MSBuild: how to control the parsing of a semicolon delimited property

Question

When a single property contains semicolons, MSBuild automatically parse the property into a list of properties when used within an itemgroup. Here's a snippet from my project:

 <PropertyGroup>
   <ConnectionString>workstation id=.;packet size=4096;Integrated Security=SSPI;data source=.;initial catalog=$(SqlDbName)</ConnectionString>
 </PropertyGroup>

 <ItemGroup>
   <InstallShieldProperties Include="
       CONNECTIONSTRING=$(ConnectionString);
       Another=$(value)"/>
 </ItemGroup> 

When a task consumes the @(InstallShieldProperties) itemgroup, MSBuild will parse the ConnectionString property into a list of subset properties since it contains semicolons.

    foreach (string property in Properties)
    {
      // Properties array parsed to pieces
    }

I know I can change the delimiter of the itemgroup, but that won't make any difference. I'm trying to avoid manipulating the string[] array within the custom task.

Answer 1

AFAICS, you can either escape the semicolon in the $(ConnectionString) property like:

<ConnectionString>workstation id=.%3Bpacket size=4096%3B.."</ConnectionString>

Or use some task to replace the ';' in the ConnectionString property to '%3B' and then use that property in InstallShieldProperties item.

The other way could be to change the property type in the custom task from string[] to string, and then split it yourself, the way you want it. You could use enclosing quotes to separate Connection string part from other key/value pairs.

Or if it makes sense for your custom task, then maybe connection string is a special enough property to have as a separate task property.