Is there a way to easily output the current time in MSBuild (version 3.5)?

Question

I'd like to output the current time (preferably before every task or at minimum when starting/completing every target) when invoking MSBuild 3.5.

I tried creating a target that I would continually call that looks like:

<Target Name="EchoTime">
    <Time Format="yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.fff">
        <Output TaskParameter="FormattedTime" PropertyName="currentTime" />
    </Time>
    <Message Text = "$(currentTime)" />
</Target>

...but it turns out that one target can only call another target once per execution.

So if I try...

<Target Name="TimeTest" >
    <Message Text = "--------------------------------------------------" />
    <CallTarget Targets="EchoTime" />
    <Message Text = " " />
    <Message Text = "Try calling EchoTime again" />
    <Message Text = " " />
    <CallTarget Targets="EchoTime" />
    <Message Text = "--------------------------------------------------" />
</Target>

Then the output looks like...

Build started 10/12/2011 2:24:52 PM.
Project "C:\Temp\MSBuildSandbox\MSBuild_EchoTime.xml" on node 0 (TimeTest target(s)).
  --------------------------------------------------
EchoTime:
  2011-10-12 14:24:52.756
TimeTest:

  Try calling EchoTime again

  --------------------------------------------------
Done Building Project "C:\Temp\MSBuildSandbox\MSBuild_EchoTime.xml" (TimeTest target(s)).

Anyone know an easy way to achieve this?

Answer 1

CallTarget cannot execute the same target twice but there's a workaround using the MSBuild task:

<Target Name="TimeTest" >
    <Message Text = "--------------------------------------------------" />
    <MSBuild 
        Targets="EchoTime" 
        Projects="$(MSBuildProjectFile)" 
        Properties="prop1=val1" 
    />
    <Message Text = " " />
    <Message Text = "Try calling EchoTime again" />
    <Message Text = " " />
    <MSBuild 
        Targets="EchoTime" 
        Projects="$(MSBuildProjectFile)" 
        Properties="prop1=val2" 
    />
 <Message Text = "--------------------------------------------------" />
</Target>

Note setting the value for prop1 to a different value for each subsequent call.