Where can I find the schema (XSD) for a .csproj file?

Question

Where can I find the W3C XML Schema (XSD) for a .csproj file, for Visual Studio 2008?

It seems like this should be obvious, but I spent some time and haven't found one.

I looked in %VS2008%\xml\Schemas, no joy. no joy searching the 'tubes either.

score 21 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 11 '09 at 12:32

21

The csproj files are in fact MSBuild files. The xsd for those can be found here:

%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\[framework version]\Microsoft.Build.xsd

answered Jun 11 '09 at 12:32

Fredrik Mörk

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Any way to find it on macOS? – felixfbecker Sep 13 '18 at 00:58

score 9 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 02 '15 at 15:48

9

The easiest way to figure this out is to unload that project in Visual Studio, then right-click and edit the csproj file.

Open the Visual Studio Solution
Unload one of the projects
Right-click on the unloaded project in the "Solution Explorer" pane
Click "Edit PROJECT_NAME.csproj"
Open the "Properties" pane in Visual Studio
Click anywhere inside the editor pane for the .csproj file
The "Properties" pane should update with different information
Look in the "Schemas" for a list of schemas that apply to that .csproj file

I tried this in Visual Studio 2013, but this should apply to multiple versions of Visual Studio, since at this point the .csproj file is treated like any other XML file.

answered Jul 02 '15 at 15:48

Greg Burghardt

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+10 for this tidbit. I thought you were daft until I tried it :D – James King Jan 19 '17 at 16:05
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Works in VS 2017 as well. – AndrewRalon Feb 22 '18 at 14:47
@GregBurghardt Good job. Helped me a lot for `VS2019`. – nam Oct 27 '19 at 00:43

score 8 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 11 '09 at 12:30

8

I was able to find it in %VS2008%\Xml\Schemas\1033\MSBuild\Microsoft.Build.Core.xsd. The target namespace matches the project files' namespace, and the structure looks right.

answered Jun 11 '09 at 12:30

Welbog

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Still applies to the xsd schemas for visual studio 2010 csproj files. – bwerks Feb 11 '11 at 19:14
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Applies to VS2012 too! `Reference` XML tag (it's a sibling of `ItemGroup`) can be found in `Microsoft.Build.Commontypes.xsd` in the same folder. – Csaba Toth May 21 '13 at 22:33
Location suggested by @Fredrik Mörk is also good. .NET 4.0 contains the xsds of VS2012. .NET 3.5 and 2.0's xsds in MSBuild directory are significantly smaller than .NET 4's. – Csaba Toth May 21 '13 at 22:36

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 11 '09 at 12:31

3

The csproj files are MSBuild files so you should use the schema for MSBuild which is in:

%VS2008%\Xml\Schemas\1033\MSBuild\Microsoft.Build.Core.xsd

answered Jun 11 '09 at 12:31

Pervez Choudhury

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score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Jul 25 '16 at 09:26

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msbuild v14 is now:

C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\Bin\MSBuild

answered Jul 25 '16 at 09:26

RAY

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Where can I find the schema (XSD) for a .csproj file?

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