VDimensions.MSBuild.Sdk

This project contains some useful MSBuild targets which address common needs across many different projects. Here are a few usecases:

Sensible defaults to a number of MSBuild properties

VDimensions.MSBuild.Sdk.Defaults Introduces sensible defaults to MSBuild properties that are not being pre-initialized by the MSBuild.SDK. For details, check the package readme file

Improved Multi-targeting

VDimensions.MSBuild.Sdk.Multitargeting enables improved multi-targeting support in your code by providing you with a set of pre-processor symbols. These will allow you easily identify the target framework version in your code and use pre-processor directives to bind specific logic of your code to a particular framework version.

The package introduces additional preprocessor definitions for improved netcore/netstandard/netframework version detection. For example:

• NET35_OR_NEWER pre-processor symbol would be available for all .NetFramework framework versions above version 3.5 (including).
• NETSTANDARD1_6_OR_NEWER is available for netstandard1.6 or above, but also for all the .NetFramework versions compatible with this particular standard! Projects targeting .NET Framework 4.7.*, for example, would also receive the symbols for the respective .NETStandard they are compliant to.

Solved pre-publishing caveats

Before publishing a new package out in the open, developers are advised to properly define their copyright notices and other metadata in their nuget package. Some of this information can also embedded in the compiled code binaries, and it is advised to do so.

However, the package-related and binary-included information is managed by separate MSBuild properties, and most IDEs fail to properly align their values. To solve this, developers have to do that plumbing themsleves, but not everyone is familiar with MSBuild. One needs to know where and how these values are actually defined in the MSBuild syntax to set this important information correctly. At VDimensions, we believe that these efforts can be automated and simplified, and the MSBuild tooling allows for just this.

The VDimensions.MSBuild.Sdk.Copyright package, toghether with the VDimensions.MSBuild.Sdk.Nuspec, which are both part of this project, solve aligning the metadata of packages and binaries, allowing for the copyright information, assembly, company and version match the values specified in the nuget package.