Compiling a C# project as a class library and executable at the same time in VC# Express 2008

Question

Hello Everyone,

I am working on a C# WinForms application in VC# 2008 Express, writing unit tests with NUnit 2.5.5, and running them via the NUnit GUI program. Right now to run them I switch the output type to 'class library' and then switch back to 'windows application' after I'm done testing. I just have NUnit reading from the bin/Release directory, which is erased when I rebuild. I would like to be able to compile both the class library and executable with a single action so I can test via NUnit and still run as a windows application.

I was thinking to use the post-build events in VC# but have never used them (I'm new to NUnit as well), is there a way to accomplish this? Should I be doing this a different way? Any suggestions are appreciated!

Answer 1

Hi,

Why not build your NUnit tests as a separate project within the solution? Simply add the main application as a dependency to the NUnit test project.

If you then set the NUnit module to build as a library, and the main application to build as an executable, you should achieve the desired effect.

Answer 2

It is a .NET goodie: the public classes in a EXE can be loaded from it just like a regular class library. There's no need to build it to a DLL.