The Script Task in MSBuild

As part of your build process customization, you may sometimes prefer invoking a simple piece of C# or VB code to relatively elaborate MSBuild script segments while implementing certain functionalities.

In case you are not interested in writing your own custom tasks and compiling them into a dll for these small customization needs, MSBuild Community Tasks has a Script task for such cases

Sticking to tradition, let's go with a 'hello world' example:


<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)/MSBuildCommunityTasks/MSBuild.Community.Tasks.Targets" />
<PropertyGroup>
  <Text1>Hello</Text1>
  
  <GetFullText>
    <![CDATA[
      public static string ScriptMain()  {
        string Text2 = "World";
        return "$(Text1)" + Text2;
      }
    ]]>
  </GetFullText>
</PropertyGroup>

<Target Name="TestScriptTask">
    <Script Language="C#" Code="$(GetFullText)">
        <Output TaskParameter="ReturnValue" PropertyName="FullText" />
    </Script>
    <Message Text="My String: $(FullText)" />
</Target>
     

The return type of ScriptMain() can be void or string.

Now, the auto-generated code and the build output would look something like this:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.IO;
using System.Text;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
    
public class msbc96d6fb42e75a487c93c422f4f56a72da {      
    public static string ScriptMain() {
        string Text2 = "World";
  
        return "Hello" + Text2;
    }        
}
  
Done executing task "Script".
Task "Message"
    My String: HelloWorld