How to set build order?

[Brett Romero]

I have an EXE project with four project dependencies (DLLs). I need to
set the order of these builds. However they are automatically ordered
by alpha. There aren't any settings to change this. Is the build
order actually done by alpha?

Thanks,
Brett

[Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]]

Brett,

No, it isn't. If you are building from VS.NET, then the build order
will occur in the order of the dependencies, going from the most depended
upon, to the least.

Hope this helps.
--
- Nicholas Paldino [.NET/C# MVP]
- mv*@spam.guard.caspershouse.com

"Brett Romero" <ac*****@cygen.com> wrote in message
news:11*********************@i40g2000cwc.googlegro ups.com...

I have an EXE project with four project dependencies (DLLs). I need to
set the order of these builds. However they are automatically ordered
by alpha. There aren't any settings to change this. Is the build
order actually done by alpha?

Thanks,
Brett

[Brett Romero]

I see. I was hoping that referencing by project would alleviate update
issues. Meaning, when I build one of the DLLs, I don't see those
changes come through in the EXE code. Of course, this occurs randomly.
For example, in A.DLL, I changed a method from void to int. However,
the EXE still sees a void. When I say go to definition in the EXE,
sure enough, that method has a void.

This type of thing has always been an issue no matter what I try. I'm
guessing there just isn't any way to get an accurate update without
wiping out all DLLs and PDB files in the dependencies and EXE projects.
But what a hassle.

Using CopyLocal = false (have tried true) and VS 2k5.

What exactly does the "Clean feature" in VS 2k5 do? I don't notice any
affect either way.

Thanks,
Brett

[Jon Skeet [C# MVP]]

Brett Romero <ac*****@cygen.com> wrote:

I have an EXE project with four project dependencies (DLLs). I need to
set the order of these builds. However they are automatically ordered
by alpha. There aren't any settings to change this. Is the build
order actually done by alpha?

Right click on a project and select "project dependencies" or "project
build order".
--
Jon Skeet - <sk***@pobox.com>
http://www.pobox.com/~skeet Blog: http://www.msmvps.com/jon.skeet
If replying to the group, please do not mail me too

[Brett Romero]

I have but that doesn't let you change the build order. The order VS
has chosen isn't correct. I manually build my solution in the order I
know it will build. Everything works fine. If I let VS build
everything, I get line after line of failures.

Brett

[Jon Skeet [C# MVP]]

Brett Romero <ac*****@cygen.com> wrote:

I have but that doesn't let you change the build order. The order VS
has chosen isn't correct. I manually build my solution in the order I
know it will build. Everything works fine. If I let VS build
everything, I get line after line of failures.

Could you tell us what projects you've got, what dependencies you've
got, what build order VS thinks it should use, and why that's wrong?

--
Jon Skeet - <sk***@pobox.com>
http://www.pobox.com/~skeet Blog: http://www.msmvps.com/jon.skeet
If replying to the group, please do not mail me too

[Brett Romero]

I have this and VS orders it this way:
Utilties.DLL (no dependencies)
UI.DLL (AppLib, Utilities)
AppLib.DLL (Utilities)
App.EXE (AppLib, Utilities, UI)

In parantheses are the dependencies for that project. In the above
build, UI starts throwing errors that the AppLib namespace does not
exists.

I manually build this way:
Utilties.DLL
AppLib.DLL
UI.DLL
App.EXE

Which works fine. Each of the above is a project.

Thanks,
Brett

[rmacias]

That is interesting. I've created a solution, based on your specifications
and have no problems with the build order. VS2003 set the build order
correctly and have no problems when i make changes. I have a screen shot at:

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...dOrderTest.jpg

If you right click on your solution, you should have an option called
"Project Build Order ...". However, this will only appear if you have more
than one project in your solution.

"Brett Romero" wrote:

I have this and VS orders it this way:
Utilties.DLL (no dependencies)
UI.DLL (AppLib, Utilities)
AppLib.DLL (Utilities)
App.EXE (AppLib, Utilities, UI)

In parantheses are the dependencies for that project. In the above
build, UI starts throwing errors that the AppLib namespace does not
exists.

I manually build this way:
Utilties.DLL
AppLib.DLL
UI.DLL
App.EXE

Which works fine. Each of the above is a project.

Thanks,
Brett

[Brett Romero]

Actually, the solution has nine projects. I group everything under one
solution so I don't have to open multiple IDEs. I set the solution to
build nothing since I use it only as a container. At the EXE project
level, it shows its dependencies and build order as read only. My
setup is probably more complicated since there are other projects
involved. There are more dependencies but the four I've listed are at
the top of the build order. I'm not even building the other projects
since they have not changed.

I'd like to control the build order by modifying a project file or
something but I'm unsure what to modify. I assume Nant would be a
good option here give me more control over the build process. I'm
slowly learning it.

Brett

[rmacias]

Brett, seems like something screwy is going on. Try this:

1. Create an empty solution.

2. Add all of your project (whether you want to build them or not) to your
solution.

3. Make sure you add your references by project. (using the "Project Tab")
for each of your projects.

4. Do an initial full build to build all of your DLLs.

5. Right click your solution and to go "Configuration Manager". Uncheck
the "Build" checkbox for each project you do not want to build again. This
is assuming that the code in these projects will not change.

6. By this time, Visual Studio should know the build order and
dependencies. Everytime you do another build, only the projects you
specified in step 5 should be built in the correct order. VS.NET uses the
project dependencies to determine the correct build order.

"Brett Romero" wrote:

Actually, the solution has nine projects. I group everything under one
solution so I don't have to open multiple IDEs. I set the solution to
build nothing since I use it only as a container. At the EXE project
level, it shows its dependencies and build order as read only. My
setup is probably more complicated since there are other projects
involved. There are more dependencies but the four I've listed are at
the top of the build order. I'm not even building the other projects
since they have not changed.

I'd like to control the build order by modifying a project file or
something but I'm unsure what to modify. I assume Nant would be a
good option here give me more control over the build process. I'm
slowly learning it.

Brett