Creation of Visual Studio project files by script fails (Unity 2021.3.7, Visual Studio Build Tools)

Unity Engine
,
1

We generate the Visual Studio 2019 project files via a C# script. After installation of the Unity LTS version 2021.3.7 the project files are not created. We tried the following two proposals:

// use reflection
Assembly unityEditorAssembly = Assembly.GetAssembly(typeof(ActiveEditorTracker));
Type syncVsType = unityEditorAssembly.GetType("UnityEditor.SyncVS");
MethodInfo syncSolution = syncVsType.GetMethod("SyncSolution");
syncSolution.Invoke(null, new object[0]);

// direct call
Unity.CodeEditor.CodeEditor.Editor.CurrentCodeEditor.SyncAll();

After that we switched to the Rider package. With this call the project files are created.

// use the Rider package
Packages.Rider.Editor.RiderScriptEditor.SyncSolution();

When the Visual Studio 2019 IDE is installed, everything is as expected. The value of CodeEditor.CurrentEditor is set to ‘Microsoft.Unity.VisualStudio.Editor.VisualStudioEditor’. The created solution contains entries for the Debug and Release configuration.

Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 12.00
# Visual Studio 15
Project("{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}") = "Assembly-CSharp", "Assembly-CSharp.csproj", "{146DC92F-68A6-764D-5386-1A2691CB68E1}"
EndProject
Project("{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}") = "Assembly-CSharp-Editor", "Assembly-CSharp-Editor.csproj", "{0E303456-8278-5AA7-DD10-D036E70D0DF4}"
EndProject
Global
    GlobalSection(SolutionConfigurationPlatforms) = preSolution
        Debug|Any CPU = Debug|Any CPU
        Release|Any CPU = Release|Any CPU
    EndGlobalSection
    GlobalSection(ProjectConfigurationPlatforms) = postSolution
        {146DC92F-68A6-764D-5386-1A2691CB68E1}.Debug|Any CPU.ActiveCfg = Debug|Any CPU
        {146DC92F-68A6-764D-5386-1A2691CB68E1}.Debug|Any CPU.Build.0 = Debug|Any CPU
        {146DC92F-68A6-764D-5386-1A2691CB68E1}.Release|Any CPU.ActiveCfg = Release|Any CPU
        {146DC92F-68A6-764D-5386-1A2691CB68E1}.Release|Any CPU.Build.0 = Release|Any CPU
        {0E303456-8278-5AA7-DD10-D036E70D0DF4}.Debug|Any CPU.ActiveCfg = Debug|Any CPU
        {0E303456-8278-5AA7-DD10-D036E70D0DF4}.Debug|Any CPU.Build.0 = Debug|Any CPU
        {0E303456-8278-5AA7-DD10-D036E70D0DF4}.Release|Any CPU.ActiveCfg = Release|Any CPU
        {0E303456-8278-5AA7-DD10-D036E70D0DF4}.Release|Any CPU.Build.0 = Release|Any CPU
    EndGlobalSection
    GlobalSection(SolutionProperties) = preSolution
        HideSolutionNode = FALSE
    EndGlobalSection
EndGlobal

But, on our build machine the Visual Studio 2019 IDE is not installed, but the Visual Studio 2019 Build Tools. Now the value of CodeEditor.CurrentEditor is set to ‘UnityEditor.DefaultExternalCodeEditor’ and the created .sln file doesn’t contain an entry for the Release configuration. We need that for the static code analysis with Resharper.

Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 11.00
# Visual Studio 2010
Project("{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}") = "Assembly-CSharp", "Assembly-CSharp.csproj", "{2fc96d14-a668-4d76-5386-1a2691cb68e1}"
EndProject
Project("{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}") = "Assembly-CSharp-Editor", "Assembly-CSharp-Editor.csproj", "{5634300e-7882-a75a-dd10-d036e70d0df4}"
EndProject
Global
    GlobalSection(SolutionConfigurationPlatforms) = preSolution
        Debug|Any CPU = Debug|Any CPU
    EndGlobalSection
    GlobalSection(ProjectConfigurationPlatforms) = postSolution
        {2fc96d14-a668-4d76-5386-1a2691cb68e1}.Debug|Any CPU.ActiveCfg = Debug|Any CPU
        {2fc96d14-a668-4d76-5386-1a2691cb68e1}.Debug|Any CPU.Build.0 = Debug|Any CPU
        {5634300e-7882-a75a-dd10-d036e70d0df4}.Debug|Any CPU.ActiveCfg = Debug|Any CPU
        {5634300e-7882-a75a-dd10-d036e70d0df4}.Debug|Any CPU.Build.0 = Debug|Any CPU
    EndGlobalSection
    GlobalSection(SolutionProperties) = preSolution
        HideSolutionNode = FALSE
    EndGlobalSection
EndGlobal

I’m also confused about the different versions of Visual Studio listed in the first two lines of the generated solution file.

Any idea what went wrong here? Thanks for any answer.

2

Might be worth mentioning the doc Using the JetBrains Rider Editor package | JetBrains Rider Editor | 3.0.31
I would expect vs tools is not needed, you may use just dotnet instead.

3

Thanks for your answer. We are not using Rider as External Script Editor in Unity.

What do you mean with “use just dotnet instead”? Resharper requires the .sln files as input for the SCA.