VS.NET Intellisense for .build files in NAnt
If you have ever worked with NAnt , you probably know that there is an xsd for .build files that provides intellisense in VS.NET 2003. After you add a task dll ( In my case NAnt.SharePoint.Task.dll) or install a newer version of NAnt , there are some manual steps required to make VS recognizes the new schema. Instead of the manual process, you can get NAnt itself to update/generate its schema for the internal use of VS.NET 2003 by creating a build file and calling the command line as described below:
1) Create UpdateCreateSchema.build file with the following NAnt snippet and save the file in for example c:\nantGen folder :
xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<project name=" UpdateCreateSchema" default="genschema">
might be different in your installation-->
<property name="SchemaFile" value="C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\Common7\Packages\schemas\xml\NAnt.xsd"/>
<target name="genschema">
<nantschema output="${SchemaFile}" target-ns="http://nant.sf.net/schemas/nant.xsd"/>
target>
project>
2) Assuming Nant has been properly added to Path variable, open a command prompt and change directory to c:\nantGen . Call the following command line:
nant file: UpdateCreateSchema.build
3) Now that you have deployed the latest version of NAnt.xsd file to the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\Common7\Packages\schemas\xml folder , you must go through all of your build files in your project and
a.Make VS.NET recognize your .build file as an XML file (If already done, skip this step then ):
In "Solution Explorer", right-click a .build file and choose "Open With". In the "Open With" dialog, select "HTML/XML Editor" and click the "Set as Default" button. Enable intellisense for each .build file.
b.When file is opened by the "HTML/XML Editor" , in the properties window , set the targetSchema to the newly updated/generated Nant.xsd
4) Boom. You'll get intellisense. Enjoy!