Setting OutDir and IntDir for all projects

Question

I am trying to setup a default location for OutDir and IntDir to be used by all projects in the solution. Such as: <OutDir>$(SolutionDir)bld\$(Platform)\$(ProjectName)\$(Configuration)\</OutDir>

When I set this in the Directory.Build.props file, it looks okay in Visual Studio Properties dialog; but when I build, the $(ProjectName) portion is empty. This tells me that this macro was not available when OutDir was read in Directory.Build.props.

I tried adding this to the Directory.Build.targets file and it appeared to be ignored altogether.

Another goal is to not modify any of the vcxproj files after this initial change. And new projects would inherit these settings automatically.

Is this possible? Perhaps I am placing the setting in the wrong place/order in the file... ?

This is a snippet of the Directory.Build.props:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <ImportGroup Label="PropertySheets">
  </ImportGroup>

  <!-- Define macros for easy and consistent access to various parts of the tree -->
  <PropertyGroup Label="UserMacros">
    <GslInclude>$(SolutionDir)packages\Microsoft.Gsl.0.1.2.1\build\native\include</GslInclude>
    <mySrcDir>$(SolutionDir)src\</mySrcDir>
    <myBldDir>$(SolutionDir)bld\</myBldDir>
    <myBldIntDir>$(SolutionDir)bld_int\</myBldIntDir>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <ItemDefinitionGroup />
  <ItemGroup>
    <BuildMacro Include="GslInclude"> <Value>$(GslInclude)</Value> </BuildMacro>
    <BuildMacro Include="mySrcDir"> <Value>$(mySrcDir)</Value> </BuildMacro>
    <BuildMacro Include="myBldDir"> <Value>$(myBldDir)</Value> </BuildMacro>
    <BuildMacro Include="myBldIntDir"> <Value>$(myBldIntDir)</Value> </BuildMacro>
  </ItemGroup>

  <!-- Platform Toolset, Windows SDK -->
  <PropertyGroup Label="Globals">
    <WindowsTargetPlatformVersion>10.0</WindowsTargetPlatformVersion>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <!-- Default Compiler settings -->
  <ItemDefinitionGroup>
    <ClCompile>
      <!-- .... -->
    </ClCompile>
  </ItemDefinitionGroup>

  <!-- Default Folders for target output -->
  <PropertyGroup>
    <OutDir>$(myBldDir)$(Platform)\$(ProjectName)\$(Configuration)\</OutDir>
    <IntDir>$(myBldIntDir)$(Platform)\$(ProjectName)\$(Configuration)\</IntDir>
  </PropertyGroup>

</Project>

And then of course, I simply remove all <OutDir> and <IntDir> settings in the proj files.

I would also love to be able to place conditions on settings based on the version of Visual Studio. Some of our developers are using VS2017 with older ToolSet; some are using VS2019 with the latest....

Answer 1

It is possible, and it is in fact the recommended way to share settings between projects. Only caveat is that the scheme is rather sensitive to the section tags and order/placement of inclusions. The following should work for OutDir and IntDir.

Directory.Build.props

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <_PropertySheetDisplayName>Directory.Build</_PropertySheetDisplayName>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <ImportGroup Label="PropertySheets" />
  <PropertyGroup Label="UserMacros">
    <!-- other user macros -->
    <OutDir> ... </OutDir>
    <IntDir> ... </IntDir>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <!-- rest of .props file --->

Project.vcxproj

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project DefaultTargets="Build" ToolsVersion="14.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <!-- ... -->
  <Import Project="$(VCTargetsPath)\Microsoft.Cpp.props" />
  <!-- include custom .props here, can also use full or relative path -->
  <ImportGroup Label="PropertySheets">
    <Import Project="$(UserRootDir)\Microsoft.Cpp.$(Platform).user.props" Condition="exists('$(UserRootDir)\Microsoft.Cpp.$(Platform).user.props')" Label="LocalAppDataPlatform" />
    <Import Project="Directory.Build.props" />
  </ImportGroup>
  <!-- ... -->

Answer 2

Thanks to those who helped with this. I got it working - at least for my main goal of establishing a pre-defined location for build 'output'.

Referencing information from here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/msbuild/customize-your-build?view=vs-2019 and searching around in the VS props files, I find a macro 'MSBuildProjectName' which is set early in the process.

I created a Directory.Build.props file in the root of my build tree with contents like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <ImportGroup Label="PropertySheets">
  </ImportGroup>

  <!-- Define macros for easy and consistent access to various parts of the tree -->
  <PropertyGroup Label="UserMacros">
    <GslInclude>$(SolutionDir)packages\Microsoft.Gsl.0.1.2.1\build\native\include</GslInclude>
    <myBldDir>$(SolutionDir)bld\</myBldDir>
    <myBldIntDir>$(SolutionDir)bld_int\</myBldIntDir>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <ItemDefinitionGroup />
  <ItemGroup>
    <BuildMacro Include="GslInclude"> <Value>$(GslInclude)</Value> </BuildMacro>
    <BuildMacro Include="myBldDir"> <Value>$(myBldDir)</Value> </BuildMacro>
    <BuildMacro Include="myBldIntDir"> <Value>$(myBldIntDir)</Value> </BuildMacro>
</BuildMacro>
    <!-- etc .... -->
  </ItemGroup>

  <!-- Platform Toolset, Windows SDK -->
  <PropertyGroup Label="Globals">
    <WindowsTargetPlatformVersion>10.0</WindowsTargetPlatformVersion>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Label="Configuration">
    <PlatformToolset>v142</PlatformToolset>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <PropertyGroup>
    <IntDir>$(myBldIntDir)$(Platform)\$(MSBuildProjectName)\$(Configuration)\</IntDir>
    <OutDir>$(myBldDir)$(Platform)\$(MSBuildProjectName)\$(Configuration)\</OutDir>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <!-- lots more ....  -->
</Project>

Settings in this file affect all projects living 'below' it in the folder structure. If a sub-folder needs a different value, add a Directory.Build.props to that folder which imports the 'parent' props file (it may be several layers above):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <Import Project="$([MSBuild]::GetPathOfFileAbove('Directory.Build.props', '$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)../'))" />

  <ImportGroup Label="PropertySheets">
  </ImportGroup>

  <PropertyGroup>
    <IntDir>$(myBldIntDir)$(Platform)\Tests\$(MSBuildProjectName)\$(Configuration)\</IntDir>
    <OutDir>$(myBldDir)$(Platform)\Tests\$(MSBuildProjectName)\$(Configuration)\</OutDir>
  </PropertyGroup>

</Project>

Settings in the 'child' props file override anything set in its parents.

Once I removed all <OutDir> and <IntDir> elements in the XML project files, the "Output Directory" and "Intermediate Directory" settings show up in regular font (not bold which indicates it is not inheriting) and, of course, when I build, everything goes to the consolidated folder tree; away from the source. And the cool thing: New projects will be populated automatically with these new default settings.

note: @dxiv points out that some settings may be pickier and require more work.