Csc task

Wraps csc.exe, and produces executables (.exe files), dynamic-link libraries (.dll files), or code modules (.netmodule files). For more information about csc.exe, see C# compiler options.

Parameters

The following table describes the parameters of the Csc task.

Parameter	Description
AdditionalLibPaths	Optional String[] parameter. Specifies additional directories to search for references. For more information, see -lib (C# compiler options).
AddModules	Optional String parameter. Specifies one or more modules to be part of the assembly. For more information, see -addmodule (C# compiler options).
AllowUnsafeBlocks	Optional Boolean parameter. If true, compiles code that uses the unsafe keyword. For more information, see -unsafe (C# compiler options).
ApplicationConfiguration	Optional String parameter. Specifies the application configuration file containing the assembly binding settings.
BaseAddress	Optional String parameter. Specifies the preferred base address at which to load a DLL. The default base address for a DLL is set by the .NET Framework common language runtime. For more information, see -baseaddress (C# compiler options).
CheckForOverflowUnderflow	Optional Boolean parameter. Specifies whether integer arithmetic that overflows the bounds of the data type causes an exception at run time. For more information, see -checked (C# compiler options).
CodePage	Optional Int32 parameter. Specifies the code page to use for all source code files in the compilation. For more information, see -codepage (C# compiler options).
DebugType	Optional String parameter. Specifies the debug type. DebugType can be full or pdbonly. The default is full, which enables a debugger to be attached to a running program. Specifying pdbonly enables source code debugging when the program is started in the debugger, but only displays assembler when the running program is attached to the debugger. This parameter overrides the EmitDebugInformation parameter. For more information, see -debug (C# compiler options).
DefineConstants	Optional String parameter. Defines preprocessor symbols. For more information, see -define (C# compiler options).
DelaySign	Optional Boolean parameter. If true, specifies that you only want to place the public key in the assembly. If false, specifies that you want a fully signed assembly This parameter has no effect unless used with either the KeyFile or KeyContainer parameter. For more information, see -delaysign (C# compiler options).
Deterministic	Optional Boolean parameter. If true, causes the compiler to output an assembly whose binary content is identical across compilations if inputs are identical. For more information, see -deterministic (C# Compiler options).
DisabledWarnings	Optional String parameter. Specifies the list of warnings to be disabled. For more information, see -nowarn (C# compiler options).
DocumentationFile	Optional String parameter. Processes documentation comments to an XML file. For more information, see -doc (C# compiler options).
EmbedAllSources	Optional Boolean parameter. Embed all source files in the PDB. For more information, see -embed (C# compiler options)
EmitDebugInformation	Optional Boolean parameter. If true, the task generates debugging information and places it in a program database (.pdb) file. If false, the task emits no debug information. Default is false. For more information, see -debug (C# compiler options).
ErrorReport	Optional String parameter. Provides a convenient way to report a C# internal error to Microsoft. This parameter can have a value of prompt, send, or none. If the parameter is set to prompt, you will receive a prompt when an internal compiler error occurs. The prompt lets you send a bug report electronically to Microsoft. If the parameter is set to send, a bug report is sent automatically. If the parameter is set to none, the error is reported only in the text output of the compiler. Default is none. For more information, see -errorreport (C# compiler options).
FileAlignment	Optional Int32 parameter. Specifies the size of sections in the output file. For more information, see -filealign (C# compiler options).
GenerateFullPaths	Optional Boolean parameter. If true, specifies the absolute path to the file in the compiler output. If false, specifies the name of the file. Default is false. For more information, see -fullpaths (C# compiler options).
KeyContainer	Optional String parameter. Specifies the name of the cryptographic key container. For more information, see -keycontainer (C# compiler options).
KeyFile	Optional String parameter. Specifies the file name containing the cryptographic key. For more information, see -keyfile (C# compiler options).
LangVersion	Optional String parameter. Specifies the version of the language to use. For more information, see -langversion (C# compiler options).
LinkResources	Optional ITaskItem[] parameter. Creates a link to a .NET Framework resource in the output file; the resource file is not placed in the output file. Items passed into this parameter can have optional metadata entries named LogicalName and Access. LogicalName corresponds to the identifier parameter of the /linkresource switch, and Access corresponds to accessibility-modifier parameter. For more information, see -linkresource (C# compiler options).
MainEntryPoint	Optional String parameter. Specifies the location of the Main method. For more information, see -main (C# compiler options).
ModuleAssemblyName	Optional String parameter. Specifies the name of the assembly that this module will be a part of.
NoConfig	Optional Boolean parameter. If true, tells the compiler not to compile with the csc.rsp file. For more information, see -noconfig (C# compiler options).
NoLogo	Optional Boolean parameter. If true, suppresses display of compiler banner information. For more information, see -nologo (C# compiler options).
NoStandardLib	Optional Boolean parameter. If true, prevents the import of mscorlib.dll, which defines the entire System namespace. Use this parameter if you want to define or create your own System namespace and objects. For more information, see -nostdlib (C# compiler options).
NoWin32Manifest	Optional Boolean parameter. If true, do not include the default Win32 manifest.
Optimize	Optional Boolean parameter. If true, enables optimizations. If false, disables optimizations. For more information, see -optimize (C# compiler options).
OutputAssembly	Optional String output parameter. Specifies the name of the output file. For more information, see -out (C# compiler options).
OutputRefAssembly	Optional String parameter. Specifies the name of the output reference assembly file. For more information, see -refout (C# compiler options).
PdbFile	Optional String parameter. Specifies the debug information file name. The default name is the output file name with a .pdb extension.
Platform	Optional String parameter. Specifies the processor platform to be targeted by the output file. This parameter can have a value of x86, x64, or anycpu. Default is anycpu. For more information, see -platform (C# compiler options).
References	Optional ITaskItem[] parameter. Causes the task to import public type information from the specified items into the current project. For more information, see -reference (C# compiler options). You can specify a C# reference alias in an MSBuild file by adding the metadata Aliases to the original "Reference" item. For example, to set the alias "LS1" in the following Csc command line: CSC /r:LS1=MyCodeLibrary.dll /r:LS2=MyCodeLibrary2.dll *.cs you would use: <Reference Include="MyCodeLibrary"> <Aliases>LS1</Aliases> </Reference>
Resources	Optional ITaskItem[] parameter. Embeds a .NET Framework resource into the output file. Items passed into this parameter can have optional metadata entries named LogicalName and Access. LogicalName corresponds to the identifier parameter of the /resource switch, and Access corresponds to accessibility-modifier parameter. For more information, see -resource (C# compiler options).
ResponseFiles	Optional String parameter. Specifies the response file that contains commands for this task. For more information, see @ (Specify response file).
Sources	Optional ITaskItem[] parameter. Specifies one or more C# source files.
TargetType	Optional String parameter. Specifies the file format of the output file. This parameter can have a value of library, which creates a code library, exe, which creates a console application, module, which creates a module, or winexe, which creates a Windows program. The default value is library. For more information, see -target (C# compiler options).
TreatWarningsAsErrors	Optional Boolean parameter. If true, treats all warnings as errors. For more information, see -warnaserror (C# compiler options).
UseHostCompilerIfAvailable	Optional Boolean parameter. Instructs the task to use the in-process compiler object, if available. Used only by Visual Studio.
Utf8Output	Optional Boolean parameter. Logs compiler output using UTF-8 encoding. For more information, see -utf8output (C# compiler options).
WarningLevel	Optional Int32 parameter. Specifies the warning level for the compiler to display. For more information, see -warn (C# compiler options).
WarningsAsErrors	Optional String parameter. Specifies a list of warnings to treat as errors. For more information, see -warnaserror (C# compiler options). This parameter overrides the TreatWarningsAsErrors parameter.
WarningsNotAsErrors	Optional String parameter. Specifies a list of warnings that are not treated as errors. For more information, see -warnaserror (C# compiler options). This parameter is only useful if the TreatWarningsAsErrors parameter is set to true.
Win32Icon	Optional String parameter. Inserts an .ico file in the assembly, which gives the output file the desired appearance in File Explorer. For more information, see -win32icon (C# compiler options).
Win32Manifest	Optional String parameter. Specifies the Win32 manifest to be included.
Win32Resource	Optional String parameter. Inserts a Win32 resource (.res) file in the output file. For more information, see -win32res (C# compiler options).

ToolTaskExtension parameters

This task inherits from the ToolTaskExtension class, which inherits from the ToolTask class, which itself inherits from the Task class. This inheritance chain adds several parameters to the tasks that derive from them.

The following table describes the parameters of the base classes:

Parameter	Description
EchoOff	Optional bool parameter. When set to true, this task passes /Q to the cmd.exe command line such that the command line does not get copied to stdout.
EnvironmentVariables	Optional String array parameter. Array of environment variable definitions, separated by semicolons. Each definition should specify an environment variable name and value separated by an equal sign. These variables are passed to the spawned executable in addition to, or selectively overriding, the regular environment block. For example, Variable1=Value1;Variable2=Value2.
ExitCode	Optional Int32 output read-only parameter. Specifies the exit code that is provided by the executed command. If the task logged any errors, but the process had an exit code of 0 (success), this is set to -1.
LogStandardErrorAsError	Optional bool parameter. If true, all messages received on the standard error stream are logged as errors.
StandardErrorImportance	Optional String parameter. Importance with which to log text from the standard out stream.
StandardOutputImportance	Optional String parameter. Importance with which to log text from the standard out stream.
Timeout	Optional Int32 parameter. Specifies the amount of time, in milliseconds, after which the task executable is terminated. The default value is Int.MaxValue, indicating that there is no time out period. Time-out is in milliseconds.
ToolExe	Optional string parameter. Projects may implement this to override a ToolName. Tasks may override this to preserve the ToolName.
ToolPath	Optional string parameter. Specifies the location from where the task loads the underlying executable file. If this parameter is not specified, the task uses the SDK installation path that corresponds to the version of the framework that is running MSBuild.
UseCommandProcessor	Optional bool parameter. When set to true, this task creates a batch file for the command line and executes it by using the command-processor instead of executing the command directly.
YieldDuringToolExecution	Optional bool parameter. When set to true, this task yields the node when its task is executing.

Example

The following example uses the Csc task to compile an executable from the source files in the Compile item collection.

<CSC
    Sources="@(Compile)"
    OutputAssembly="$(AppName).exe"
    EmitDebugInformation="true" />

See also

• Task reference
• Tasks