How do I loop in MSBuild Target file with different files?

Question

I have below MSBuild Target file setup. This works fine with one JSON file.

<Target Name="dev" 
            AfterTargets="PrepareForBuild"
            BeforeTargets="BeforeBuild"
            Condition="$(Configuration) != 'Debug'">  

        <Message Text="Building Application (dev.json)" />

        <ItemGroup>
            <ScriptFile Include="$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)myscript.ps1" />
    </ItemGroup>
    <ItemGroup>
            <ScriptArgs Include="-Source &quot;$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)&quot;" />
            <ScriptArgs Include="-PathToManifest &quot;$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\test\dev.json&quot;" />
        </ItemGroup>

        <Exec  Command="powershell.exe -NoProfile -NonInteractive -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File &quot;@(ScriptFile)&quot; @(ScriptArgs,' ')" 
               Condition="Exists('@(ScriptFile)')" />
        <Error Condition="!Exists('@(ScriptFile)')"
               Text="Script file: &quot;@(ScriptFile)&quot; not found. Existing dev.json incomplete!" />

    </Target>

I have verified a few questions here but didn't help so posting here. How do I add this in a loop so I can run the same script with different JSON files?

I have test\\dev.json configured, and I have test.json , prod.json .

Everything stays the same but the input file needs to looping through.

I have tried a suggestion as below but still didn't work.

 <ItemGroup>
        <MyJsonFile Include="dev.json" />
        <MyJsonFile Include="test.json" />
        <MyJsonFile Include="prod.json" />
 </ItemGroup>
 <ItemGroup>
        <ScriptFile Include="$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)myscript.ps1" />
 </ItemGroup>
 <ItemGroup>
        <ScriptArgs Include="-Source &quot;$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)&quot;" />
        <ScriptArgs Include="-PathToManifest &quot;$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\test\%(MyJsonFile.Identity)&quot;" />
    </ItemGroup>
<Target Name="dev" 
            AfterTargets="PrepareForBuild"
            BeforeTargets="BeforeBuild"
            Condition="$(Configuration) != 'Debug'">  
<Exec  Command="powershell.exe -NoProfile -NonInteractive -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File &quot;@(ScriptFile)&quot; @(ScriptArgs,' ')" 
               Condition="Exists('@(ScriptFile)')" />
        <Error Condition="!Exists('@(ScriptFile)')"
               Text="Script file: &quot;@(ScriptFile)&quot; not found. Existing dev.json incomplete!" />

    </Target>

I get

Cannot validate argument on parameter 1> 'PathToManifest'.

I tried moving my ScriptArgs' ItemGroup inside Target but that gives another error

Cannot bind parameter because parameter 1> 'PathToManifest' is specified more than once. To provide multiple values to parameters that can accept multiple 1> values, use the array syntax.

Answer 1

How do I loop in MSBuild Target file with different files?

You can add those different JSON files in to the ItemGroup , then use the MSBuild item metadata Identity to loop those input files, like:

  <ItemGroup>
    <MyJsonFile Include="test.json" />
    <MyJsonFile Include="dev.json" />
    <MyJsonFile Include="prod.json" />
  </ItemGroup> 

Then use %(MyJsonFile.Identity) to loop those input files:

<ItemGroup>
        ...
        <ScriptArgs Include="-PathToManifest &quot;$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\test\%(MyJsonFile.Identity)&quot;" />

</ItemGroup>

Check this thread for some more details.

Hope this helps.