Why does Devenv projects build very slowly compared to opening all in a single solution

Question

set Unified=C:\Workspaces\Main\Unified\UnifiedFX.sln
set Fullserver=C:\Workspaces\Main\Unified\FullServer\Tests\FullServer.Automation\FullServer.Automation.csproj
set Management=C:\Workspaces\Main\Unified\Management\Tests\Management.Automation\Management.Automation.csproj
set Move=C:\Workspaces\Main\Unified\Move\Tests\Move.Automation\Move.Automation.csproj
set d64="Debug|x64"
set d86="Debug|x86"

for %%a in (%d64%, %d86%) do (
      for %%b in (%Fullserver%, %Move%, %Management%) do (
                devenv %Unified% /build %%a /project %%b))

That's my .bat file. When I run it it takes near-ish 90 seconds to complete. Yet I can build each individual project from within Visual Studios 2010 in just a couple seconds, plus the time it takes to switch between x64 and x86. Why is the bat file so slow?

Answer 1

You are loading visual studio for each project, I will bet that it's this that is the most time consuming.

Instead of running devenv.exe to run the build, just use MSBUILD.EXE on the csproj or sln files.