path to a file:

echo $(SolutionDir) > SolutionDirFile.txt
Read the file SolutionDirFile.txt in your C# code.

edited May 14 '09 at 06:06

answered Jan 27 '09 at 08:56

Shalom Craimer

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Yeah, that's what I was thinking, but was wondering if there was a cleaner solution, but I guess that should work. This answer saves me finding how to write it to a file from the prebuild, so accepted it. – Davy8 Jan 27 '09 at 17:06
1

At first I was thinking, "Ouch. That's **ugly**." But after an hour of searching, this is the only solution that actually does what I need. +1 – Jake Jan 02 '12 at 20:46

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 27 '09 at 09:19

This is just a guess, but I think one of the ways you could get this information into the file at compile-time is by using something like PostSharp. Basically, get some sort of preprocessor to get the data for you, and then simply embed it in your assembly.

What's an easy way to access prebuild macros such as $(SolutionDir) and $(DevEnvDir) from code in C#?

2 Answers2

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