Does anyone know how to edit msbuild targets files in Notepad++ with intellisense?

Question

I often edit my msbuild files with Notepad++.However, I miss the intellisense I get when I do so in Visual Studio. Does anyone know how to have the same experience in Notepad++?

Answer 1

The Notepad++ auto-completion feature is powered by a bunch of XML files that are located in the <Notepad++ install dir>\plugins\APIs folder. You can create your own language and auto-complete for that language using the tutorials on the website:

• User-language define system
• Auto-complete

Answer 2

You can get the .xsd file from one of these locations depending on if you have Visual studio installed.

\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Xml\Schemas\1033\MSBuild\Microsoft.Build.CommonTypes.xsd

Otherwise look for the XML and XSD file located in the .net version system folder you are using.

c:\windows\microsoft.net\framework\v-----

By the way , to edit and get intelisense in Visual Studio you can do the following:

Open up Visual Studio and go to the Tools -> Options and go to the Text Editor options then you can associate file extensions to text editors. For MSBuild files we need to associate things like “proj” to “XML Editor with Encoding”. Now we also have intellisense to help write the script.