Visual Studio Task - CruiseControl.NET

Most complex build processes use NAnt or MSBuild to script the build. However, for simple projects that just need to build a Visual Studio.NET solution, the Visual Studio task <devenv> provides an easier method.

Examples

Minimalist example:

<devenv>
    <solutionfile>src\MyProject.sln</solutionfile>
    <configuration>Debug</configuration>
</devenv>

Full example:

<devenv>
    <solutionfile>src\MyProject.sln</solutionfile>
    <configuration>Debug</configuration>
    <buildtype>Build</buildtype>
    <project>MyProject</project>
    <executable>c:\program files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET\Common7\IDE\devenv.com</executable>
    <buildTimeoutSeconds>600</buildTimeoutSeconds>
    <version>VS2002</version>
</devenv>

Configuration Elements:

Node	Description	Type	Required	Default
solutionfile	The path of the solution file to build. If relative, it is relative to the Project Working Directory.	string	true	n/a
configuration	The solution configuration to use (not case sensitive).	string	true	n/a
buildtype	The type of build. Valid values are Rebuild, Build or Clean (not case sensitive).	string	false	rebuild
project	A specific project in the solution, if you only want to build one project (not case sensitive).	string	false	The default is to build all projects selected by the configuration.
executable	The path to `devenv.com`.	string	false	(see below)
buildTimeoutSeconds	Number of seconds to wait before assuming that the process has hung and should be killed.	int	false	600 (10 minutes)
version	The version of Visual Studio.	One of VS2002, VS2003, VS2005, VS2008, 7.0, 7.1, 8.0, or 9.0	false	(see below)

If executable and version are not specified, CC.NET will search the registry for VS.NET 2008, 2005, 2003, and 2002 in that order. If you need to use a specific version when a newer version is installed, you should specify the version property to identify it, or specify the executable property to point to the location of correct version of devenv.com.

Note: this task requires you to have Visual Studio .NET installed on your integration server.

Often programmers like to use a centralised project to build an entire software system. They define specific dependencies and the build order on that specific project to reproduce the behaviours of an nmake build.