Add a msbuild task that runs after building a .NET Core project in Visual Studio 2017 RC

Question

Is there something like the AfterBuild Target in msbuild with .NET Core in Visual Studio 2017 RC?

I tried to add the following snipped to the .csproj file, but it is not excuted during a build (Contrary to VS2015 where it does work).

<Target Name="AfterBuild">
  <Message Importance="High" Text="This is a test" />
</Target>

Another interesting discovery: As I thought that the AfterBuild target might have been removed - running msbuild <project.csproj> /t:AfterBuild doesn't seem to call the added target. If I rename the target to "Test" an call it with msbuild <project.csproj> /t:Test it works just fine.

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Additionally, is there any documentation on the msbuild version (and possibly the .NET Core build scripts) shipping with Visual Studio 2017 RC?

Answer 1

An alternative is to use the AfterTargets attribute on the Target. Something like:

<Target Name="TestTarget" AfterTargets="Build">
  <Message Importance="High" Text="This is a test" />
</Target>

I'm not sure why "AfterBuild" wouldn't work any more, but this appears to be a conscious decision by the maintainers of MSBuild (h/t to Livven on pointing me to this github issue). "AfterBuild" was a special name that was used by the Build target. The current version of Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets still has it:

  <PropertyGroup>
    <BuildDependsOn>
      BeforeBuild;
      CoreBuild;
      AfterBuild
    </BuildDependsOn>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <Target
      Name="Build"
      Condition=" '$(_InvalidConfigurationWarning)' != 'true' "
      DependsOnTargets="$(BuildDependsOn)"
      Returns="$(TargetPath)" />
  <!--