Build Visual Studio project through the command line

I am running an ASP.NET website from a Windows Server 2008 installation, and I like to edit the pages through the command line since I ssh into the server.

I installed Vim on the server so that I can edit the files easily. If I edit HTML and CSS and .aspx pages, the updates are successful. But if I want to edit source code I would have to rebuild the project. Rebuilding the project recompiles everything nicely and updates the copy on the web. This is a development server so updates to everything is fine since no one sees this server.

How can I build the project through the command line to update the source code and build on the server?

The project is written in C# and the files are all in the wwwroot folder so no file moving needs to occur after a build.

Create a .bat file called: Manual_MSBuild_ReleaseVersion.bat

Put this in the .bat file.

REM you'll have to find the "latest" version of where msbuild.exe resides on your machine.. here are some popular versions/locations
REM set msBuildDir=%WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727
REM set msBuildDir=%WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5
REM set msBuildDir=%WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319
REM set msBuildDir=C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\12.0\Bin
set msBuildDir=C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\Bin

call "%msBuildDir%\msbuild.exe"  MySolution.sln /p:Configuration=Release /l:FileLogger,Microsoft.Build.Engine;logfile=Manual_MSBuild_ReleaseVersion_LOG.log
set msBuildDir=

You can build a .sln file or a .csproj file. MySolution.sln or MyProject.csproj

See How to: Use MSBuild to Create a Web Package for more information.

You can take it one step further:

rd .\BuildResults /S /Q
md .\BuildResults
rd .\MyProject\Bin\Release  /S /Q

REM you'll have to find the "latest" version of where msbuild.exe resides on your machine.. here are some popular versions/locations
REM set msBuildDir=%WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727
REM set msBuildDir=%WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5
REM set msBuildDir=%WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319
REM set msBuildDir=C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\12.0\Bin
set msBuildDir=C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\Bin
call "%msBuildDir%\msbuild.exe"  MySolution.sln /p:Configuration=Release /l:FileLogger,Microsoft.Build.Engine;logfile=Manual_MSBuild_ReleaseVersion_LOG.log
set msBuildDir=

XCOPY .\MyProject\Bin\Release\*.* .\BuildResults\

That way, you remove a directory (just to make sure you get a super clean build), create it, build the solution/project and then copy the results of the build to the fresh directory.

Super fresh, every time. And if the build blows up, the \BuildResults directory is empty.

And a subtle little indicator, the datetime of the \BuildResults directory is the last time you built (or tried to build) the solution/project. Subtle, but sometimes helpful.

Maybe with this command:

  >> devenv myproject.sln /Build "Release|x86"

You can find devenv in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe" path.

I used a modification of the answer by @granadaCoder above.

For .NET version 4.5 onwards, there is no corresponding build directory in

%WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\

and using MSBuild for an older framework will not let you compile newer constructs like interpolated strings.

TO get around this, you'll need to install the latest MS Build Tools (2015 currently) and use MSBuild.exe in

%programfiles(x86)%\MSBuild\14.0\Bin

Install the .NET SDK and use the MsBuild.exe command line tool. It's what Visual Studio uses when you build a project or solution.