ITaskItem Interface
Defines an MSBuild item that can be consumed and emitted by tasks.
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.
Namespace: Microsoft.Build.Framework
Assembly: Microsoft.Build.Framework (in Microsoft.Build.Framework.dll)
Syntax
'Declaration
<ComVisibleAttribute(True)> _
<GuidAttribute("8661674F-2148-4F71-A92A-49875511C528")> _
Public Interface ITaskItem
[ComVisibleAttribute(true)]
[GuidAttribute("8661674F-2148-4F71-A92A-49875511C528")]
public interface ITaskItem
[ComVisibleAttribute(true)]
[GuidAttribute(L"8661674F-2148-4F71-A92A-49875511C528")]
public interface class ITaskItem
[<ComVisibleAttribute(true)>]
[<GuidAttribute("8661674F-2148-4F71-A92A-49875511C528")>]
type ITaskItem = interface end
public interface ITaskItem
The ITaskItem type exposes the following members.
Properties
| Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|
.gif "Public property") |
ItemSpec | Gets or sets the item specification.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. |
|
MetadataCount | Gets the number of metadata entries associated with 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. |
|
MetadataNames | Gets the names of the metadata entries associated with 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. |
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Methods
| Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|
.gif "Public method") |
CloneCustomMetadata | Gets the collection of custom 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. |
|
CopyMetadataTo | Copies the custom metadata entries to another 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. |
|
GetMetadata | Gets the value of the specified metadata entry.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. |
|
RemoveMetadata | Removes the specified metadata entry from 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. |
|
SetMetadata | Adds or changes a custom metadata entry to 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. |
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Remarks
The number of ITaskItem objects created during a build may not correspond exactly to items declared in a project file for the following reasons:
Tasks sometimes create items that were not declared in the project file.
An item collection can be declared in the project file with wildcards, which could create many items when built.
Examples
The following example shows the code for a task that creates one or more directories.
using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Security;
using System.Collections;
using Microsoft.Build.Framework;
using Microsoft.Build.Utilities;
namespace Microsoft.Build.Tasks
{
/*
* Class: MakeDir
* An MSBuild task that creates one or more directories.
*/
public class MakeDir : Task
{
// The Required attribute indicates the following to MSBuild:
// - if the parameter is a scalar type, and it is not supplied, fail the build immediately
// - if the parameter is an array type, and it is not supplied, pass in an empty array
// In this case the parameter is an array type, so if a project fails to pass in a value for the
// Directories parameter, the task will get invoked, but this implementation will do nothing,
// because the array will be empty.
[Required]
// Directories to create.
public ITaskItem[] Directories
{
get
{
return directories;
}
set
{
directories = value;
}
}
// The Output attribute indicates to MSBuild that the value of this property can be gathered after the
// task has returned from Execute(), if the project has an <Output> tag under this task's element for
// this property.
[Output]
// A project may need the subset of the inputs that were actually created, so make that available here.
public ITaskItem[] DirectoriesCreated
{
get
{
return directoriesCreated;
}
}
private ITaskItem[] directories;
private ITaskItem[] directoriesCreated;
/// <summary>
/// Execute is part of the Microsoft.Build.Framework.ITask interface.
/// When it's called, any input parameters have already been set on the task's properties.
/// It returns true or false to indicate success or failure.
/// </summary>
public override bool Execute()
{
ArrayList items = new ArrayList();
foreach (ITaskItem directory in Directories)
{
// ItemSpec holds the filename or path of an Item
if (directory.ItemSpec.Length > 0)
{
try
{
// Only log a message if we actually need to create the folder
if (!Directory.Exists(directory.ItemSpec))
{
Log.LogMessage(MessageImportance.Normal, "Creating directory " + directory.ItemSpec);
Directory.CreateDirectory(directory.ItemSpec);
}
// Add to the list of created directories
items.Add(directory);
}
// If a directory fails to get created, log an error, but proceed with the remaining
// directories.
catch (Exception ex)
{
if (ex is IOException
|| ex is UnauthorizedAccessException
|| ex is PathTooLongException
|| ex is DirectoryNotFoundException
|| ex is SecurityException)
{
Log.LogError("Error trying to create directory " + directory.ItemSpec + ". " + ex.Message);
}
else
{
throw;
}
}
}
}
// Populate the "DirectoriesCreated" output items.
directoriesCreated = (ITaskItem[])items.ToArray(typeof(ITaskItem));
// Log.HasLoggedErrors is true if the task logged any errors -- even if they were logged
// from a task's constructor or property setter. As long as this task is written to always log an error
// when it fails, we can reliably return HasLoggedErrors.
return !Log.HasLoggedErrors;
}
}
}