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msbuildvisual-studio-2017visual-studio-2017-build-tools

Visual Studio automatically renames external tool path

I am trying to set some external tools paths in Visual Studio 2017 and for some reason, certain entries get automatically renamed. Under 

Tools > Options > Projects and Solutions > Web Package Management > External Web Tools

I am trying to enter $(VSINSTALLDIR)\Web\External but after clicking [OK] on the Options dialog, this then gets renamed to $(VSInstalledExternalTools).

I made a small MSBuild script to test the values of each of these variables. This included the following message statements:

    <Message Text="$(VSInstallDIR)\Web\External"></Message>
    <Message Text="$(VSInstalledExternalTools)"></Message>

The first one outputs "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\Web\External" whereas the second outputs an empty string. This is breaking my build process, but I cannot figure out how to resolve.

Solution

  • ...Hard to say:

    But please use $(VSINSTALLDIR)Web\External instead of $(VSINSTALLDIR)\Web\External.

    The latter one equals: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\\Web\External

    enter image description here

    Line6: Result of $(VSINSTALLDIR)\Web\External using \\

    Line7: Result of $(VSINSTALLDIR)Web\External.

    I think the \\ causes this issue. Hope it helps.