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I have a requirement for compiling large number of projects (some of them having dependency one to other). Of course I can put them under single solution file under Visual Studio and manage the compilation. But the existing solutions isn't configured in such a way. Also I feel the build scripts are better efficient to manage them.

But I could not find any proper tools to convert the Visual Studio Project files which contains all my required settings in an MSBuild Script file. Adding each and every files manually is a tedious task.

My questions are

  • Are there any tools which exists to create and manage MSBuild text file?
  • Can I give project files as is to the MSBuild script for compilation?
  • If I have to manually specify the source files, how can I sync up the project files and MSBuild script file on adding new files later?
  • Is it possible to leverage the multi-core CPUs with MSBuild to compile independent projects in parallel?
sarat
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2 Answers2

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You can give project files as is for compilation but you have to take care of correct build order and it is not simple for large number of projects and you cannot build in parallel.

The best solution for you is to use your current solution to build using MSBuild

msbuild YourSolutionFile.sln /p:Configuration="Debug";Platform="Any CPU"

If you want to build in parallel add /m:2 /p:BuildInParallel=True parameters into command line. More info

msbuild YourSolutionFile.sln /m:2 /p:Configuration="Debug";Platform="Any CPU";BuildInParallel=True;
Community
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Ludwo
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The alternative of using MSBuild traversal projects is illustrated in the following article. You may want to give this a read:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd483291.aspx

Nick Nieslanik
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