How to call MSBuild.ExtensionPack through MSBuild arguments?

Question

Hi i am using MSBuild Extension Pack to install windows service to the remote machine. I was testing this through command prompt and it successfully installed the service. I now want to call this extension pack using MSBuild arguments.

My code looks like this:

<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" DefaultTargets="Default" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">

<PropertyGroup>
   <RemoteMachine>DevRemote</RemoteMachine>
   <RemoteUser>RemoteDomain\RemoteUser</RemoteUser>
   <RemoteUserPassword>RemotePassword</RemoteUserPassword>
</PropertyGroup>

<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\ExtensionPack\4.0\MSBuild.ExtensionPack.tasks"/>

<Target Name="Default">
<MSBuild.ExtensionPack.Computer.WindowsService TaskAction="Install" ServiceName="Backup Management" ServicePath="c:\WINDOWS\system32\taskmgr.exe" RemoteUser="$(RemoteUser)" RemoteUserPassword="$(RemoteUserPassword)" MachineName="$(RemoteMachine)" />
</Target>

How am i able to achieve this? From my guess the build arguments looks something like this:

/p:DeployOnBuild=True /p:DeployWinService=true;TargetWinServiceHost=DevRemote 

But i am not sure about the arguments. Any help really appreciated.

Answer 1

I usually have two files, one with properties, another with targets. I also try to store all the needed properties in a file, so there is no need to pass anything from command line.

If you call the file with targets main.msbuild you can call it like that

msbuild main.msbuild /t:Default

where /t switch corresponds to the target name, and this is how you can specify which target to execute, so no parameters with /p needed.

From examples, this is how the default target may look like

<Target Name="Default">
    <!-- Install a service on a Remote Machine -->
    <MSBuild.ExtensionPack.Computer.WindowsService 
        TaskAction="Install" 
        ServiceName="__TestService1" 
        User="$(User)" 
        Password="$(password)" 
        ServicePath="c:\WINDOWS\system32\taskmgr.exe" 
        RemoteUser="$(RemoteUser)" 
        RemoteUserPassword="$(RemoteUserPassword)" 
        MachineName="$(RemoteMachine)" />
</Target>