Buildiling .net multiple Solutions in Jenkins using MSBuild plugin - jenkins

Question

I am trying to build .net multiple Solutions files in Jenkins using MSBuild plugin. I have installed and configured MSBuild. In the Build step - 'Build a Visual Studio project or Solution using MSBuild', under 'MSBuild Build FIle' how do we reference the build file(ex, test.txt) which have 5 solution file paths in it. When i give the path directly C:\test.txt, the build is failing with error
C:\test.txt(1,1): error MSB4025: The project file could not be loaded. Data at the root level is invalid. Line 1, position 1.
0 Warning(s)
1 Error(s)
Time Elapsed 00:00:02.22
Build step 'Build a Visual Studio project or solution using MSBuild' marked build as failure
Finished: FAILURE
Below are the solution file paths mentioned in my test.txt file
C:\workspace\DotNet\Constants.sln
C:\workspace\DotNet\Security.sln
C:\workspace\DotNet\Library.sln
C:\workspace\DotNet\Mapping.sln
C:\workspace\DotNet\MapForce.sln
Could I build by mentioning five solution file paths in .txt file and referring the .txt file path by just using one 'Build a Visual Studio project or solution using MSBuild section'?
I have tried with command prompt manually it builds fine. Also, tried with 'Execute Windows batch command' option by batch commands it works fine and builds successfully, facing problem with 'Build a Visual Studio project or solution using MSBuild' when spefiying .txt file which has many solution file paths in it.
Appreciate your help on this.

Answer 1

MSBuild builds MSBuild files, written in xml, not text files (hence the error MSB4025). Luckily creating a file which can be used to build x other files is fairly simple, here is an example:
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" DefaultTargets="Build">
<ItemGroup>
<Sln Include="C:\workspace\DotNet\Constants.sln"/>
<Sln Include="C:\workspace\DotNet\Security.sln"/>
<Sln Include="C:\workspace\DotNet\Library.sln"/>
<Sln Include="C:\workspace\DotNet\Mapping.sln"/>
<Sln Include="C:\workspace\DotNet\MapForce.sln"/>
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="Build">
<MsBuild Projects="#(Sln)" Targets="Build" Properties="Configuration=Release;Platform=Win32" BuildInParallel="True" />
</Target>
</Project>
This is just written in a straightforward way, shorter but possibly more complicated code might apply. E.g. to just build all solutions in the C:\workspace\DotNet directory you'd just write <Sln Include="C:\workspace\DotNet\*.sln"/> instead of manually spelling out each of them. Or if all of them reside in that directory you could include them by filename only, e.g. <Sln Include="Constants.sln"/> and then add the directory when expanding the list like Projects="#(Sln->'c:\workspace\dotnet\%(Identity)')".
As you can see this builds the Win32|Release version, change that by altering the properties. Also not the BuildInParallel switch: only use this if the solutions don't depend on each other.