How does Visual Build (kinook) build c++ projects? - c++

The bld file has the sln file specified, but what does it call to build it? MSDev? MSBuild? other?
I want to add some command line params, but I am not sure which executable it calls for unmanaged C++ solutions.

It depends. For Visual Studio 2002/2003, it always calls devenv.com. For Visual Studio 2005 and up, it calls msbuild.exe by default, or devenv or vcbuild if specified in the Override field on the Options tab.
... the action will automatically locate the correct devenv.com or
msbuild.exe compiler, based on the version of the project or solution
being built. For Visual Studio 2005 and later and Delphi Prism, this
action locates and calls msbuild.exe (installed with the .NET
Framework 2.0 or later); for Visual Studio 2002/2003, it invokes the
appropriate devenv.com compiler for the specified project or solution
version.
http://www.kinook.com/VisBuildPro/Manual/vsnetoptionstab.htm

Related

Change Platform Toolset when compiling from CMD

I would like to compile a C++ program via Visual Studio command line tools. I would like to target the executable for 32 bit Windows XP. Tried compiling it the usual way, using x86 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2019, but it doesn't work on Windows XP, though runs fine on my Windows 10 machine.
Steps I take:
Open x86 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2019.
cd to the project directory. There I'll have 2 folders sources and headers, which shall contain .cpp and .h files respectively.
Execute command cl sources\*.cpp /EHsc /D_WIN32_WINNT=0x050103 /I headers /I <path to boost> /link /libpath <path to boost>\boost_1_77_0\bin\x86\lib\libboost_program_options-vc142-mt-s-x32-1_77.lib /out:exec_xp.exe (the project uses the boost library).
Tried this, but it doesn't work. /D \"_USING_V110_SDK71_\" seems to do nothing, and the /SUBSYSTEM:WINDOWS,5.01 piece isn't recognized by the compiler.
I have learnt from this Microsoft page that we should install deprecated Toolset to compile for WinXP. I went ahead to Visual Studio Installer and installed the C++ Windows XP Support for VS 2017 (v141) tools [Deprecated], as said in the tutorial.
But what now? How can I use this Toolset? I can't find it anywhere on my computer, let alone use it! Visual Studio Installer says it's located under C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools, but it's too vague.
UPD:
Tried with msbuild /p:PlatformToolset=v141_xp, getting this error:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\MSBuild\Microsoft\VC\v160\Microsoft.CppBuild.targets(439,
5): error MSB8020: The build tools for v141_xp (Platform Toolset = 'v141_xp') cannot be found. To build using the v141_
xp build tools, please install v141_xp build tools. Alternatively, you may upgrade to the current Visual Studio tools
by selecting the Project menu or right-click the solution, and then selecting "Retarget solution"
Which suggests, the compiler doesn't see the v141_xp toolset. I wonder why? It's installed for sure, I did it via the Visual Studio Installer.
I suggest you could try to set the PlatformToolset property:
msbuild myProject.vcxproj /p:PlatformToolset=…
For more details, I suggest you could refer to the Doc:MSBuild command-line reference

How to build and compile visual studio c++ code from command prompt window

I have written a c++ code in visual studio 2013. I want to build and compile the code from command prompt window. Can someone suggest me how to perform this operation. Thanks
So far I know the only way to to that is the following:
devenv.exe yousolution.sln /Build "Release"
devenv must be in path (usually something like PROGRAMFILES\Microsoft Visual Studio xx.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe") and you have to specify the configuration (Release in this example, but can be Debug or any other configuration).

Changing the default compiler in visual studio 2010

I have the Visual Studio 2010 installed in my system. However, my company has a different central build system and uses the compiler from Visual Studio 6. Is it possible for me to use this compiler for compiling my C++ projects in Visual Studio 2010? If yes, where to configure this?
I checked in the project settings dialog, but couldn't find any option for this. I know how to use the old compiler from the command line and I don't want to do that.
The Daffodil for Visual Studio extension (http://daffodil.codeplex.com) allows you to set any installed toolset/compiler under Project settings in VS 2010.

Building Visual Studio 2008 solution from command line

I'm trying to automate the building process for a certain open source project. It will do an update on the SVN directory, use CMake to get a .sln file, and build that. I can successfully do this manually, and do svn and cmake from a batch script, but Now I need to build the solution.
A quick google search revealed:
devenv /build release /project <projname> <solutionfile>.sln
However, that uses the latest version of visual studio (Visual Studio Professional 2011), while the .sln file generated is for Visual C++ Express 2008. I have both versions installed on my computer. Is there a devenv I can use for Visual C++ Express 2008? Or is there a commandline argument to specify which version to use?
UPDATE
I tried using msbuild, but that didn't seem to like building .vcproj files directly, and I didn't want to build ALL the project files by having it build the .sln file. I ended up using this:
"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\vcpackages\vcbuild.exe" <myproj>.vcproj "Release|Win32"
I think you are using the wrong tool to build this. Rather than trying to drive the IDE from the command line you should simply use msbuild.
msbuild.exe projectname.proj /property:Configuration=Release
In order to set your environment up for the specific version of MSVC you need to call the vcvar.bat file from that specific version. This will set up the necessary environment variables needed by the build tools.
For Visual Studio Express 2008 the IDE is called VCExpress.exe. Also you should probably specify the full path of the program when you have two versions installed:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\VCExpress.exe /build release /project <projname> <solutionfile>.sln

Extend the Visual Studio C++ Build Process

A found an article (Extend the Visual Studio Build Process) that explained how to override build targets in a C# project file. I tested this, and it seems to work well. However, what I really want to do is override a build target in a C++ project (with Visual Studio 2005). The problem is that C++ projects use different XML. Instead of having <project> as the root, C++ projects have <VisualStudioProject> as the root. When I add the <target> tag to a C++ project file and try to open the project in Visual Studio, I get this error:
The following error has occurred during XML parsing:
File:
[Path to Project File].vcproj
Line: 304 Column: 30 Error Message:
Element 'Target' is unexpected
according to content model of parent
element 'VisualStudioProject'.
The file
'[Path to Project File].vcproj'
has failed to load.
How can I override a Visual Studio build target for a C++ project? Or is there a better way to customize what happens during a C++ build?
In Visual Studio 2005 there are no build "targets" for C++ builds as the C++ build system does not use MSBuild.
However, VC++2005 defines the Pre-Build, Pre-Link, Post-Build Events as well as the ability to add a Custom Build Step for non-standard files.
You may be able to achieve what you want using these settings.
Note:
VC++2005 projects can be built using MSBuild, it's just not what Visual Studio does out of the box.
Visual Studio 2010 uses MSBuild for all project types.