BuildItem Class

Represents a single item in an MSBuild project. 

MSBuild is now included in Visual Studio instead of the .NET Framework. You can use MSBuild 12.0 side-by-side with versions previously deployed with the .NET Framework.For more information, see What's New in MSBuild 12.0.

Inheritance Hierarchy

System.Object
  Microsoft.Build.BuildEngine.BuildItem

Namespace:  Microsoft.Build.BuildEngine
Assembly:  Microsoft.Build.Engine (in Microsoft.Build.Engine.dll)

Syntax

'Declaration
Public Class BuildItem
public class BuildItem
public ref class BuildItem
type BuildItem =  class end
public class BuildItem

The BuildItem type exposes the following members.

Constructors

  Name Description
Public method BuildItem(String, ITaskItem) Initializes a new instance of the BuildItem class based on an ITaskItem object.MSBuild is now included in Visual Studio instead of the .NET Framework. You can use MSBuild 12.0 side-by-side with versions previously deployed with the .NET Framework.For more information, see What's New in MSBuild 12.0.
Public method BuildItem(String, String) Initializes a new instance of the BuildItem class with the specified Name and Include property values.MSBuild is now included in Visual Studio instead of the .NET Framework. You can use MSBuild 12.0 side-by-side with versions previously deployed with the .NET Framework.For more information, see What's New in MSBuild 12.0.

Top

Properties

  Name Description
Public property Condition Gets or sets the Condition attribute value of the item.MSBuild is now included in Visual Studio instead of the .NET Framework. You can use MSBuild 12.0 side-by-side with versions previously deployed with the .NET Framework.For more information, see What's New in MSBuild 12.0.
Public property CustomMetadataCount Gets the number of custom attributes that are set on this item.MSBuild is now included in Visual Studio instead of the .NET Framework. You can use MSBuild 12.0 side-by-side with versions previously deployed with the .NET Framework.For more information, see What's New in MSBuild 12.0.
Public property CustomMetadataNames Gets all user-defined or custom attribute names.MSBuild is now included in Visual Studio instead of the .NET Framework. You can use MSBuild 12.0 side-by-side with versions previously deployed with the .NET Framework.For more information, see What's New in MSBuild 12.0.
Public property Exclude Gets or sets the Exclude attribute value of the item.MSBuild is now included in Visual Studio instead of the .NET Framework. You can use MSBuild 12.0 side-by-side with versions previously deployed with the .NET Framework.For more information, see What's New in MSBuild 12.0.
Public property FinalItemSpec Gets the final specification of the item after all wildcards and properties have been evaluated.MSBuild is now included in Visual Studio instead of the .NET Framework. You can use MSBuild 12.0 side-by-side with versions previously deployed with the .NET Framework.For more information, see What's New in MSBuild 12.0.
Public property Include Gets or sets the Include attribute that created the BuildItem.MSBuild is now included in Visual Studio instead of the .NET Framework. You can use MSBuild 12.0 side-by-side with versions previously deployed with the .NET Framework.For more information, see What's New in MSBuild 12.0.
Public property IsImported Gets a value indicating whether the item was imported into the project.MSBuild is now included in Visual Studio instead of the .NET Framework. You can use MSBuild 12.0 side-by-side with versions previously deployed with the .NET Framework.For more information, see What's New in MSBuild 12.0.
Public property MetadataCount Gets the number of metadata set on the itemMSBuild is now included in Visual Studio instead of the .NET Framework. You can use MSBuild 12.0 side-by-side with versions previously deployed with the .NET Framework.For more information, see What's New in MSBuild 12.0.
Public property MetadataNames Gets the names of metadata on the item, including pre-defined or reserved item-spec modifiers.MSBuild is now included in Visual Studio instead of the .NET Framework. You can use MSBuild 12.0 side-by-side with versions previously deployed with the .NET Framework.For more information, see What's New in MSBuild 12.0.
Public property Name Gets or sets the name of the item collection to which the item belongs.MSBuild is now included in Visual Studio instead of the .NET Framework. You can use MSBuild 12.0 side-by-side with versions previously deployed with the .NET Framework.For more information, see What's New in MSBuild 12.0.

Top

Methods

  Name Description
Public method Clone Creates a shallow copy of the BuildItem.MSBuild is now included in Visual Studio instead of the .NET Framework. You can use MSBuild 12.0 side-by-side with versions previously deployed with the .NET Framework.For more information, see What's New in MSBuild 12.0.
Public method CopyCustomMetadataTo Copies all item metadata on this BuildItem to the specified BuildItem.MSBuild is now included in Visual Studio instead of the .NET Framework. You can use MSBuild 12.0 side-by-side with versions previously deployed with the .NET Framework.For more information, see What's New in MSBuild 12.0.
Public method Equals (Inherited from Object.)
Protected method Finalize (Inherited from Object.)
Public method GetEvaluatedMetadata Returns the value of the specified item metadata after after all item and property references have been evaluated.MSBuild is now included in Visual Studio instead of the .NET Framework. You can use MSBuild 12.0 side-by-side with versions previously deployed with the .NET Framework.For more information, see What's New in MSBuild 12.0.
Public method GetHashCode (Inherited from Object.)
Public method GetMetadata Returns the value of the specified item metadata.MSBuild is now included in Visual Studio instead of the .NET Framework. You can use MSBuild 12.0 side-by-side with versions previously deployed with the .NET Framework.For more information, see What's New in MSBuild 12.0.
Public method GetType (Inherited from Object.)
Public method HasMetadata Indicates whether the item has the specified item metadata.MSBuild is now included in Visual Studio instead of the .NET Framework. You can use MSBuild 12.0 side-by-side with versions previously deployed with the .NET Framework.For more information, see What's New in MSBuild 12.0.
Protected method MemberwiseClone (Inherited from Object.)
Public method RemoveMetadata Removes the specified item metadata.MSBuild is now included in Visual Studio instead of the .NET Framework. You can use MSBuild 12.0 side-by-side with versions previously deployed with the .NET Framework.For more information, see What's New in MSBuild 12.0.
Public method SetMetadata(String, String) Assigns the specified value to the specified item metadata.MSBuild is now included in Visual Studio instead of the .NET Framework. You can use MSBuild 12.0 side-by-side with versions previously deployed with the .NET Framework.For more information, see What's New in MSBuild 12.0.
Public method SetMetadata(String, String, Boolean) Assigns the specified value to the specified item metadata, and optionally treats the metadata as a literal value.MSBuild is now included in Visual Studio instead of the .NET Framework. You can use MSBuild 12.0 side-by-side with versions previously deployed with the .NET Framework.For more information, see What's New in MSBuild 12.0.
Public method ToString (Inherited from Object.)

Top

Remarks

An Item element in a project can represent multiple items through the use of wildcards. Therefore, each BuildItem object does not necessarily represent an Item element in the project.

Examples

The following example creates a Project object and uses the LoadXml method to add content to the project. The BuildItem, BuildItemGroup, and BuildItemGroupCollection classes are used to add, remove, and change items in the project.

Module Module1

    ''' <summary> 
    ''' This code demonstrates the use of the following methods: 
    '''     Engine constructor 
    '''     Project constructor 
    '''     Project.LoadFromXml 
    '''     Project.Xml 
    '''     BuildItemGroupCollection.GetEnumerator 
    '''     BuildItemGroup.GetEnumerator 
    '''     BuildItem.Name (get) 
    '''     BuildItem.Include (set) 
    '''     BuildItem.GetMetadata 
    '''     BuildItem.SetMetadata 
    '''     BuildItemGroup.RemoveItem 
    '''     BuildItemGroup.AddNewItem 
    ''' </summary> 
    ''' <remarks></remarks> 
    Sub Main()

        ' Create a new Engine object. 
        Dim engine As New Engine(Environment.CurrentDirectory)

        ' Create a new Project object. 
        Dim project As New Project(engine)

        ' Load the project with the following XML, which contains 
        ' two ItemGroups.
        project.LoadXml( _
            "<Project xmlns='https://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003'>" & _
                "<ItemGroup>" & _
                    "<Compile Include='Program.cs'/>" & _
                    "<Compile Include='Class1.cs'/>" & _
                    "<RemoveThisItemPlease Include='readme.txt'/>" & _
                "</ItemGroup>" & _
                "<ItemGroup>" & _
                    "<EmbeddedResource Include='Strings.resx'>" & _
                        "<LogicalName>Strings.resources</LogicalName>" & _
                        "<Culture>fr-fr</Culture>" & _
                    "</EmbeddedResource>" & _
                "</ItemGroup>" & _
            "</Project>" _
            )

        ' Iterate through each ItemGroup in the Project.  There are two. 
        For Each ig As BuildItemGroup In project.ItemGroups

            Dim itemToRemove As BuildItem
            itemToRemove = Nothing 

            ' Iterate through each Item in the ItemGroup. 
            For Each item As BuildItem In ig

                ' If the item's name is "RemoveThisItemPlease", then 
                ' store a reference to this item in a local variable, 
                ' so we can remove it later. 
                If item.Name = "RemoveThisItemPlease" Then
                    itemToRemove = item
                End If 

                ' If the item's name is "EmbeddedResource" and it has a metadata Culture 
                ' set to "fr-fr", then ... 
                If (item.Name = "EmbeddedResource") And (item.GetMetadata("Culture") = "fr-fr") Then 
                    ' Change the item's Include path to "FrenchStrings.fr.resx",  
                    ' and add a new metadata Visiable="false".
                    item.Include = "FrenchStrings.fr.resx"
                    item.SetMetadata("Visible", "false")
                End If 
            Next 

            ' Remove the item named "RemoveThisItemPlease" from the 
            ' ItemGroup 
            If Not itemToRemove Is Nothing Then
                ig.RemoveItem(itemToRemove)
            End If 

            ' For each ItemGroup that we found, add to the end of it 
            ' a new item Content with Include="SplashScreen.bmp".
            ig.AddNewItem("Content", "SplashScreen.bmp")
        Next 

        ' The project now looks like this: 
        ' 
        '     <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?> 
        '     <Project xmlns="http:'schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003"> 
        '       <ItemGroup> 
        '         <Compile Include="Program.cs" /> 
        '         <Compile Include="Class1.cs" /> 
        '         <Content Include="SplashScreen.bmp" /> 
        '       </ItemGroup> 
        '       <ItemGroup> 
        '         <EmbeddedResource Include="FrenchStrings.fr.resx"> 
        '           <LogicalName>Strings.resources</LogicalName> 
        '           <Culture>fr-fr</Culture> 
        '           <Visible>false</Visible> 
        '         </EmbeddedResource> 
        '         <Content Include="SplashScreen.bmp" /> 
        '       </ItemGroup> 
        '     </Project> 
        '
        Console.WriteLine(project.Xml)

    End Sub 

End Module
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;

using Microsoft.Build.BuildEngine;

namespace AddNewItem
{
    class Program
    {
        /// <summary> 
        /// This code demonstrates the use of the following methods: 
        ///     Engine constructor 
        ///     Project constructor 
        ///     Project.LoadFromXml 
        ///     Project.Xml 
        ///     BuildItemGroupCollection.GetEnumerator 
        ///     BuildItemGroup.GetEnumerator 
        ///     BuildItem.Name (get) 
        ///     BuildItem.Include (set) 
        ///     BuildItem.GetMetadata 
        ///     BuildItem.SetMetadata 
        ///     BuildItemGroup.RemoveItem 
        ///     BuildItemGroup.AddNewItem 
        /// </summary> 
        /// <param name="args"></param>
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Create a new Engine object.
            Engine engine = new Engine(Environment.CurrentDirectory);

            // Create a new Project object.
            Project project = new Project(engine);

            // Load the project with the following XML, which contains 
            // two ItemGroups.
            project.LoadXml(@"
                <Project xmlns='https://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003'>

                    <ItemGroup>
                        <Compile Include='Program.cs'/>
                        <Compile Include='Class1.cs'/>
                        <RemoveThisItemPlease Include='readme.txt'/>
                    </ItemGroup>

                    <ItemGroup>
                        <EmbeddedResource Include='Strings.resx'>
                            <LogicalName>Strings.resources</LogicalName>
                            <Culture>fr-fr</Culture>
                        </EmbeddedResource>
                    </ItemGroup>

                </Project>
                ");

            // Iterate through each ItemGroup in the Project.  There are two. 
            foreach (BuildItemGroup ig in project.ItemGroups)
            {
                BuildItem itemToRemove = null;

                // Iterate through each Item in the ItemGroup. 
                foreach (BuildItem item in ig)
                {
                    // If the item's name is "RemoveThisItemPlease", then
                    // store a reference to this item in a local variable, 
                    // so we can remove it later. 
                    if (item.Name == "RemoveThisItemPlease")
                    {
                        itemToRemove = item;
                    }

                    // If the item's name is "EmbeddedResource" and it has a metadata Culture
                    // set to "fr-fr", then ...
                    if ((item.Name == "EmbeddedResource") && (item.GetMetadata("Culture") == "fr-fr"))
                    {
                        // Change the item's Include path to "FrenchStrings.fr.resx", 
                        // and add a new metadata Visiable="false".
                        item.Include = @"FrenchStrings.fr.resx";
                        item.SetMetadata("Visible", "false");
                    }
                }

                // Remove the item named "RemoveThisItemPlease" from the
                // ItemGroup 
                if (itemToRemove != null)
                {
                    ig.RemoveItem(itemToRemove);
                }

                // For each ItemGroup that we found, add to the end of it 
                // a new item Content with Include="SplashScreen.bmp".
                ig.AddNewItem("Content", "SplashScreen.bmp");
            }

            // The project now looks like this: 
            // 
            //     <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>
            //     <Project xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
            //       <ItemGroup> 
            //         <Compile Include="Program.cs" />
            //         <Compile Include="Class1.cs" />
            //         <Content Include="SplashScreen.bmp" />
            //       </ItemGroup> 
            //       <ItemGroup> 
            //         <EmbeddedResource Include="FrenchStrings.fr.resx">
            //           <LogicalName>Strings.resources</LogicalName> 
            //           <Culture>fr-fr</Culture> 
            //           <Visible>false</Visible> 
            //         </EmbeddedResource> 
            //         <Content Include="SplashScreen.bmp" />
            //       </ItemGroup> 
            //     </Project> 
            //
            Console.WriteLine(project.Xml);
        }
    }
}

Thread Safety

Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.

See Also

Reference

Microsoft.Build.BuildEngine Namespace