I wonder if there is a way to precompile *.less files(http://www.dotlesscss.com/) with visual studio. The site gives me a dotless.compiler.exe but I am not sure how to hook this up to visual studio. I am looking for a solution for both Webforms and Mvc.
Friendly Greetings,
Pickels
Phil Haack to the rescue: http://haacked.com/archive/2009/12/02/t4-template-for-less-css.aspx
Whenever you want to have something generated in your solution at compile time, T4 is usually the way to go...
Depending on your build environment, you can kick off dotless.Compiler.exe as a build task.
For example, using a Pre-Build task in Visual Studio:
$(SolutionDir)Tools\dotLess\dotless.compiler.exe -m $(ProjectDir)content\css\site.less $(ProjectDir)content\css\site.css
The macros ($(SolutionDir), etc) allow a bit of flexibility to project and file locations. Rather than using the standard .less files, simply reference the new .css files in your markup.
There is also another way to precompile during development.
The dotless project features a commandline compiler (dotless.Compiler.exe) that can compile and minify the CSS.
You can also use the compiler.exe with the --watch parameter where it will keep running and scan your input file for changes, regenerating whenever you make changes to the file. Thus making you independent from Visual Studio.
In my search for working with DotLess I also found this library:
http://www.codethinked.com/post/2010/03/17/Bundler-Now-Supports-Css-And-less.aspx
Adding it to my own question because it might help others.
Found this amazing tool called Zippy Chirp: http://www.weirdlover.com/2010/05/22/visual-studio-add-in-for-dotless-js-and-css-files/