FTP Credentials for MSBuild.ExtensionPack.Communication.Ftp

Question

In my AfterBuild script I use the following method to upload the files to the deployment server:

<MSBuild.ExtensionPack.Communication.Ftp
TaskAction="UploadFiles"
Host="localhost"
FileNames="$(SomeFolder)\$(FileToUpload)"
UserName="myUserName"
UserPassword="myPassword"
RemoteDirectoryName="/" />

How can I load these credentials from a text file or an external source? What are the alternatives? I don't want to hard-code ftp credentials into my cproj files.

I used GranadaCoders method to answer my own question:

<MSBuild.ExtensionPack.Xml.XmlFile TaskAction="ReadAttribute" File="$(FTP_Credentials_File)" XPath="/parameters/setParameter[@name='host']/@value">
  <Output PropertyName="FtpHost" TaskParameter="Value"/>
</MSBuild.ExtensionPack.Xml.XmlFile>

<MSBuild.ExtensionPack.Xml.XmlFile TaskAction="ReadAttribute" File="$(FTP_Credentials_File)" XPath="/parameters/setParameter[@name='username']/@value">
  <Output PropertyName="FtpUserName" TaskParameter="Value"/>
</MSBuild.ExtensionPack.Xml.XmlFile>

<MSBuild.ExtensionPack.Xml.XmlFile TaskAction="ReadAttribute" File="$(FTP_Credentials_File)" XPath="/parameters/setParameter[@name='password']/@value">
  <Output PropertyName="FtpPassword" TaskParameter="Value"/>
</MSBuild.ExtensionPack.Xml.XmlFile>

<Message Text="Attempting to uploade $(GeneratedZipFile) to $(FtpHost) as read from $(FTP_Credentials_File) ..." Importance="high" />
<MSBuild.ExtensionPack.Communication.Ftp TaskAction="UploadFiles" Condition="Exists('$(FTP_Credentials_File)')"  Host="$(FtpHost)" FileNames="$(PublicFolderToDropZip)\$(GeneratedZipFile)" UserName="$(FtpUserName)" UserPassword="$(FtpPassword)" RemoteDirectoryName="/" />

Answer 1

Put the values in an external xml file. Read the values from the xml file into a variable.

Parameters.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<parameters>
  <setParameter name="LineNumber1" value="PeanutsAreCool" />
  <setParameter name="LineNumber2" value="" />
</parameters>

MyMsbuild_MsBuildExtensions.proj

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project  ToolsVersion="4.0"  xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" DefaultTargets="AllTargetsWrapped">

 <Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\ExtensionPack\4.0\MSBuild.ExtensionPack.tasks"/>

    <PropertyGroup>
        <!-- Always declare some kind of "base directory" and then work off of that in the majority of cases  -->
        <WorkingCheckout>.</WorkingCheckout>
    </PropertyGroup>

    <Target Name="AllTargetsWrapped">
        <CallTarget Targets="ReadXmlPeekValue" />
    </Target>   


    <Target Name="ReadXmlPeekValue">

        <!--  ReadAttribute  -->
        <MSBuild.ExtensionPack.Xml.XmlFile TaskAction="ReadAttribute" File="$(WorkingCheckout)\Parameters.xml" XPath="/parameters/setParameter[@name='LineNumber1']/@value">
            <Output PropertyName="MyValue1" TaskParameter="Value"/>
        </MSBuild.ExtensionPack.Xml.XmlFile>
        <Message Text="MyValue1 = $(MyValue1)"/>        

    </Target>   

</Project>

OR

MyMsbuild_WithCommunityTasks.proj

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project  ToolsVersion="4.0"  xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" DefaultTargets="AllTargetsWrapped">

    <!--
  <UsingTask AssemblyFile="$(ProgramFiles)\MSBuild\MSBuild.Community.Tasks.dll" TaskName="Version"/>
  -->



    <Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\MSBuildCommunityTasks\MSBuild.Community.Tasks.Targets" />



    <PropertyGroup>
        <!-- Always declare some kind of "base directory" and then work off of that in the majority of cases  -->
        <WorkingCheckout>.</WorkingCheckout>
    </PropertyGroup>

    <Target Name="AllTargetsWrapped">
        <CallTarget Targets="ReadXmlPeekValue" />

    </Target>   


    <Target Name="ReadXmlPeekValue">
        <!-- you do not need a namespace for this example, but I left it in for future reference -->
        <XmlPeek Namespaces="&lt;Namespace Prefix='peanutNamespace' Uri='http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003'/&gt;"
             XmlInputPath=".\Parameters.xml" 
             Query="/parameters/setParameter[@name='LineNumber1']/@value">
            <Output TaskParameter="Result" ItemName="Peeked" />
        </XmlPeek>

        <Message Text="@(Peeked)"/>

        <XmlPeek Namespaces="&lt;Namespace Prefix='peanutNamespace' Uri='http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003'/&gt;"
             XmlInputPath=".\Parameters.xml" 
             Query="/parameters/setParameter[@name='LineNumber1']/@value">
            <Output TaskParameter="Result" PropertyName="PeekedSingle" />
        </XmlPeek>      

        <Message Text="PeekedSingle = $(PeekedSingle)   "/>
    </Target>   






</Project>

EDIT:

You can add some basic error checking for the values.

See URL here:

http://tutorials.csharp-online.net/MSBuild:_By_Example%E2%80%94Dealing_with_MSBuild_Errors

Short example.. note the condition..and how it checks for an empty string.

    <Error Text="Unable to connect to webserver" Code="Deploy" Condition=" '$(WebURL)' == '' "/>