How to get cmd line build command for VS solution?

Question

This is probably easy but I am getting stuck: when I build a solution in Visual Studio - how do extract the exact cmd line for the current build command in order to be able to do the same build from VisualStudio console?

In the output window I can see the single projects in the solution build commands but not the one for the whole solution.

I am on VS2005.

Any help would be appreciated

Answer 1

You can start msbuild from the command line. msbuild understands .sln (solution) files. You can specify the .sln file and the build configuration (debug, release etc.) from the command line.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms164311.aspx
Here is the documentation on what you can do with msbuild. MSBuild.exe is installed with the .net framework, not with visual studio. You can find it in c:\windows\microsoft.net\framework\v3.5 (or v2.0.50727)

I searched a bit and found that you can also do a command line build with visual studio using devenv.exe /build, more info here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/xee0c8y7(VS.80).aspx

Answer 2

In addition to what @JohnIdol says correctly, I've found that you need to setup a number VS environment variables. I don't have the name of the batch file in front of me, but you can modify or 'I think' use it. It is in VS program files tree somewhere. Also, as I remember you don't want to be in a standard shell but a .NET setup shell for some paths and such. I'll add details later when I'm at a Windows PC with VS.

EDIT: The batch file mentioned is a shortcut in ProgFiles menu. Here is the details of its properties.

%comspec% /k ""C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\vcvarsall.bat""x86"

Here is my batch file, using MSBuild to call the solution.

@echo off

:: setup VS2005 command line build environment
set VSINSTALLDIR=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8
set VCINSTALLDIR=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC
set FrameworkDir=C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework
set FrameworkVersion=v2.0.50727
set FrameworkSDKDir=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0
set DevEnvDir=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE
set PATH=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\IDE;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\BIN;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Com
mon7\Tools;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\Tools\bin;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\PlatformSDK\bin;C:\Program Files\Microsoft
 Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\bin;C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\VCPackages;%PATH%
set INCLUDE=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\ATLMFC\INCLUDE;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\INCLUDE;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual
 Studio 8\VC\PlatformSDK\include;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\include;%INCLUDE%
set LIB=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\ATLMFC\LIB;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\LIB;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC
\PlatformSDK\lib;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\lib;%LIB%
set LIBPATH=C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\ATLMFC\LIB

echo %0 %*
echo %0 %* >> %MrB-LOG%
cd
if not ""=="%~dp1" pushd %~dp1
cd
if exist %~nx1 (
        echo VS2005 build of '%~nx1'.
        echo VS2005 build of '%~nx1'. >> %MrB-LOG%
        set MrB-BUILDLOG=%MrB-BASE%\%MrB-WORK%.%MrB-NICEDATE%.%MrB-NICETIME%.build-errors.log
        msbuild.exe %~nx1 /t:Rebuild /p:Configuration=Release > %MrB-BUILDLOG%
        findstr /r /c:"[1-9][0-9]* Error(s)" %MrB-BUILDLOG%
        if not errorlevel 1 (
                echo ERROR: sending notification email for build errors in '%~nx1'.
                echo ERROR: sending notification email for build errors in '%~nx1'. >> %MrB-LOG%
                call mrb-email "Mr Build isn't happy about build errors in '%~nx1'" %MrB-BUILDLOG%
        ) else (
                findstr /r /c:"[1-9][0-9]* Warning(s)" %MrB-BUILDLOG%
                if not errorlevel 1 (
                        echo ERROR: sending notification email for build warnings in '%~nx1'.
                        echo ERROR: sending notification email for build warnings in '%~nx1'. >> %MrB-LOG%
                        call mrb-email "Mr Build isn't happy about build warnings in '%~nx1'" %MrB-BUILDLOG%
                ) else (
                        echo Successful build of '%~nx1'.
                        echo Successful build of '%~nx1'. >> %MrB-LOG%
                )
        )
) else (
        echo ERROR '%1' doesn't exist.
        echo ERROR '%1' doesn't exist. >> %MrB-LOG%
)
popd

Answer 3

If you want to see the exact command line as provided by VS (rather than work it out) then you could try replacing the MSBuild.exe with your own console app that prints out all the parameters to a file.

You could also write out all the environment variables supplied to check which ones VS provides in the background.

Answer 4

Navigate to your Programs menu > Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 > Visual Studio Tools > Visual Studio 2005 Command Prompt.

this command prompt has all the necessary .NET environment variables set for the the command line session. You can change directory to your solution directory (e.g. c:\projects\mySolution) and run

Msbuild.exe mySolution.sln

You can see the various options available using msbuild /?

Msbuild is located at C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727

On top of msbuild /? quick-option check, you may reference the MSBuild Command Line Reference page for more explanations on its usage. And how to build specific targets in solutions.

Answer 5

For VS .NET 2003 you can use devenv.exe to build the solution/project from command line.

devenv solutionfile.sln  /build solutionconfig

E.g. usage in batch file:

call "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\Common7\Tools\vsvars32.bat"

devenv Tools.sln /build "Release"