RE: [Pnet-developers] RE: FW: vs project

[Neil Cawse]

> 
> Speaking of which , I think we should have the
> csproj generating tool as fast as possible. If someone
> can provide a bit of details , I volunteer to write
> the
> generator ... (and maybe test a bit with
> SharpDevelop).
> 

Thanks Gopal.

Unfortunately it's a bit more complex than that - let me give you the
detail:
1) http://weblogs.asp.net/jdennany/archive/2003/10/28/34200.aspx
Microsoft has released VS 2005 beta 1 which is based on MSBuild. They
are completely replacing the old file format. When opening an old
project in 2005, the files are fully upgraded one way.

2) The new build system makes much much more sense. You can build visual
studio projects from the command line. The new system is actually a
clone of ant!! The major open source projects have announced that they
will eventually support this standard.

3) The current file format is a dead end waste of time and the new
MSBuild format could possibly be our new format by extending csant.

4) I volunteered to do this once MSBuild is stable and VS 2005 is
released.

5) As an interim measure I looked at the feasibility of writing a quick
utility to convert csant to vs 2004 files because I know Rhys was keen
to do it this way.

6) Unfortunately it turns out to be a *lot* more complex than it first
looks. Ill forward you my current solution to this and you can take a
look at what needs to be generated. What you will end up doing is
writing another set of configuration files for each of the csproj files
you want to generate. YABS - "Yet Another Build System" and it will be a
lot of work. Take a look.

7) My suggestion to Rhys was:
Ive created a batch file that recreates the folder hierarchy, copies in
the assemblyInfo.cs (which is the same for all projects). This keeps
things neat and simple.

8) The VS project doesn't actually have to be updated often at all
because there are actually very few files being added that belong to the
framework 1.1 set. We don't even compile the version 2 stuff
(obviously). In fact we really don't add new files for 1.1 very often at
all.

9) I promised to keep the files up to date till we built a replacement
for this. I cvs update daily.

So the bottom line is - I really do agree with you guys that a generator
from csant would be better - but I looked into it and for all that throw
away work - should we hacking something else on pnet.

My suggestion was to *temporarily* use my generator till we get a new
build system compatible with visual studio 2005.

If any of you guys do look into this whole thing properly and disagree
with any of my points above, Id love to chat about it.

Regards
Neil.