Using MSBuild task to run the XmlSerializer directly #117406

afifi-ins · 2025-07-08T05:27:00Z

No description provided.

teo-tsirpanis · 2025-07-08T13:51:20Z

...raries/Microsoft.XmlSerializer.Generator/src/build/Microsoft.XmlSerializer.Generator.targets

    <Delete Condition="Exists('$(_SerializerCsIntermediateFolder)') == 'true'"  Files="$(_SerializerCsIntermediateFolder)" ContinueOnError="true"/>
    <Message Text="Running Serialization Tool" Importance="normal" />
-    <Exec Command="dotnet Microsoft.XmlSerializer.Generator &quot;$(IntermediateOutputPath)$(AssemblyName)$(TargetExt)&quot; --force --quiet $(_SgenRspFilePath)" ContinueOnError="true"/>
+    <UsingTask TaskName="GenerateXmlSerializers" AssemblyFile="$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)/../lib/netstandard2.0/dotnet-Microsoft.XmlSerializer.Generator.dll" />


UsingTask must be moved outside a Target node.

teo-tsirpanis · 2025-07-08T14:14:24Z

src/libraries/Microsoft.XmlSerializer.Generator/src/Sgen.cs

+        public static TextWriter InfoWriter { get; internal set; } = Console.Out;
+        public static TextWriter WarningWriter { get; internal set; } = Console.Out;
+        public static TextWriter ErrorWriter { get; internal set; } = Console.Error;


Should these be instance fields? Also, an Action<string> looks like a better abstraction. Even better, you can use a TaskLoggingHelper here.

teo-tsirpanis · 2025-07-08T14:15:59Z

src/libraries/Microsoft.XmlSerializer.Generator/src/LogWriter.cs

+
+namespace Microsoft.XmlSerializer.Generator
+{
+    internal sealed class InfoTextWriter : TextWriter


You can combine the three TextWriters with a single one like this:

internal sealed class DelegatedTextWriter(Action<string> fWrite) : TextWriter { public override Encoding Encoding => Encoding.UTF8; public override void Write(string? value) { if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(value)) { fWrite(value) } } public override void WriteLine(string? value) => Write(value); }

And then create them in the task like Sgen.InfoWriter = new DelegatedTextWriter(Log.LogError);.

teo-tsirpanis · 2025-07-08T14:16:31Z

src/libraries/Microsoft.XmlSerializer.Generator/src/LogWriter.cs

+        {
+            if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(value))
+            {
+                _log.LogMessage(MessageImportance.High, value);


We should decide if the messages should have high importance, or which of them should.

teo-tsirpanis · 2025-07-08T14:19:31Z

src/libraries/Microsoft.XmlSerializer.Generator/src/Microsoft.XmlSerializer.Generator.csproj

-          Pack="true" />
+    <None Include="build\prefercliruntime" PackagePath="" Pack="true" />
+    <None Include="build\Microsoft.XmlSerializer.Generator.targets" PackagePath="build" Pack="true" />
+    <None Include="build\dotnet-Microsoft.XmlSerializer.Generator.runtimeconfig.json" PackagePath="lib\netstandard2.0" Pack="true" />


We should make sure a .deps.json file is included in the package. You can see this guide for the best practices when creating MSBuild task packages.

We've had to abandon this approach because the Task was being run in msbuild running on .NET Framework when building in Visual Studio. We can't do that because we depend on implementation that lives in the .NET runtime to do some of the work. Would including a .deps.json file allow us to run the Task using .NET when building on Visual Studio?

No, that's not yet supported and is tracked in dotnet/msbuild#4834.

teo-tsirpanis · 2025-07-23T00:49:31Z

src/libraries/Microsoft.XmlSerializer.Generator/src/Sgen.cs

        private static void WriteHeader()
        {
            // do not localize Copyright header
-            Console.WriteLine($".NET Xml Serialization Generation Utility, Version {ThisAssembly.InformationalVersion}]");
+            InfoWriter.WriteLine($".NET Xml Serialization Generation Utility, Version {ThisAssembly.InformationalVersion}]");
        }

        private void WriteHelp()
        {
-            Console.Out.WriteLine(SR.HelpDescription);
-            Console.Out.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpUsage, this.GetType().Assembly.GetName().Name.Substring("dotnet-".Length)));
-            Console.Out.WriteLine(SR.HelpDevOptions);
-            Console.Out.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpAssembly, "-a", "--assembly"));
-            Console.Out.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpType, "--type"));
-            Console.Out.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpProxy, "--proxytypes"));
-            Console.Out.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpForce, "--force"));
-            Console.Out.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpOut, "-o", "--out"));
-
-            Console.Out.WriteLine(SR.HelpMiscOptions);
-            Console.Out.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpHelp, "-h", "--help"));
+            InfoWriter.WriteLine(SR.HelpDescription);
+            InfoWriter.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpUsage, this.GetType().Assembly.GetName().Name.Substring("dotnet-".Length)));
+            InfoWriter.WriteLine(SR.HelpDevOptions);
+            InfoWriter.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpAssembly, "-a", "--assembly"));
+            InfoWriter.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpType, "--type"));
+            InfoWriter.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpProxy, "--proxytypes"));
+            InfoWriter.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpForce, "--force"));
+            InfoWriter.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpOut, "-o", "--out"));
+
+            InfoWriter.WriteLine(SR.HelpMiscOptions);
+            InfoWriter.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpHelp, "-h", "--help"));
        }



These are not required, now that Sgen is no longer a CLI tool.

Suggested change

private static void WriteHeader()

{

// do not localize Copyright header

Console.WriteLine($".NET Xml Serialization Generation Utility, Version {ThisAssembly.InformationalVersion}]");

InfoWriter.WriteLine($".NET Xml Serialization Generation Utility, Version {ThisAssembly.InformationalVersion}]");

}

private void WriteHelp()

{

Console.Out.WriteLine(SR.HelpDescription);

Console.Out.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpUsage, this.GetType().Assembly.GetName().Name.Substring("dotnet-".Length)));

Console.Out.WriteLine(SR.HelpDevOptions);

Console.Out.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpAssembly, "-a", "--assembly"));

Console.Out.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpType, "--type"));

Console.Out.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpProxy, "--proxytypes"));

Console.Out.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpForce, "--force"));

Console.Out.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpOut, "-o", "--out"));

Console.Out.WriteLine(SR.HelpMiscOptions);

Console.Out.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpHelp, "-h", "--help"));

InfoWriter.WriteLine(SR.HelpDescription);

InfoWriter.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpUsage, this.GetType().Assembly.GetName().Name.Substring("dotnet-".Length)));

InfoWriter.WriteLine(SR.HelpDevOptions);

InfoWriter.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpAssembly, "-a", "--assembly"));

InfoWriter.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpType, "--type"));

InfoWriter.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpProxy, "--proxytypes"));

InfoWriter.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpForce, "--force"));

InfoWriter.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpOut, "-o", "--out"));

InfoWriter.WriteLine(SR.HelpMiscOptions);

InfoWriter.WriteLine(SR.Format(SR.HelpHelp, "-h", "--help"));

}

teo-tsirpanis · 2025-07-23T00:52:31Z

src/libraries/Microsoft.XmlSerializer.Generator/src/GenerateXmlSerializers.cs

+            Sgen sgen = new Sgen();
+            Sgen.InfoWriter = new InfoTextWriter(Log);
+            Sgen.WarningWriter = new WarningTextWriter(Log);
+            Sgen.ErrorWriter = new ErrorTextWriter(Log);
+
+            int exitCode = sgen.Run(args.ToArray());


Now that Sgen is no longer a CLI tool, you should add properties to the MSBuild task and to the Sgen class, and not construct command-line arguments.

teo-tsirpanis · 2025-07-23T00:53:22Z

src/libraries/Microsoft.XmlSerializer.Generator/src/GenerateXmlSerializers.cs

+            if (Force)
+                args.Add("--force");
+
+            if (Quiet)
+                args.Add("--quiet");


These two are always true and we should update Sgen to remove all code that would run if they were false.

teo-tsirpanis · 2025-07-23T00:54:39Z

...raries/Microsoft.XmlSerializer.Generator/src/build/Microsoft.XmlSerializer.Generator.targets

    <Delete Condition="Exists('$(_SerializerDllIntermediateFolder)') == 'true'" Files="$(_SerializerDllIntermediateFolder)" ContinueOnError="true"/>
    <Delete Condition="Exists('$(_SerializerPdbIntermediateFolder)') == 'true'" Files="$(_SerializerPdbIntermediateFolder)" ContinueOnError="true"/>
    <Delete Condition="Exists('$(_SerializerCsIntermediateFolder)') == 'true'"  Files="$(_SerializerCsIntermediateFolder)" ContinueOnError="true"/>
    <Message Text="Running Serialization Tool" Importance="normal" />


Suggested change

<Message Text="Running Serialization Tool" Importance="normal" />

Not strictly needed, MSBuild binary logs keep track of when tasks start.

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Using MSBuild task to run the XmlSerializer directly

dc54a42

afifi-ins force-pushed the XmlSerializerGeneratorUseTask branch from 96cab01 to dc54a42 Compare July 8, 2025 05:35

teo-tsirpanis reviewed Jul 23, 2025

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Using MSBuild task to run the XmlSerializer directly #117406

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Using MSBuild task to run the XmlSerializer directly #117406

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