XNA Build questions

Hello,

I'm currently trying to recreate our build process with XNA Build, both to streamline it, and to learn the latter. I'm rather stumped by a few points, though, and am hoping to find help here.

1/ Is there a way to know what a Task (or Module) is, once it's renamed
The original name (such as "XNAExec #1") disappears once you rename a task/module, and I haven't found a way to find out what kind it is, short of knowing the property set of every kind of Task. This would make studying the MC2 project easier.

2/ Is there a way to apply the same process to several files, but one by one, instead of dropping them all in a bunch to the applications
I have to build packages, grouping together files enumerated in a list file. I'd like to have a package rebuilt if one (or more) of the files contained in its associated list file, or if the list itself is more recent than the package file. For this, I made a short app that outputs all the files contained in a list file with the plan to make a dependency analysis on the output, but it doesn't get called for each list file, it gets called once with all the list files as parameters.

3/ What are groups for
Are they just a way to group together logically linked operations, and make the build more organize and easier to grasp Or do they have some other function I'd have missed

Keep up the good work, XNA Build is very promising, and I can't wait to see the next release!

Thanks,
Gwenael

Answer this question

XNA Build questions

gmoffitt
Thank you for you time and answers.
KYNg
Hi Gwenael,

1) You're correct with the assessment here, if you change the name your loosing the information about what that task was. I would currently recommend that you use some type of naming convention to identify tasks, I may go back and look at doing this with MechCommander 2 as well to make it more clear. Thanks for that feedback.

2) MSBuild uses a concept called batching for iterating over a task like you just mentioned. An item needs to have metadata to be batched over but luckily ItemGroups have metadata that you can batch over (Identity being the one you’ll probably use) check out this MSDN link for more info: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms171473(VS.80).aspx and http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms171474(VS.80).aspx

3) Yes groups simply serve a visual function and have no real MSBuild equivalent or functionality.

Thanks for giving XNA Build a try. Please let us know if you run into any other roadblocks along the way!
XNA Build questions

Answer this question