VS2012 $(exists) only accepts scalar values

Question

Okay, this is more of a build error than a programming error. I have never had much reason to get my hands dirty with builds, so this error is baffling me.

I have tried

Answer 1

I had the same issue, due to improper import of $MSBuildExtensionsPath32$. It's obvious that v10.0 is for VS2010 whereas you're on VS2012 (v11.0).

Therefore, change your import to:

For other, if you have VS2013 (v12.0), you can change it to:

Note: if your remove this line like @giacomelli suggested, you'll not be able to use define your custom target file.

From MSDN : MSBuildExtensionsPath32

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms164309.aspx

Introduced in the .NET Framework 4: there is no difference between the default values of MSBuildExtensionsPath and MSBuildExtensionsPath32. You can set the environment variable MSBUILDLEGACYEXTENSIONSPATH to a non-null value to enable the behavior of the default value of MSBuildExtensionsPath in earlier versions. In the .NET Framework 3.5 and earlier, the default value of MSBuildExtensionsPath points to the path of the MSBuild subfolder under the \Program Files\ or \Program Files (x86) folder, depending on the bitness of the current process. For example, for a 32-bit process on a 64-bit machine, this property points to the \Program Files (x86) folder. For a 64-bit process on a 64-bit machine, this property points to the \Program Files folder. Do not include the final backslash on this property. This location is a useful place to put custom target files. For example, your target files could be installed at \Program Files\MSBuild\MyFiles\Northwind.targets and then imported in project files by using this XML code: