Using MSBuild to Build Multiple Configurations

It is important to realize that when you use a “MSBuild” task, a new child MSBuild process will be started. The implication of this is that any items and properties you define in the parent MSBuild process will not be automatically passed to/visible from the child MSBuild process unless you explicitely pass them via Properties attribute on MSBuild element (as in <MSbuild Properties="..." />).

To answer your question, I wrote the following self-contained example that runs a child MSBuild project for all the specified configurations:

1. First, create a directory for your MSBuild experiment (for example I used C:\temp\msbuildtest)

2. In this directory, create the first file, main.proj:

   <Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" DefaultTargets="Build" ToolsVersion="4.0">
       <ItemGroup>
           <ConfigList Condition=" '@(ConfigList)' == '' and $(Config) != '' " Include="$(Config.Split('+'))" /><!-- parse all requested configurations into a list -->
           <ConfigList Condition=" '@(ConfigList)' == '' " Include="Debug" /><!-- if no configurations were specified, default to Debug -->
       </ItemGroup>
       <!--
   
       Build the child project for each requested configuration. -->
       <Target Name="Build">
           <MSBuild Projects="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\child.proj" Properties="Configuration=%(ConfigList.Identity);OutputPath=$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\bin\%(ConfigList.Identity)" Targets="Build" />
       </Target>
   </Project>
   

3. In the same directory, create the second file, child.proj (in your case this would be the actual C# project you’re trying to build, but because I’m trying to illustrate my point, I am using a simple child project that instead of running C# compiler just prints values of properties 🙂 )

   <Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" DefaultTargets="Build" ToolsVersion="4.0">
       <Target Name="Build">
           <Message Text="Building configuration $(Configuration) with output path $(OutputPath)" Importance="High" />
       </Target>
   </Project>
   

4. Now you can run the example. First the default, if you don’t explicitly specify configurations to build:

   C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\msbuild main.proj
   > (cut the noise)
   > Build:
   >   Building configuration Debug with output path C:\temp_c\d\bin\Debug
   

   And then explicitly specified multiple configurations:

   C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\msbuild main.proj /property:Config=Debug+Release+Staging+Production
   > (cut the noise)
   > Build:
   >   Building configuration Debug with output path C:\temp_c\d\bin\Debug
   > Build:
   >   Building configuration Release with output path C:\temp_c\d\bin\Release
   > Build:
   >   Building configuration Staging with output path C:\temp_c\d\bin\Staging
   > Build:
   >   Building configuration Production with output path C:\temp_c\d\bin\Production
   

You should be able to adapt this technique to your situation.