[Nant-users] This is a mail that explains the various nAnt tasks and their progress

[Soumitra Bajpai]

Dear All,   I have been following nAnt over the last two months and I thought maybe by sending a digest of the various commonly needed tasks their development status and how to use them.   CSC task   This is the most commonly used task .To compile a typical library (DLL) see the sample given below               <csc output="<path>\<NameOfDll>.dll" target="library">                      <sources basedir="<the base path from where the files are picked up. example "." ">                           <includes name="Business\*.cs" />                           <includes name="Data\*.cs" />                           <includes name="*.cs" />                       </sources>                      <references>                          <includes name="System.dll" />                          <includes name="System.Data.dll" />                          <includes name="System.EnterpriseServices.dll" />                          <includes name="System.XML.dll" />                          <includes name="System.Web.dll" />                   </references>          </csc>      ResGen Task                       <resgen input="<filename>.txt"  output="<filename>.resources" /> AL Task                      <al output="<filename>.resources.dll" target="lib" template="${TemplateFile}">                      <sources>                             <includes name="<filename>.resources"/>                     </sources>                  </al>                       templatefile:- helps you specify any assembly file whose keyfile or signature is used for signing the the resource dll  It is an optional attribute.     GAC Task       Helps you add/remove/overwrite  assemblies  from  the global assembly.                                           Installing                       <gac assembly="<filename>.resources.dll"/> or                     <gac assembly="<filename>.dll"/>                                Uninstalling                      <gac assembly="filename.resources" uninstall="true"/> or                      <gac assembly="filename" uninstall="true"/>   Note: To add files to the global assembly they must be strongly signed     Upcoming and much needed tasks   RegSvcs Task                                This task will allow the addition and removal of COM+ components ,which is a very desirable task. It has been submitted by Arjen   Solution Task                          This task has already been added ,but I feel it requires more work to be stable . It will really be very useful after it gets stable.   In the mean time I build all the needed dlls separately and use the following piece of code . I pick up all the cs files for the aspx files .                    <csc output="<filename>.dll" target="library">                      <sources basedir=".">                            <includes name="*.cs"/>                            <includes name="\**\*.cs"/>                       </sources>                   <references>                       <includes name="System.dll" />                       <includes name="System.Data.dll" />                       <includes name="System.XML.dll" />                       <includes name="System.Web.dll" />                       <includes name="${OutputPath}\*.dll" />                 </references>                 </csc>          That is all for now . I hope this helps.   Warm Regards,   Soumitra Bajpai Microsoft Technologies Systems Analyst, LG Soft India