Develop Reference

How to build project with msbuild with different configuration, but build dependencies in Debug/Release?

I have a main_project project with "new" configuration (Dev -> <Configurations>Debug;Release;Dev</Configurations> in csproj file) to copy correct file name during build. This project has other projects as dependencies, but with standard configurations (Debug and Release).
In Visual Studio I can rebuild this project without any problems - my main_project is builded with Dev configuration and dependencies projects are builds with Debug configuration:
------ Rebuild All started: Project: x.BusinessLogic, Configuration: Debug Any CPU ------
x.BusinessLogic -> C:\xxx\Libs\x.BusinessLogic\bin\Debug\x.x.BusinessLogic.dll
------ Rebuild All started: Project: main_project, Configuration: Dev Any CPU ------
C:\xxx\Server\CloudService\WebJobs\main_project\\config\App.dev.config
1 File(s) copied
main_project -> C:\xxx\Server\CloudService\WebJobs\main_project\bin\Dev\net5.0\main_project.dll
========== Rebuild All: 5 succeeded, 0 failed, 0 skipped ==========
But when I want to build Docker image I have a problem:
"C:\app\Server\CloudService\WebJobs\main_project\main_project.csproj" (default target) (1) ->
"C:\app\Libs\x.BusinessLogic\x.BusinessLogic.csproj" (default target) (4:2) ->
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\MSBuild\Current\Bin\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(819,5):
error : The BaseOutputPath/OutputPath property is not set for project 'x.BusinessLogic.csproj'.
Please check to make sure that you have specified a valid combination of Configuration and Platform for this project. Configuration='Dev' Platform='AnyCPU'.
You may be seeing this message because you are trying to build a project without a solution file, and have specified a non-default Configuration or Platform that doesn't exist for this project.
Dockerfile msbuild command (CONFIGURATION = Dev):
ARG CONFIGURATION
SHELL ["cmd", "/S", "/C"]
RUN msbuild Server/CloudService/WebJobs/main_project/main_project.csproj /p:Configuration=%CONFIGURATION%

Visual Studio publish doesn't report errors

I have a WCF web service using Visual Studio 2015. If I have a compile error in C# code, when I publish the web service (to a file location) the "build" will succeed, and continue through a successful publish:
========== Build: 1 succeeded, 0 failed, 1 up-to-date, 0 skipped ==========
========== Publish: 1 succeeded, 0 failed, 0 skipped ==========
If I then deploy to an IIS web server and call the web service there, the call fails and returns a page describing the compilation error.
When publishing, the output in VS starts with Build started: but apparently it isn't really doing a build because any build would have failed, and in fact if I do a build instead of publish, it does report the error(s). Do I have to remember to build before publishing to check for errors, or is there a way to get it to really for realz compile the code?

If solution has many projects then try building them one at a time.
Try below steps:
Restart Visual Studio.
Restart Computer
Rebuild all
Clean Solution then Rebuild All
Also you can check below
Setting the MSBuild project build output verbosity (in Options > Projects and Solutions > Build and Run setting area) to "Diagnostic" as shown below. This then showed that the custom action was what had failed.
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/saraford/2008/10/07/did-you-know-you-can-configure-the-msbuild-verbosity-in-the-output-window-329/

Getting Microsoft's DocFX to work in Visual Studio

I downloaded DocFX and installed it from http://dotnet.github.io/docfx/.
I added it to my environment path. I then downloaded the sample solution from https://github.com/docascode/docfx-seed and opened it as a website project. (This sample already contains the package docfx.msbuild)
The documentation says to build the solution and then browse the _src folder for the website. I do this and the solution builds fine:
------ Build started: Project: docfx-seed-master, Configuration: Debug Any CPU ------ Validating Web Site Building directory
'/src/SampleClass1/BaseClass/obj/Debug/'. Building directory
'/src/SampleClass1/BaseClass/Properties/'. Building directory
'/src/SampleClass1/BaseClass/'. Building directory
'/src/SampleClass1/CatLibrary/obj/Debug/'. Building directory
'/src/SampleClass1/CatLibrary/Properties/'. Building directory
'/src/SampleClass1/CatLibrary/'. Building directory
'/src/SampleClass1/SomeVbClass/My Project/'. Building directory
'/src/SampleClass1/SomeVbClass/'.
Validation Complete
========== Build: 1 succeeded or up-to-date, 0 failed, 0 skipped ==========
but there is no generated _src folder. If I however run docfx from the command line then I do indeed get a _src folder and I can browse the generated website.
So my integration of DocFX into VS2015 via MSBuild is somehow broken. Can anyone shed any light on how to get this working?

Microsoft.Lightswitch.Build.Tasks.Targets(168,5): application definition contains critical errors

I have a complex lightswitch application that was created using visual studio 2013, and then I upgrade it to using visual studio 2015. the solution was working fine, I even did a couple of deployment for it. Now I am trying to build it from a new machine and the build hangs (it never finishes). The output console is displaying an error: Microsoft.Lightswitch.Build.Tasks.Targets(168,5): application definition contains critical errors
I tried Google for a solution but could not find one that works in my case, I already checked the Link1 and this one Link2
When I cancel the build another similar error is displayed this is the output console:
------ Build started: Project: Agency Tool.Server, Configuration: Debug Any CPU ------
C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v14.0\LightSwitch\v5.0\Microsoft.LightSwitch.Build.Tasks.targets(168,5): error : Application definition contains critical errors.
------ Build started: Project: Agency Tool.DesktopClient, Configuration: Debug Any CPU ------
C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v14.0\LightSwitch\v5.0\Microsoft.LightSwitch.Build.Tasks.targets(217,5): error : Application definition contains critical errors.
------ Build started: Project: Agency Tool, Configuration: Debug Any CPU ------
The data necessary to complete this operation is not yet available. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8000000A)
========== Build: 0 succeeded, 3 failed, 0 up-to-date, 0 skipped ==========

Resolved:
We noticed that in the main project properties--> extensions tab, Microsoft Lightswitch Extensions was not selected (I don't know what caused it to be unchecked, but I did not do it manually). However when we checked it the error disappeared.

Azure Publish or Package fails without errors

I am trying to publish or package our webrole into Azure, after migrating from SDK 2.5 to 2.7 (2.5 was working fine even though I am not sure if it is related).
This is the error I have from the Build in the Output window :
3>------ Build started: Project: MyProject.Azure, Configuration: Production Any CPU ------
4>------ Publish started: Project: MyProject.Azure, Configuration: Production Any CPU ------
4>C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\12.0\bin\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(1697,5): warning MSB3270: There was a mismatch between the processor architecture of the project being built "MSIL" and the processor architecture of the reference "msshrtmi, Version=2.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35, processorArchitecture=AMD64", "AMD64". This mismatch may cause runtime failures. Please consider changing the targeted processor architecture of your project through the Configuration Manager so as to align the processor architectures between your project and references, or take a dependency on references with a processor architecture that matches the targeted processor architecture of your project.
4> Transformed Web.config using E:\Legacy\Main\Azure\MyProject.Front\Web.Production.config into obj\Production\TransformWebConfig\transformed\Web.config.
4>Done building project "MyProject.Azure.ccproj" -- FAILED.
4>
4>Build FAILED.
========== Build: 3 succeeded, 0 failed, 25 up-to-date, 0 skipped ==========
========== Publish: 0 succeeded, 1 failed, 0 skipped ==========
I have searched for an anwer and came up with this link http://blogs.msdn.com/b/narahari/archive/2012/03/30/windows-azure-package-creation-or-publish-fails-with-build-failed-message-in-visual-studio-output-window.aspx
where they state that it could be due to an OutOfMemoryException, and the fix is to build on a high end x64 system. I'm building on a core i7 16gig of ram really good computer so I don't think it comes from this. I also installed the windows 7 hotfix that fixes the emulator issue from largeaddressaware switch just in case but it did not help.
Thank you

Ok, I managed to solve the problem and here is how.
Actually, the issue is -even if totally not obvious- related to the diagnostics configuration.
What I did is increase verbosity for MSBuild output :
Tools > Options > Projects and Solutions > Build and Run > MSBuild project build output verbosity : Diagnostic
which uncovered this :
Failed to produce diagnostics extension's config for MyProject.Azure\diagnostics.wadcfgx.
Error : Value cannot be null. Parameter name: input
Then, the fix is to add :
<Setting name="Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Plugins.Diagnostics.ConnectionString"/>
in your ServiceDefinition.csdef and the correct implementations in your csfgs files.
After this, it all builds, packages and publishes.
Now, I am not sure if this question is a duplicate of Azure SDK v2.7 diagnostics issue is preventing publish/package because the title of the question in the link's post is already a step forward, and making the connection between this issue and the azure diagnostic configuration is really not that obvious, given visual studio's default minimal output.
Thanks everyone