MSBuild

This rule is tailored for MSBuild.exe from the Visual Studio installation. It does not support the dotnet msbuild execution path. MSBuild determines it own compile and linker flags based on the project/solution file configuration. This cannot be fully controlled from bazel like other rules (e.g. cmake). We do our best by generating a msbuild.props file that is used by specifying -p:ForceImportAfterCppTargets=msbuild.props to append bazel flags and override existing flags where possible.

Since MSBuild is closed source project from Microsoft, there is no prebuilt toolchain available and we cannot build it from source. The default is a pre-installed toolchain which assumes MSBuild.exe is installed as a part of Visual Studio and locateable by bazel. If you want to implement your own MSBuild toolchain you will need to define a toolchain that implements the toolchain type @rules_foreign_cc//toolchains:msbuild_toolchain. E.g.

toolchain(
    name = "msbuild_toolchain",
    exec_compatible_with = [
        "@platforms//os:windows",
        "@platforms//cpu:x86_64",
    ],
    target_compatible_with = [
        "@platforms//os:windows",
        "@platforms//cpu:x86_64",
    ],
    toolchain = ":_msbuild_toolchain",
    toolchain_type = "@rules_foreign_cc//toolchains:msbuild_toolchain",
)

native_tool_toolchain(
    name = "_msbuild_toolchain",
    path = "<Path to MSBuild.exe inside target>",
    target = "<Label to toolchain target>",
    env = {
        "MSBUILD": "$(execpath <Label for MSBuild.exe>)",
    },
)

native_tool_toolchain should refer to the target where your MSBuild binary/files reside.

When using your own toolchain, it may also be necessary to set the following properties for MSBuild:

# Use env from bazel toolchain, don't override it.
"-p:UseEnv=true",
"-p:SetEnvOverride=false",

# Toolchain config
"-p:PlatformToolset=", # e.g "v143" for Visual Studio 2022
"-p:VCToolsRedistVersion=",
"-p:VCInstallDir=<path to Visual C++ install dir>",
"-p:VCInstallDir_170=<path to Visual C++ install dir for Visual Studios 2022>",

# SDK configuration
"-p:WindowsSdkDir_10=<path to windows sdk>",
"-p:WindowsKitsRoot=<path to windows sdk>",

# Skip the problematic SDK check target
"-p:_CheckWindowsSDKInstalled=",

# Bypass Windows SDK validation checks
"-p:WindowsSDKInstalled=true",
"-p:WindowsSDK_Desktop_Support=true",

The MSBuild Configuration property is controlled by the configuration attribute. When left unset it follows the Bazel compilation mode, defaulting to Debug under -c dbg and Release otherwise (matching the cmake rule).

The MSBuild Platform property is controlled by the platform attribute. It is left unset by default so MSBuild picks the platform declared in the solution or project file. A .sln only builds the Configuration|Platform pairs it declares, so forcing a platform that the solution does not declare fails with MSB4126; set platform only when the project supports it.

MSBuild projects must copy their outputs into $(OutDir) using the layout declared on the rule. For example, with the default include directory and out_static_libs = ["mylib.lib"], the project should produce $(OutDir)mylib.lib and copy public headers under $(OutDir)include.

msbuild

load("@rules_foreign_cc//foreign_cc:msbuild.bzl", "msbuild")

msbuild(name, deps, data, additional_inputs, additional_tools, alwayslink, args, build_data,
        configuration, copts, defines, dynamic_deps, env, experimental_validate_outputs_in_action,
        includes, lib_name, lib_source, linkopts, out_bin_dir, out_binaries, out_data_dirs,
        out_data_files, out_dll_dir, out_headers_only, out_include_dir, out_interface_libs,
        out_lib_dir, out_shared_libs, out_static_libs, platform, postfix_script, properties,
        resource_size, set_file_prefix_map, sln_file_path, static_suffix, targets, tool_prefix,
        tools_deps, verbosity)

Rule for building external library with MSBuild.

ATTRIBUTES

export_for_test.msbuild_dep_paths

load("@rules_foreign_cc//foreign_cc:msbuild.bzl", "export_for_test")

export_for_test.msbuild_dep_paths(deps, inputs)

PARAMETERS

export_for_test.msbuild_properties

load("@rules_foreign_cc//foreign_cc:msbuild.bzl", "export_for_test")

export_for_test.msbuild_properties(user_properties, configuration, platform)

PARAMETERS

export_for_test.sln_file_path

load("@rules_foreign_cc//foreign_cc:msbuild.bzl", "export_for_test")

export_for_test.sln_file_path(sln_file_path, lib_source_files, root)

PARAMETERS