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MSB4067 The element <WriteLinesToFile> beneath element <Target> is unrecognized

August 20, 2024

I have a Directory.Build.targets file that would increment build number of the project version when building with Release configuration. I.e., the product version is 1.0.0.0, when built in Release config, this target would make it 1.0.0.1, and so on. For some reason I’m getting this error:

MSB4067 The element <WriteLinesToFile> beneath element <Target> is unrecognized.

Code

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
    <Target Name="IncrementBuildNumber" BeforeTargets="GenerateAssemblyInfo" Condition="'$(Configuration)' == 'Release'">
        <PropertyGroup>
            <VersionFile>$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)version.txt</VersionFile>
        </PropertyGroup>

        <ReadLinesFromFile File="$(VersionFile)">
            <Output TaskParameter="Lines" ItemName="VersionLines"/>
        </ReadLinesFromFile>

        <PropertyGroup>
            <VersionString>%(VersionLines[0])</VersionString>
            <MajorVersion>$([System.String]::Split($(VersionString), '.')[0])</MajorVersion>
            <MinorVersion>$([System.String]::Split($(VersionString), '.')[1])</MinorVersion>
            <PatchNumber>$([System.String]::Split($(VersionString), '.')[2])</PatchNumber>
            <BuildNumber>$([System.String]::Split($(VersionString), '.')[3])</BuildNumber>
        </PropertyGroup>

        <PropertyGroup>
            <NewBuildNumber>$([System.Int32]::Parse($(BuildNumber)) + 1)</NewBuildNumber>
            <NewVersion>$(MajorVersion).$(MinorVersion).$(PatchNumber).$(NewBuildNumber)</NewVersion>
        </PropertyGroup>

        <WriteLinesToFile File="$(VersionFile)" Overwrite="true">
            $(NewVersion)
        </WriteLinesToFile>

        <PropertyGroup>
            <Version>$(NewVersion)</Version>
        </PropertyGroup>
    </Target>
</Project>

>Solution :

I think the content of the write operation needs to be passed as a Lines attribute rather than as the body. <WriteLinesToFile File="$(VersionFile)" Overwrite="true" Lines="$(NewVersion)" />

I used this as a reference https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/msbuild/writelinestofile-task?view=vs-2022#example

This is a guess and I haven’t tested it!