When should we call a target using ‘DependsOnTargets’ and ?

MSBuild provides different ways to call target :

• MSBuild task
• CallTarget task
• DependsOnTarget target attribute
• BeforeTargets and AfterTargets target attributes in MSBuild 4

Using CallTarget is an explicit approach, you start at your first target and call explicitly each target in the order you want.

Whereas DependsOnTargets is an implicit approach, MSBuild infers the calling order by checking the dependency of the targets.

There is no difference between CallTarget and DependsOnTargets on the number of time a target could run : a target will never run twice during a single build (except if you use MSBuild task with different property)

Limitation of CallTarget

One limitation of CallTarget is with dynamic items and property : you can’t access an item or a property that you have created in a target in another target called with CallTarget :

<Target Name="Caller">
  <CreateProperty Value="MyValue">
    <OutputTaskParameter="Value" PropertyName="NewProperty"/>
  </CreateProperty>
  <CallTarget Targets="Called"/>
</Target>

<Target Name="Called">
  <Message Text="$(NewProperty)"/>
</Target>

Dynamic property aren’t publish until the target that created them is done executing. You don’t have this problem using DependsOnTarget

What should I use?

You should use DependsOnTargets for targets that need to be executed before your target. And CallTarget for target to execute after your target. That’s the way Microsoft do it.

<Target Name="CoreCompile"
        DependsOnTargets="$(CoreCompileDependsOn)">
  <!-- Target execution -->
  <Csc ... />
  ...

  <!-- Targets to execute after -->
  <CallTarget Targets="$(TargetsTriggeredByCompilation)"/>      
</Target>