[nant-dev] Solution/Project Parser

[Yves Reynhout]

Hi,   I've been following (though I should admit not very actively using) NAnt for a while now (about 1200 nant posts in my inbox) .  Especially, not being able to handle the VS.NET "solution" concept was something that bothered me (well, let me rephrase: not handled elegantly).  Ofcourse, it all depends on your focal point, meaning if you don't use VS.NET, you probably couldn't care less about the "solution" concept.  And then it was Matthew Mastracci I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) that introduced the <solution> task into NAnt.  Unfortunatly, I'm not quiet happy with its current implementation, because there's no clear separation between the "solution/project" as data (the content of the .sln and .*prj files) and the "solution" task itself.  The current implementation provides an object model for its current purpose, namely the "solution" task.  Wouldn't it be more usefull to build upon a common representation (read object model) of the VS.NET solutions and projects and re-use that representation in (for now) the solution task.  Maybe there are other uses for the common representation (read other tasks) of the VS.NET solutions/projects.  In an attempt to fill what I feel is a void I started work on a VS.NET Project and Solution Parser/Object model.  My question to the NAnt team, and probably Matthew Mastracci in particular, if they are interested in this parser (which is in no way finished).  I realize this could cause refactoring in the area of the "solution" task and since NAnt will come out with releases on a more regular basis, I'll let you guys be the judge of what I proposed.   To Matthew Mastracci I'd like to say: "Thank you for bringing the 'solution' task to the table.".