Running processes at the same time on the Target xml object (csproj file)

Question

I was thinking how I could run multiples processes (setting up the dependencies to achieve the final result) in a just dotnet custom command.

I quickly found the target xml object that I can setup in the .csproj file.

So this is what I tried:

<Target Name="fuzz" BeforeTargets="Run">
    <Exec Command="docker run --name dumpsql -v C:\path\to\postgres1.sql:/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/postgres1.sql --env POSTGRES_DB=postgres --env POSTGRES_PASSWORD=postdocker -p 5432:5432 -d postgres:latest"/>
    <Exec Command="dotnet run"/>
    <Exec Command="docker run --name fuzzcontainer schemathesis/schemathesis:stable run --cassette-path /app/cassete.yaml --checks all http://host.docker.internal:5169/swagger/v1/swagger.json"/>
</Target>

Then I could run dotnet msbuild /t:fuzz

The problem:

• Stop in the second Exec, probably, because the dotnet program is still running and it didn't return any code.

So how can I force the build to move on to the next Exec without waiting for a returned code?

Thank you all.

Answer 1

I am able to reproduce your situation:

And this is the way I use to avoid the situation:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
    <TargetFramework>net6.0</TargetFramework>
    <ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings>
    <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <Target Name="fuzz" BeforeTargets="Build">
    <Exec Command="echo xxx"/>
    <!--<Exec Command="dotnet run"/>-->
    <Exec Command="dotnet run > output.log 2> error.log"/>
    <Exec Command="echo yyy"/>
  </Target>

</Project>

The key is:

dotnet run > output.log 2> error.log

In this way, I can continue my steps and the dotnet run unable to block me any more.

The outputs will be generated into two files.