Setting Up Continuous IntegrationPart II: configuring CruiseControl.NET

Now that we've created our buildscript in part I, it's time to set up the configuration file for CruiseControl.NET

The ccnet.config file and multiple project-configurations

The tasks that CruiseControl.NET should execute for your project, are configured in the ccnet.config file.
The ccnet.config file can contain multiple project configuration blocks. However, I like to have each project-configuration in it's own, separate file. In my opinion, this is much more manageable.

In order to put each project-configuration in its own XML file and import it in the ccnet.config file, you can make use of DTD entities to substitute constants with the contents of other XML files.
This is how I've done it:

<!DOCTYPE cruisecontrol [
    <!ENTITY project1  SYSTEM "file:D:\folder\project1_ccnet.xml.config">
    <!ENTITY project2 SYSTEM "file:D:\folder\project2_ccnet.xml.config">
]>

<cruisecontrol>

  &project1;
  &project2;

</cruisecontrol>

The above piece of code makes sure that the &project1 and &project2 'placeholders' are replaced with the content of the project1_ccnet.xml.config and project2_ccnet.xml.config files.

I just saw that CruiseControl.NET 1.4 has a new approach to accomplish this, however, I haven't tried it yet.

The CC.NET config file

The CC.NET config file is in fact very simple. You just have to put the Tasks that you've defined in your MSBuild file in the CC.NET config file.
Your CC.NET config file could look like this:

The above configuration file is by all means not complete; I've kept it simple, and left out some tasks. However, you should have an idea :)

MSBuild doesn't support my sln file format

The reason why I specify which executable must be used by msbuild, is very simple:
My project is written in VS.NET 2008, but targets the .NET 2.0 framework. So, by default, CC.NET will use the MSBuild program that has been delivered with the .NET 2.0 framework.
This results in an error: MSBuild doesn't recognize the VS.NET 2008 solution file format, and will stop with this error:

Solution file error MSB5014: File format version is not recognized. MSBuild can only read solution files between versions 7.0 and 9.0, inclusive.

This is offcourse due to the fact that the MSBuild that is used by VS.NET 2005 doesn't know anything about the solution file format that is used by VS.NET 2008.
You can solve this issue by specifying that CC.NET should use the MSBuild executable that can be found in the directory of the .NET 3.5 framework.

The MSBuild XmlLogger Issue

It is possible that CruiseControl.NET will not be able to execute your project, because CC.NET can't find an appropriate XmlLogger.
In this case, you'll find the following error in the CC.NET logfile:
Cannot create an instance of the logger. Could not load file or assembly 'ThoughtWorks.CruiseControl.MsBuild.dll' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

You can solve this problem by placing the XmlLogger for MSBuild (you can find the dll here in your project working directory.