Is there a way to check if OutputPath has been overwritten in a csproj?

[thecristidima]

I want to group most of my projects in a few output folders and I'm setting OutputPath in Directory.Build.targets using some simple conditions (e.g. test projects go to TestOutput). I also have a few projects that I would like to exclude from these rules as they have a custom OutputPath already set in their .csproj.

I was wondering if there is a recommended way of checking if OutputPath was overwritten in a .csproj. The only solution I found at the moment is to set a custom property instead of OutputPath in the .csproj (e.g. CustomOutputPath) and when that property is set, I use it instead of the generic rules I defined. Another variation of this would be just using that second property as a flag and keeping OutputPath as it is.

Is there a simpler/cleaner way of doing this? Ideally, I would like to be able to just add some kind of condition like `'($OutputPath)' != '($DefaultOutputPath)', but I don't think this exists (or at least I haven't found it yet).

[rainersigwald]

I can't think of a really good way; I like your $(CustomOutputPath) solution.

You could maybe try to compute if $(OutputPath) matches our default computations:

msbuild/src/Tasks/Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets

Lines 154 to 156 in 3777dca

	<OutputPath Condition="'$(OutputPath)' == '' and '$(PlatformName)' == 'AnyCPU'">$(BaseOutputPath)$(Configuration)\</OutputPath>
	<OutputPath Condition="'$(OutputPath)' == '' and '$(PlatformName)' != 'AnyCPU'">$(BaseOutputPath)$(PlatformName)\$(Configuration)\</OutputPath>
	<OutputPath Condition="!HasTrailingSlash('$(OutputPath)')">$(OutputPath)\</OutputPath>

But that sounds pretty fragile.

[KalleOlaviNiemitalo]

I hoped .NET SDK might provide a way to do this:

• make Directory.Build.props set a property CustomBeforeMicrosoftNETDefaultOutputPathsTargets = MyDefaultPaths.targets
• make .NET SDK import $(CustomBeforeMicrosoftNETDefaultOutputPathsTargets) at the start of Microsoft.NET.DefaultOutputPaths.targets, or in a similar place
• in MyDefaultPaths.targets, set OutputPath if empty

However it looks like .NET SDK does not recognise a property like that. There are other similar properties but SDK imports the referenced files too late.

[JanKrivanek]

Closing as currently there is no better solution.
Feel free to open feature request if you feel this is important and needs better handling.