msbuild task in NAnt does not compile WiX project in Prebuild

Question

This WiX Setup project compiles in Visual Studio without a problem. However, running it in NAnt using the msbuild task shows the following error. Heat Prebuild event: ``` "$(SolutionDir)\App_Tools\WiX Toolset v3.8\bin\heat.exe" dir "$(SolutionDir)\App_Shell \bin\$(ConfigurationName)" -dr "AppDirectory" -cg "AppComponentGroup" -t "$(ProjectDir)Filter.xslt" -gg -g1 -sf -srd -sreg -var "var.AppAppPath" -out "$(ProjectDir)\App_HarvestedHeatFile.wxs" ``` msbuild task: ``` ``` Error message Prebuild: ``` [msbuild] Build started 03.02.2014 15:38:35. [msbuild] Project "E:\Projects\Company\App\Development runk\src\App_Inst allers\App.Setup\App.Setup.wixproj" on node 1 (default targets). [msbuild] AssignCultures: [msbuild] Culture: en-US [msbuild] Culture: de-DE [msbuild] PreBuildEvent: […

Accepted Answer

In your case, the issue is with the $(SolutionDir) property and not your pre-processor. The issue is that the property $(SolutionDir) is not getting defined and thats why the error. MSBuild does not define the SolutionDir property so you'll need to manually specify it:

```
msbuild.exe /p:SolutionDir=
```

Did the pre-processor variable (AppAppPath) get evaluated properly using VS? I was thinking that you need to do something like this to get the right value: http://www.ageektrapped.com/blog/setting-properties-for-wix-in-msbuild/

msbuild task in NAnt does not compile WiX project in Prebuild

Solution

Problem