A project property sheet is an XML-based file with the extension .props. It enables you to specify switches for build tools such as the compiler or linker and create user-defined macros.
You can use property sheets to create project configurations that can be applied to multiple projects since project settings that are defined in .props files are inheritable, unlike project settings defined in Project Files (.vcxproj files). Therefore, a project configuration defined in a .vcxproj file can inherit project settings from one or more property sheets (.props files). For more information, see Property Inheritance.
For information on tasks that demonstrate this concept, see:
Example
The following .props file contains both build tool properties and user-defined macros.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<ImportGroup Label="PropertySheets" />
<PropertyGroup Label="UserMacros">
<VCROOT>$(DDROOT)\vc</VCROOT>
<VCPROJDEFAULTS>$(BINDIR)\VC8\VCProjectDefaults</VCPROJDEFAULTS>
<INCLUDEPATH>$(VCROOT)\Inc</INCLUDEPATH>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemDefinitionGroup>
<ClCompile>
<PrecompiledHeader>Use</PrecompiledHeader>
<ForcedIncludeFiles>warning.h</ForcedIncludeFiles>
</ClCompile>
<Link>
<LinkTimeCodeGeneration>UseLinkTimeCodeGeneration</LinkTimeCodeGeneration>
</Link>
</ItemDefinitionGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<BuildMacro Include="VCROOT">
<Value>$(VCROOT)</Value>
</BuildMacro>
<BuildMacro Include="VCPROJDEFAULTS">
<Value>$(VCPROJDEFAULTS)</Value>
</BuildMacro>
<BuildMacro Include="INCLUDEPATH">
<Value>$(INCLUDEPATH)</Value>
</BuildMacro>
</ItemGroup>
</Project>
See Also