I have a numer, "n" in a property in MSBuild. I also have a string "Str" that needs to be duplicated n-times to achieve a final string that is the repetition of "Str" n times.
Eg. If n is 3 and Str is "abc", what I want to obtain is "abcabcabc"
Since one cannot loop in MSBuild, I don't know how to achieve this. Perhaps with an item group, but how do I create one based on a property containing an "n" count?
Thanks!
usually for things like this I resolve to using inline C#, as it costs me less time than searching all over the internet to find a 'true' msbuild solution; here you go:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup>
<MyString>abc</MyString>
<Count>3</Count>
</PropertyGroup>
<UsingTask TaskName="RepeatString" TaskFactory="CodeTaskFactory" AssemblyFile="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.Build.Tasks.v4.0.dll">
<ParameterGroup>
<s ParameterType="System.String" Required="true" />
<n ParameterType="System.Int32" Required="true" />
<result ParameterType="System.String" Output="true" />
</ParameterGroup>
<Task>
<Code Type="Fragment" Language="cs"><![CDATA[
result = string.Concat( Enumerable.Repeat( s, n ) );
]]></Code>
</Task>
</UsingTask>
<Target Name="doit">
<RepeatString s="$(MyString)" n="$(Count)">
<Output PropertyName="result" TaskParameter="result" />
</RepeatString>
<Message Text="Result = $(result)"/>
</Target>
</Project>
To create a String repeated n times, you can also do this (at least in MSBuild Tools v4.0):
<SomeRepeatedString>$([System.String]::New("-", 40))</SomeRepeatedString>