Specify Assembly References Based On Build Configuration in Visual Studio

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Introduction

I wanted to create different builds for my application “Test Case Manager” for the different versions of Visual Studio because of the referenced Microsoft TFS assemblies. Also, I didn’t want to create different projects because there were no changes in the methods that I was using. So I created conditional referencing of the assemblies depending on build configurations. In the post, I will show you how you can accomplish the same thing.

Main goal to achieve:

• Build Configuration 1 -> Reference “Microsoft.TeamFoundation” assembly version 11.0.0.0
• Build Configuration 2 -> Reference “Microsoft.TeamFoundation” assembly version 12.0.0.0

How to Specify Assembly References Based On Build Configuration?

First, you need to create two new build configurations in you solution- VisualStudio_2012 and VisualStudio_2013. In order to do that, follow the steps below:

• Open your solution
• Click Configuration Manager button in the builds configurations drop down

  

• Choose “New” from the “Active solution configurations” drop down

  

• Create new configuration copied from the Release configuration- name it “VisualStudio_2012“.

  

• Repeat the same actions for the second configuration “VisualStudio_2013“.

Next, you need to the MSBuild file of your project. In order to accomplish that, you need to unload the project and edit it.

The line below is the standard MSBuild code which includes an assembly to your project.

<Reference Include="Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Client, Version=11.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, 
    PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a, processorArchitecture=MSIL"/>

The code adds Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Client DLL version 11.0.0.0.

In order to add the DLL only when the build configuration is set to “VisualStudio_2012”, you can add the following code.

<Reference Include="Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Client, Version=11.0.0.0, 
Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a, 
processorArchitecture=MSIL" Condition="'$(Configuration)' == 'VisualStudio_2012' OR 
'$(Configuration)' == 'Debug' OR '$(Configuration)' == 'Release'"/>

We use MSBuild condition statement where we access the current build configuration through the property $(Configuration). Now when you build your project in Release, Debug or VisualStudio_2012 build configurations- version 11.0.0.0 of the Microsoft.TeamFoudation.Client will be added.

In order to add version 12.0.0.0 of the same DLL in “VisualStudio_2013” configuration, add the code below.

<Reference Include="Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Client, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, 
PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a, processorArchitecture=MSIL" 
Condition="'$(Configuration)' == 'VisualStudio_2013'"/>

Finally, save the file and reload your project.

When you open the “References” of your project after the new code is added, you will notice that the “conditional” DLLs are duplicated and one of them is marked as “not found” by Visual Studio.

Don’t worry, the project is building just fine in all build configurations, the only difference is that when you change the build configurations- different versions of the referenced assemblies are added.

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Source Code

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