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How to change targetframework based on Visual Studio version

I would like to support from .NET Standard 2.0 to .NET 8.0 every target in a projects. Currently

<TargetFrameworks>$(ExtraTargetFrameworks)netstandard2.0</TargetFrameworks>

is used along with

<Project>
    <PropertyGroup>
        <ExtraTargetFrameworks></ExtraTargetFrameworks>
    </PropertyGroup>
    <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(UseDotnet6SDK)'=='True'">
        <ExtraTargetFrameworks>net6.0;</ExtraTargetFrameworks>
    </PropertyGroup>
</Project>

I would just add net8.0 to the TargetFrameworks, but that's a bit problematic for the following reasons:

  • Windows 7 and 8.1 are no longer supported platforms as of .NET 7

  • Visual Studio 2022 no longer supports Windows 7 and 8.1

  • .NET 7 and later not supported by into Visual Studio 2019 or older

  • Visual Studio refuses to deal with a project unless it can handle all of the project's TargetFrameworks, meaning

      <TargetFrameworks>net5.0;net8.0</TargetFrameworks>`

    won't suffice

So the question is: how to include net8.0 in TargetFrameworks if using Visual Studio 2022 or later or not using Visual Studio at all, but not when using an older version of Visual Studio?

I was thinking of adding conditions to the property groups, like so:

<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Flavor)'=='DEBUG'">

based on this

I have found a list of reserved properties, that I assume could be used in conditions here, but this does not list a way of querying the Visual Studio version - although some paths listed usually contain the version. Would it be possible to regex magic that for the condition?

I don't want to specify properties on the command line, all should be in the .csproj or in other build/project files.

Solution

  • If you want to change targetframework based on visual studio version, you can use property VisualStudioVersion. For more information, please check the Common MSBuild project properties

    For example

    <Import Project="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets" />
<Target Name="PrintVisualStudioInfo">
    <Message Text="VisualStudioVersion: '$(VisualStudioVersion)'" />
</Target>

    enter image description here

    <Project>
    <PropertyGroup>
        <ExtraTargetFrameworks></ExtraTargetFrameworks>
    </PropertyGroup>
    <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(VisualStudioVersion)'=='17.0'">
        <ExtraTargetFrameworks>net8.0;</ExtraTargetFrameworks>
    </PropertyGroup>
</Project>

    Hope it can help you.