Build merge module without Devenv from .vdproj

StackOverflow https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1538068

Question

I read quit a few Stackoverflow Questions about building mergemodules via commandline but all of them were accepted when either somebody suggested to use devenv for compilation or use Dark to create wix-files from existing msi files.

Considering the following:

  • VisualStudio isn't installed on the buildserver I have to use.
  • I am using nant + msbuild to compile the solutions
  • I would like to compile mergemodules from .vdproj (because Visual Studio detects dependencies automatically)
  • and create a msi setup from multiple mergemodules

... how can I build the merge modules from commandline without devenv and without loosing the comfort of automated dependencie resolving for mergemodules in visualstudio? Maybe there is a nanttask for it I haven't found?

Was it helpful?

Solution

MSBuild doesn't support Visual Studio deployment projects, my advice would be to bite the bullet and go with Wix.

Perhaps VS2010 will use MSBuild schema for vdproj files? I'm guessing no, but couldn't find any links.

OTHER TIPS

currently, it is not possible to do this with msbuild. but i am pretty sure you might be interested in this MSDN blog article because of your question related to merge module/setup projects in vs. It seems they won't continue to support .vdproj files in upcomming versions of visual studio (2010 will be the last supporting them).

So you may run into problems in the future even if you're using devenv instead of msbuild.

... but this article could be some kind of whispering, too. Anyway, there are a lot of alternatives on the road if you want to build setups.

Even I was facing the same issue. Use below format

call "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat"

cd /d Path_to_sln

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.com" "Required_path\solution.sln" /Project "Required_path\Setup\Setup.vdproj" /Build Release /Out "Required_Path\vs_errors.txt"

I would be pretty surprised if you are able to build .vdproj files without installing Visual Studio.

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