Get parent directory in MSBuild

Question

In NAnt, I have a very simple property to get the root of my project, it looks like this:

<property name="project.root.folder" value="${directory::get-parent-directory(directory::get-parent-directory(project.local.folder))}" /> 

This brings me to the root of my project, from which I build all my paths.

In MSBuild, I can use $(MSBuildProjectDirectory) to get my current directory, but I would like to get the full path to the parent directory. NAnt uses directory::get-parent-directory which works charmingly and I hope something like this is available in MSBuild.

I found a previous similar question ( https://stackoverflow.com/a/312947/ ), but I think there should be something more accessible, of course!

Sam :)

Answer 1

I assume this is MSBuild 4.0. You can do it:

 <PropertyGroup> <RootFolder>$([System.IO.Path]::GetDirectoryName($(MSBuildProjectDirectory)))</RootFolder> </PropertyGroup> <Message Text="RootFolder: '$(RootFolder)'" /> 

Answer 2

Your question has its own answer, and it looks decent. MSBuild is built around projects, not solutions, so finding something to give you a solution path requires a bit of customization. One fact to keep in mind is that for many projects, decision files are not located at the root of the project tree (or “cone” in MSBuild).

Reserved MSBuild Properties