This post originated from an RSS feed registered with .NET Buzz by Raymond Lewallen. Original Post: Using Devenv at the command prompt to build projects Feed Title: Raymond Lewallen Feed URL: /error.htm?aspxerrorpath=/blogs/raymond.lewallen/rss.aspx Feed Description: Patterns and Practices, OOP, .Net and Sql Latest .NET Buzz Posts Latest .NET Buzz Posts by Raymond Lewallen Latest Posts From Raymond Lewallen

We all know about NAnt, MsBuild and some other build tools.  People are very aware of these, but seem to be unaware that you can create your own build batch file just by using visual studio and the command prompt.

Let’s say you have 2 solutions, a solution with business objects and business rules assemblies, and another solution just for an Asp.Net GUI project.  We can easily build a batch file to compile these three projects:

REM Builds projects in debug mode

REM Build data project

Devenv /build debug /project DataAccess "C:\Projects\WebApplication\BusinessProjects.sln"

REM Build business rules project

Devenv /build debug /project BusinessRules "C:\Projects\WebApplication\BusinessProjects.sln"

REM Build web application

Devenv /build debug /project WebApplication "C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\WebApplication\AspWebApplication.sln"

Voila!  Run the batch file to build everything in debug build.

• “Devenv” is the IDE executable.
• /build is the switch to build the project.  It takes either “debug” or “release” as arguments.  Change “debug” to “release” to build everything in release mode.
• /project and its argument specifiy the name of the project to build within a solution.
• The final argument for “devenv” is the location of the solution file that contains the project you want to build.

Note:  This works for .Net IDE 2002 and 2003.  I have not tried this with 2005 yet.  If anyone has, let me know of the changes in the comments below.

You can do “devenv /?” at the command prompt to list all available switches for Devenv, with descriptions of their uses.

From MSDN Documentation:

 The following syntax rules apply to all switches and arguments:

• The command line syntax must start with devenv. For example, to use the /fn switch you would type the following:

  devenv /fn arial

• Switches are not case sensitive.
• The first argument is typically a solution file name.
• When you supply a project file name instead of a solution file name, Devenv does the following:
  • Searches the parent directory of the project file for a solution file of the same name. For example, if you specify myproject1.vbproj, Devenv looks for myproject1.sln.
  • Searches for a single solution file with a reference to the project file in the parent directory of the project file. If more than one solution references the project file or no solutions reference the project file, a temporary solution with the same name as the project file is created.
• File paths and file names that include spaces must be enclosed in double quotation mark ("").
• Include the drive letter when specifying file paths.
• Separate multiple switches and arguments with one white space character.
• Devenv does not accept wildcards or other pattern matching syntax.

Use the following command line switches to display the integrated development environment and perform the described task.

Use the following command line switches to perform the described task. These command line switches do not display the integrated development environment.

The following switches are available only to those companies who participate in the Visual Studio .NET Integration Program (VSIP).