Pnp-powershell: Building the project

[jonathaneckman]

I would like to debug a command locally to understand an issue better but am having a hard time getting the project to build successfully.

• I see that there are builds for both NET 4.5 and dotnet core.
• Both have a dependency on their respective versions of OfficeDevPnP.Core.

dotnetcore

• PnPPowerShell references the postbuild event mentioned in the contribution guidelines.
• PnPCore.sln does not build. The only issue I've found recommended building with the .NET 4.5 solution.
• PnPPowerShell.csproj will not build without a reference to the assembly DebugCore\OfficeDevPnp.dll.

.NET Framework 4.5

• SharePointPnP.SharePoint.sln builds successfully.
• OfficeDevPnP.Core.sln builds successfully.
• No post build events seem to exist in SharePointPnP.SharePoint.sln.

I assume to debug the commands, I need the build to drop a package in path which PowerShell modules can be loaded. It seems this is what the postbuild.ps1 script does. I havent been able to get anything to show up in _C:\Users\\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\SharePointPnPPowerShell_.

Any nudge in the right direction would be much appreciated.

[heinrich-ulbricht]

The following procedure for setting up my dev environment did work for me:

• pull the _PnP-Sites-Core_ repo to a folder
• pull the _PnP-PowerShell_ repo to the same folder so they reside side-by-side
• make sure there are no spaces in the path to this folder
• close any open PowerShell/ISE
• open _OfficeDevPnP.Core.sln_
• restore NuGet packages
• build project _OfficeDevPnP.Core_ - successfully ✅
• open _SharePointPnP.PowerShell.sln_
• build project _SharePointPnP.PowerShell.ModuleFilesGenerator_ first - successfully ✅
• build project _SharePointPnP.PowerShell.Commands_ - successfully ✅
• open PowerShell ISE
• the newly built cmdlets now can be used and Visual Studio attached for debugging

Did not have to configure anything else. Windows 10, Visual Studio 2017 & 2019 Preview.

(Once after a PnP update I hade to uninstall all old PnP PowerShell modules, Office 365 CLI and SP Client Components SDK installations because there was an assembly mix-up. Apart from that everything went smoothly and on the first try.)

When I build the assemblies are copied to _C:\Users\\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\SharePointPnPPowerShellOnline_

Did this on two different machines, worked both times.

Now the question: what's different on your machine?

[joshtransient]

Confirmed this worked for me after switching all projects to debug16, thru Configuration Manager, as well.

[jonathaneckman]

Thank you both for the assistance. Following your steps, everything did build successfully but I still find an empty C:\Users\Documents folder. Now that I know its only on my machine, Ill keep at it and will post an update if I figure it out.

[RichieRoxx]

don't think it's only on your machine. Have the same. As far as I understand the compiled cmdlets are copied by post build events. But in my solution (pulled yesterday) no project has any postbuild events. Did they get lost somehow?