So you’re using .vdproj setup projects are you?  And you want to automate them with TFS 2010?  Well, you’re in the right place, although I would recommend you start moving those setup projects to a msdeploy  solution.

First, to automate the building of .vdproj project, you’re going to need to write your own msbuild file because they are not in msbuild format and therefore TFS Build does not know what to do with them.  I found some good examples on the net on how to do this, but I updated mine a little for 2010.  Here it is:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" ToolsVersion="4.0">
  <Target Name="Build">
    <PropertyGroup>
            <DevEnv>$(ProgramFiles)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.com</DevEnv>
            <SolutionFile>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\MySolution.sln</SolutionFile>
            <ProjectFile>$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\MySetupProject\MySetup.vdproj</ProjectFile>
            <Configuration>Release</Configuration>
    </PropertyGroup>
    <Exec
          Command="&quot;$(DevEnv)&quot; &quot;$(SolutionFile)&quot; /Rebuild &quot;$(Configuration)&quot;
          /Project &quot;$(ProjectFile)&quot; /ProjectConfig &quot;$(Configuration)&quot; /Log"
          ContinueOnError="false"
         IgnoreExitCode="false"
         WorkingDirectory="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)" />
  </Target>
</Project>

After you’ve done that save the msbuild file as, for example, AutomatedSetupBuild.proj and add it to source control at the same level as the solution file you intend to build.  Then select it when you are creating your build definition.

One last thing on drops.  If you intend to create a drop, there is a twist.  TFS Build usually overwrites the “OutputPath” property in msbuild files to the “Binaries” folder on the build agent at build time.  Since the “OutputPath” property does not apply here, you will need to overwrite it in the .vdproj file.  Simply open the .vdproj file in a text editor and find the word “Release”.  Change the “OutputFilename” to “..\\..\\..\\Binaries\\*.msi”.  My .vdproj file had an “8:” prefixing the path which I simply left.

You’re done now.  Enjoy!