microsoft / microsoft/react-native-windows

Specifying minimum VS version with `VisualStudioVersion` environment variable can break `run-windows`

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Area: Build Infrastructure bug Workstream: ES Compliance SFI
Dominant language
C++
Stars
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Forks
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Avg merge
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Description

Problem Description

We allow users to specify the minimum version of VS to use by setting the VisualStudioVersion environment variable. npx react-native run-windows will then read that value and use it to find the desired VS install.

However, many built-in VS targets use this variable in calculating paths, so setting it can actually break the build.

Example, setting to 17.7 (the current preview) we get:

 Build failed with message 5:8>C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Preview\MSBuild\Microsoft\VC\v170\Microsoft.CppCommon.targets(2688,3): error MSB4019: The imported project "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Preview\MSBuild\Microsoft\WindowsXaml\v17.7\Microsoft.Windows.UI.Xaml.Cpp.targets" was not found. Confirm that the expression in the Import declaration "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Preview\MSBuild\Microsoft\WindowsXaml\v17.7\Microsoft.Windows.UI.Xaml.Cpp.targets" is correct, and that the file exists on disk. [E:\code\demo\node_modules\react-native-windows\Folly\Folly.vcxproj]. Check your build configuration.

The path has the 17.7 string we specified, but it should be 17.0. It looks like the VisualStudioVersion environment variable must be just the major version.

Steps To Reproduce
  1. npx react-native init demo --template react-native@^0.71.0
  2. cd demo
  3. npx react-native-windows-init --overwrite
  4. set VisualStudioVersion=17.7
  5. yarn windows --logging
Expected Results

This should build, but instead we get an error.

CLI version

12.0.0-alpha.3

Environment
info Fetching system and libraries information...
System:
  OS: Windows 10 10.0.25336
  CPU: "(24) x64 AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3945WX 12-Cores     "
  Memory: 53.66 GB / 63.86 GB
Binaries:
  Node:
    version: 16.19.1
    path: C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.EXE
  Yarn:
    version: 1.22.19
    path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Yarn\bin\yarn.CMD
  npm:
    version: 9.6.2
    path: C:\Program Files\nodejs\npm.CMD
  Watchman: Not Found
SDKs:
  Android SDK: Not Found
  Windows SDK:
    AllowDevelopmentWithoutDevLicense: Enabled
    AllowAllTrustedApps: Enabled
    Versions:
      - 10.0.18362.0
      - 10.0.19041.0
      - 10.0.22000.0
      - 10.0.22621.0
IDEs:
  Android Studio: Not Found
  Visual Studio:
    - 16.11.33529.622 (Visual Studio Enterprise 2019)
    - 17.6.33723.286 (Visual Studio Enterprise 2022)
    - 17.7.33711.374 (Visual Studio Enterprise 2022)
Languages:
  Java: Not Found
  Ruby: Not Found
npmPackages:
  "@react-native-community/cli": Not Found
  react: Not Found
  react-native: Not Found
  react-native-windows: Not Found
npmGlobalPackages:
  "*react-native*": Not Found
Android:
  hermesEnabled: Not found
  newArchEnabled: Not found
iOS:
  hermesEnabled: Not found
  newArchEnabled: Not found
Target Platform Version

10.0.19041

Target Device(s)

Desktop

Visual Studio Version

Visual Studio 2022

Build Configuration

Debug

Snack, code example, screenshot, or link to a repository

No response

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reproducing the failure with npx react-native run-windows after setting VisualStudioVersion=17.7, following the listed initialization steps. Trace the run-windows entry point to see how that value is used for Visual Studio selection and passed into the build; done means the same setup builds successfully without generating the incorrect v17.7 XAML target path.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
cpp, react-native
Domain
build-system, cli
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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