Build order is very inconvenient

[WreckedAvent]

I am using web compiler with TFS 2013, in attempt to avoid checking in .css files when there are .less files checked in.

I noticed web compiler was compiling extremely late in the build process, and not getting included in the drop folder, so I decided to try and add a build target to the csproj to run after the build to try and capture the output. Unfortunately, this is still too early.

I saw #73, but the issue is still present for me using version 1.6.217. Here is the relevant parts of the build log:

         Copying file from "Scripts\<snip>" to "C:\Builds\1\<snip>".
       AfterBuild:
         Testing if web compile has run
       WebCompile:

         WebCompiler: Begin compiling compilerconfig.json

[madskristensen]

Did you update the BuildWebCompiler NuGet package? I believe the issue has been fixed in the later versions

[WreckedAvent]

I had the issue initially with 1.6.217. I have updated to 1.6.219, but the issue persists.

    17>GenerateTargetFrameworkMonikerAttribute:
       Skipping target "GenerateTargetFrameworkMonikerAttribute" because all output files are up-to-date with respect to the input files.
       CoreCompile:
         C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\12.0\bin\amd64\Csc.exe .. <snip> 
     9>AfterBuild:
         Testing if web compile has run
       WebCompile:         
         WebCompiler: Begin compiling compilerconfig.json
         WebCompiler installing updated versions of the compilers...

[madskristensen]

Are you sure you updated the nuget package and not just the extension?

[WreckedAvent]

Here's what I did to update, through the nuget package manager in 2015:

[madskristensen]

Ok, you should be good then. In the package folder under BuildBundlerMinifier there should be a file calld BuildBundlerMinifier.targets under the build subfolder.

It has this in it:

<PropertyGroup>
    <BuildDependsOn>
        $(BuildDependsOn);
        BundleMinify
    </BuildDependsOn>
</PropertyGroup>

What it does is that it runs the BundleMinify task after the regular build tasks has run. Does it fix your problem if you switch them around like this?

<PropertyGroup>
    <BuildDependsOn>
        BundleMinify;
        $(BuildDependsOn)
    </BuildDependsOn>
</PropertyGroup>

I've been thinking of switching them but I'm not fully aware of the consequences for everybody using it.

[WreckedAvent]

In \packages\BuildWebCompiler.1.6.219\build\ I was able to find a file called BuildWebCompiler.targets. I am not using the BuildBundlerMinifier, so I assume you meant to go to the BuildWebCompiler one.

Anyway, in that file I changed:

    <PropertyGroup>
        <BuildDependsOn>
            $(BuildDependsOn);
            WebCompile
        </BuildDependsOn>
    </PropertyGroup>

to

   <PropertyGroup>
        <BuildDependsOn>
            WebCompile;
            $(BuildDependsOn)
        </BuildDependsOn>
    </PropertyGroup>

This appears to correct the build order for my local building. That is, web compiler runs, then my AfterBuild task does. This would resolve my issue if put into an update.

I am unable to test it on the TFS build server since it just gets the packages from nuget and doesn't persist any changes I make to them.

[madskristensen]

Sorry, I meant BuildWebCompiler :)

That's great. I'll make the change to the targets file. Thanks for the help narrowing down the cause and fix

[madskristensen]

The updated NuGet package version 1.6.220 should be ready within the next couple of minutes with the fix

[WreckedAvent]

Thanks for the fix!

As a happy side-effect, this appears to make web compiler run pretty early in the build process. On my TFS2013 build server, it now runs before TFS copies things to the drop folder, so I might be able to skip the after-build step entirely and just have the css files included in the csproj (but not checked into source).