Noobie question about MSBuildForUnity

[loic-lopez]

Hello everyone I wondering if is it possible to use MSBuildForUnity and Fody.

I have created a .csproj file under Assets/Scripts/Library

added :

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
    <PropertyGroup>
        <TargetFramework>netstandard2.0</TargetFramework>
    </PropertyGroup>
    <ItemGroup>
        <PackageReference Include="Fody" Version="6.0.3"/>
        <PackageReference Include="MethodTimer.Fody" Version="3.1.0"/>
    </ItemGroup>
</Project>

But it throws:

PrecompiledAssemblyException: Multiple precompiled assemblies with the same name Library.dll included for the current platform. Only one assembly with the same name is allowed per platform. Assembly paths: Assets/Scripts/Library/bin/Debug/netstandard2.0/Library.dll, Assets/Scripts/Library/obj/Debug/netstandard2.0/Library.dll

In fact I'm looking for a tool that would allow me to use weaving code on unity, like Fody

Thanks for reply

[bddckr]

Have a look at https://github.com/ExtendRealityLtd/Malimbe/.

I'd love to kill that project if MSBuildForUnity offers something that would allow using Fody directly instead :) (Of course without specifically adding support for it - more like "makes the regular build pipelines one uses outside of Unity just work" 😄)

[loic-lopez]

Thanks for this reference I will try it soon as possible.

Closing this issue.

[ryantrem]

You should definitely be able to use Fody with MSBuildForUnity. In the case described above by @loic-lopez, the problem is that by default, the build for csproj puts the compiled dll in both the obj directory and the bin directory, and so Unity sees it twice and doesn't know how to handle it. There are a couple ways to deal with this, but the simplest is to put the project in a directory that Unity won't process. To do this, you can either:

1. Put the csproj in a directory that starts with a . (Unity ignores these). Check out the current sample project for this route: https://github.com/microsoft/MSBuildForUnity/tree/master/Source/MSBuildTools.Unity/Assets/Samples
2. Move the csproj outside of the Unity project's Assets directory, and set the in the csproj to be a directory under Assets. This way, the final outputs (normally in the bin directory) will be pushed into the Unity project.

@andreiborodin is doing a bunch of work on the project generation side that will make this easier. The generated projects ultimately will be used for both consuming dependencies - ProjectReference (MSBuild project) or PackageReference (NuGet package). We'll have more samples demonstrating this soonish.

[loic-lopez]

Thanks @ryantrem, I will wait for your samples 🥇

Also I think the best solution is the second choice:

Move the csproj outside of the Unity project's Assets directory, and set the in the csproj to be a directory under Assets. This way, the final outputs (normally in the bin directory) will be pushed into the Unity project.

[andreiborodin]

#35 Has just been put in, there are now two samples linked from the main readme:
https://github.com/microsoft/MSBuildForUnity/#msbuildforunity

Tagging for notification. @loic-lopez, @bddckr

[loic-lopez]

@andreiborodin Thanks, but the two links are broken in the readme.

• https://github.com/microsoft/MSBuildForUnity/blob/master/Samples/SimpleNuGetDependency.Unity/Readme.md
• https://github.com/microsoft/MSBuildForUnity/blob/master/Samples/IntegratedDependencies.Unity/Readme.md

[loic-lopez]

Also in theory I should be able to use the Fody library through this example:

https://github.com/microsoft/MSBuildForUnity/tree/master/Samples/SimpleNuGetDependency.Unity

I would like to do something like that with Fody in a MonoBehaviour:

public class MyBehaviour : MonoBehaviour
{
    [Time]
    public void MyMethod()
    {
        //Some code u are curious how long it takes
        Console.WriteLine("Hello");
    }
}

Ref: Fody/MethodTimer

Thanks for your help.

[andreiborodin]

@andreiborodin Thanks, but the two links are broken in the readme.

https://github.com/microsoft/MSBuildForUnity/blob/master/Samples/SimpleNuGetDependency.Unity/Readme.md
https://github.com/microsoft/MSBuildForUnity/blob/master/Samples/IntegratedDependencies.Unity/Readme.md

Oh wow, GitHub is case sensitive on that link for "README.md", will update.

[andreiborodin]

Also in theory I should be able to use the Fody library through this example:
https://github.com/microsoft/MSBuildForUnity/tree/master/Samples/SimpleNuGetDependency.Unity
I would like to do something like that with Fody in a MonoBehaviour:
public class MyBehaviour : MonoBehaviour
{
[Time]
public void MyMethod()
{
//Some code u are curious how long it takes
Console.WriteLine("Hello");
}
}
Ref: Fody/MethodTimer
Thanks for your help.

Ok, so I am not very familiar with Fody, however, as I understand it's two NuGet packages and then a special compilation step that replaces default source compilation?

We currently let Unity compile our scripts, however, we in the https://github.com/microsoft/MSBuildForUnity/tree/master/Samples/IntegratedDependencies.Unity sample we do setup C# projects for asmdefs in the repo that reference all the Unity libraries.

I think you can craft a special C# project based on the AsmDef generated projects. It references generated .g.props and g.targets that will be geneerated when you open the Editor. Those generated props/targets reference Unity libraries and can allow you to build Unity scripts outside of Unity.

This special crafted project with it's script should be invisible to Unity, so either outside of Assets or in a folder that is prefixed with a dot '.' in the assets folder.

You can then reference that project from Dependencies.msb4u.csproj.

You will need to have Auto Generation Enabled for this, so start with IntegratedDependencies.msb4u sample.

[loic-lopez]

@andreiborodin yes Fody will weave assemblies after the dll are generated.

I will try the IntegratedDependencies.Unity so.

But I would like to log the exec time of a MonoBehaviour private member like my example above, and with and external project, I think I will not able to extends from `MonoBehaviour no?

[andreiborodin]

So that what I was trying to say in my longer post above. The IntegratedDependencies.Unity generates the C# Projects and Solution that can be used to build compiled Unity binaries outside of Unity editor.

So, you can do the same for your code, and have it live outside of Unity, and as long as it references the same imports as the generated props, it should build.

I will see if I can find sometime and hack up a C# project for you.

[andreiborodin]

I managed to hack up some stuff quickly, @loic-lopez I have a PR for you here: #61

There are two very similar C# projects that are of interest to you:

• CustomUnityBuild
• CustomUnityBuild.Player

You can find notes in them that I added, they are prefixed "anborod NOTE::"

They both reference the same source file under .src folder (invisible to Unity) which is in fact a Unity MonoBehaviour.

These projects get build by Unity, and then they rely on current Editor's very own DLLs to build against and place the output into Unity.

Caveat! I had to check-in the meta files, as I couldn't properly hook into our metafilegenerator (there is a task on us to reconcile this). There are two being produced.

Additionally, I have to have two projects to build current platform editor version and player version, we will support a better way in the future.

Finally, any NuGet referenced by these projects will be brought in regardless if any other project file in Unity references the same NuGet package already.

Hopefully this get's you started.

[loic-lopez]

@andreiborodin thanks for your help I will try out your PR as soon as possible!