Can a GitHub Action build a legacy .NET Framework, composed of multiple .NET Frameworks?

[Rod-at-DOH]

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I'm considering ways of migrating an old TFS ClickOnce deployment to GitHub Actions for a legacy application we have. This application is the bane of my existence. The original developers left before I was hired, so I couldn't ask them anything and they didn't leave any documentation. This is a simple Microsoft WebForms app which produces about 10 web pages, including reports. Nevertheless, the original developers wrote 9 Visual Studio projects within one Visual Studio solution for this. Furthermore, they used 5 different .NET Frameworks when developing the app. I don't get it, but since they all left before I was hired and given the job of maintaining this app, I have no way of asking anyone.

Anyway, I've done enough GitHub Actions that I know you write YAML instructions specifying what version of the development environment to include. But I've never seen a GitHub workflow specifying more than one version of a programming language. Can I take just the highest .NET Framework (4.5.2) and hope that will do for those written in .NET Frameworks older than that, even including .NET Framework 2?

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[Talha-Dogan]

Yes, absolutely. You can build legacy .NET Framework projects (even those targeting multiple versions like 4.5, 4.8) using GitHub Actions.

The key is to use a Windows runner, as Linux runners do not include the necessary legacy .NET Framework SDKs by default. The windows-latest image comes pre-installed with most .NET Framework versions and Visual Studio build tools.

Here is a basic workflow example you can use:

`name: Build Legacy .NET Framework

on: [push]

jobs:
build:
runs-on: windows-latest # Essential for legacy .NET Framework support

steps:
- name: Checkout Repository
  uses: actions/checkout@v3

- name: Setup MSBuild
  uses: microsoft/setup-msbuild@v1.1
  # This action sets up the MSBuild path, required for .NET Framework projects

- name: Restore NuGet Packages
  run: nuget restore YourSolution.sln
  # Restores dependencies before the build process

- name: Build Solution
  run: msbuild YourSolution.sln /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform="Any CPU"
  # Builds the solution using the configured MSBuild environment`

If your project requires specific sub-frameworks that are somehow missing (which is rare on windows-latest), you can install them manually via strict script commands, but usually, the default Windows runner covers standard legacy versions adequately.