You can integrate SmartAssembly in your build process. 

You set up your project in SmartAssembly once, and you can then build your assembly in your normal MSBuild process. The settings you chose in the SmartAssembly project are applied without needing to run SmartAssembly separately.

Note that the SmartAssembly task should be the last stage of your build process. Because of the way SmartAssembly changes your assembly, running other tasks after SmartAssembly is not supported. (An exception to this is assembly-signing tools, if you choose not to sign your code with SmartAssembly).

Automatic integration (.NET Framework, .NET Core, .NET Standard)

To integrate SmartAssembly directly into the build process using our NuGet package, follow these steps:

1. Open your C# or VB.NET project in Visual Studio and add a reference to RedGate.SmartAssembly.MSBuild NuGet package.
2. Build your assembly in Release mode.
3. Open SmartAssembly and create a new project for your assembly (see Working with projects and Working with project settings).
4. Save a SmartAssembly project next to your C# or VB.NET project under the same name. For example, if your C# project is named ProjectA.csproj, then save SmartAssembly project as ProjectA.saproj.

Using custom properties

You can add any of the following properties anywhere in your .csproj or .vbproj file:

An example with optional properties set in a .csproj file is shown below.

<Project>
  ...
  <Import Project="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets" />

  <!-- Optional SmartAssembly properties -->
  <PropertyGroup>
    <SmartAssemblyIsEnabled>False</SmartAssemblyIsEnabled>
    <SmartAssemblyIsEnabled Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == 'Debug' ">True</SmartAssemblyIsEnabled>
    <SmartAssemblyProjectFile>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\$(AssemblyName)_$(Configuration).saproj</SmartAssemblyProjectFile>
    <SmartAssemblyInput>$(TargetPath)</SmartAssemblyInput>
    <SmartAssemblyOutput>$(OutputPath)\Protected\$(TargetFileName)</SmartAssemblyOutput>
    <SmartAssemblyOverwriteAssembly>True</SmartAssemblyOverwriteAssembly>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <!-- /Optional SmartAssembly properties -->
</Project>

Explanation of the optional properties set on the screenshot above and their sample values:

1. SmartAssembly will only process the assembly when building project in Debug configuration.
2. SmartAssembly will use a project file located in $(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\$(AssemblyName)_$(Configuration).saproj, for example C:\MyProject\MyProject_Debug.saproj.
3. SmartAssembly will process the assembly located in $(TargetPath), for example C:\MyProject\bin\Debug\MyProject.exe.
4. SmartAssembly will overwrite the input assembly.
5. SmartAssembly will ignore SmartAssemblyOutput property, because SmartAssemblyOverwriteAssembly was set to True.

More examples

If your project uses SDK-style project file or targets multiple frameworks, refer to Process a project targeting multiple frameworks.

Using the MSBuild task directly

By default, SmartAssembly MSBuild task is executed automatically for Release builds after CoreBuild MSBuild target.

If you want to execute SmartAssembly task before or after different MSBuild targets, or you want to execute SmartAssembly multiple times, you can use the SmartAssembly task directly.

First, you need to disable the default task by setting SmartAssemblyIsEnabled property to False:

<PropertyGroup>
  <SmartAssemblyIsEnabled>False</SmartAssemblyIsEnabled>
</PropertyGroup>

Then, you can execute SmartAssembly task directly with your own MSBuild target:

<Target Name="MyCustomSmartAssemblyTarget" AfterTargets="CoreBuild">
  <SmartAssembly ProjectFile="path\to\project.saproj" />
</Target>
<!--
Attribute "ProjectFile" is required for "SmartAssembly" task.
You can use optional attributes:
  OverwriteAssembly="true or false"
  Input="path\to\input\assembly.exe"
  Output="path\to\output\assembly.exe"
-->