MSbuild error while packaging PCF solution - value cannot be null, parameter : type

[Aura]

Trying to build and package a PCF control, I could build the control and run in test harness in browser.

But when I create solution and try to package it by running MSBUILD commands, then getting errors.

Attaching full log of creating the control and packaging it here. Been struggling to resolve this so any help is appreciated. 

Thanks

Aura

[Ign]

Has no one found a possible work around for this issue yet?

[joem]

A binary log file would be preferred to debug. Please rerun your build (via dotnet or msbuild CLI) and add the "/bl" argument. This will create a *.binlog file in the current directory.

[linujohn22]

any solution for this problem ? i am facing same issue .

[Anonymous]

Has anyone found an answer to this, i am having the same problem?

[mick4]

Anyone found a solution to this issue, any suggestions much appreciated! 

[joem]

The original post does not contain enough information to debug.

I tried to repro using the same steps as in the original post's docx file, and I did not get any build error.

It is likely that the user's repo has some incompatible build customizations. But not able to determine this unless we get the full build log file.

Please rerun the msbuild command, adding "/bl" to save the binary log file (*.binlog in the current directory).

[cchannon]

Just a guess, but did you remember to use "pac solution add-reference"?

[AdnanDev · Accepted solution]

So I was also having this issue but it was resolved using developer command prompt of Visual Studio. Otherwise you can go through these steps it will work too. (Solved) msbuild is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch fil...

[cchannon]

Ah, yeah, that's a PATH issue. You can get around it by adding the correct msbuild to PATH (you might have multiple installed if you have more than one Visual Studio version installed). Good to hear you sorted it out!

[mrc2018]

I also encountered this error on running msbuild, but I do not agree with the accepted solution as this was encountered even when using the Developer Command Prompt for VS 2019 and with msbuild added to the path. So I don't believe it is a path issue.

I managed to narrow down the error to the value/property which is null. This is the "SolutionPackageMapFilePath" passed to the SolutionPackagerTask within the Microsoft.PowerApps.MSBuild.Solution.Targets file:

I printed out the vars using the <Message /> tag:

As one can see the MappingFilePath and LocalTemplate are essentially null values. Based on tests, the former value cannot be null or absent for whatever reason. The error only goes away when one supplies an actual path to a Map.xml file. However, this opens a can of worms in terms of getting into how to configure and use mapping files for the build. There doesn't seem to be an option to say no to using a mapping file in this version of the pac client.

However, since the built files are still created and added to Solutions\PCF_HelloWorld\obj\Debug\Metadata (where "PCF_HelloWorld" is the name of your component) one can apply the pac solution pack command to still create the final zip file required for upload to the Solutions PowerApps portal. For example:

pac solution pack -z C:\Users\Public\Documents\User\PowerAppComponents\Solutions\PCF_HelloWorld\bin\Debug\HelloWorld.zip -f C:\Users\Public\Documents\User\PowerAppComponents\Solutions\PCF_HelloWorld\obj\Debug\Metadata

I propose this as a work-around rather than a direct solution therefore. Of course if anyone else can shed any light on this error (@DianaBirkelbach, @joem , @cchannon , @Aura, @mick4 ) I would be very interested.

Many thanks