MSBuild - Project Templates - For non-.NET projects in VS2008

Question

How would you got about setting up a project that doesn't really build, but just runs some commands on the files you are working with.

For example, lets say I wanted to setup a project for creating Windows Vista and Windows 7 gadgets. A gadget is nothing more than some html, images, javascript, xml, css, put into a .zip file and then renamed *.gadget.

How do you go about setting up a project like this in VS2008? I think every time you "build" you would really just want a zip, rename, copy sequence.

Answer 1

You have to develop a script (.bat) to do the things that you want. After that you can read this post to add the new option to VS

http://viswaug.wordpress.com/2009/02/13/launching-your-automated-build-scripts-from-within-visual-studio/

Edited: You can download a VS Template to develop Vista Gadgets here

Answer 2

I disagree with the other answer. If you know msbuild you can make "build" do whatever you want. Just edit a csproj file