Why doesn't psake evaluate my property the way I expect?

Question

I have a simple psake script:

properties {
    $SolutionDir = "SOLUTIONDIR" # Resolve-Path ".\src"
    $Config = "Debug"
    $DeployBaseDir = "$SolutionDir\RMSS.Setup.WiX\bin\$Config"
    $InstallerName = "RMSForMoversSuite_2_0_0"
}

task default -depends Test

task Test {
    "CONFIG = $Config"
    "SOLUTIONDIR = $SolutionDir"
    "DEPLOYBASEDIR = $DeployBaseDir"
}

And I am calling it from the command line like this:

& .\psake.ps1 .\deploy.ps1 -properties @{"Config"="Staging"}

I would expect $DeployBaseDir to be equal to SOLUTIONDIR\RMSS.Setup.WiX\bin\Staging

But instead, I get this output:

CONFIG = Staging
SOLUTIONDIR = SOLUTIONDIR
DEPLOYBASEDIR = SOLUTIONDIR\RMSS.Setup.WiX\bin\Debug

Can anyone tell me what's happening, why, and how to get the behavior I expect?

Answer 1

From here http://codebetter.com/jameskovacs/2010/04/12/psake-v4-00/

Support for Parameters and Properties

Invoke-psake has two new options, –parameters and –properties. Parameters is a hashtable passed into the current build script. These parameters are processed before any ‘Properties’ functions in your build scripts, which means you can use them from within your Properties.

invoke-psake Deploy.ps1 -parameters @{server=’Server01’}

# Deploy.ps1
properties {
  $serverToDeployTo = $server
    }

task default -depends All

Parameters are great when you have required information. Properties on the other hand are used to override default values.

invoke-psake Build.ps1 -properties @{config='Release'}

# Build.ps1
properties {
  $config = 'Debug'
}

task default -depends All

---

So you could either take $Config out of the properties and pass it in as a parameter.
Or take the $DeployBaseDir out of the properties and create it inside the task block

Answer 2

In case you still want to use default values for your properties and at the same time use parameters here is the sample how-to.

properties {
    $SolutionDir = "SOLUTIONDIR" # Resolve-Path ".\src"
    $Config = if($config){$config} else {"Debug"};
    $DeployBaseDir = "$SolutionDir\RMSS.Setup.WiX\bin\$Config"
    $InstallerName = "RMSForMoversSuite_2_0_0"
}

task default -depends Test

task Test {
    "CONFIG = $Config"
    "SOLUTIONDIR = $SolutionDir"
    "DEPLOYBASEDIR = $DeployBaseDir"
}

& .\psake.ps1 .\deploy.ps1 -parameters @{config="Staging"}

(Tested using psake 4.3.2)

This encourages use of convention over configuration with the flexibility for old schoolers to keep using their config spaghetti.