Build another project by prebuild event without adding reference

Question

I am copying .exe file form a separate to my main project's folder on prebuild event but I need to build that project before build my main project so i want to build that project on prebuild event of my main project.

Answer 1

Not that this is the best solution, but it will definitely work for what you want to do: Put the below into your pre-build event

"$(VS100COMNTOOLS)..\IDE\devenv" "csproj location OR sln location" /Rebuild "configuration required if you have more than configuration ex: Debug|x64"

Answer 2

This is what worked for me:

"$(DevEnvDir)devenv" "$(SolutionDir)MySolution.sln" /Build $(configuration) /project "$(SolutionDir)MyProjectFolder\MyProject.csproj"

Here $(DevEnvDir), $(SolutionDir), and $(configuration) are Visual Studio Macros, so this command will be translated into:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\Common7\IDE\devenv" "D:\Learning\MySolutionFolder\MySolutionName.sln" /Build Debug /project "D:\Learning\MySolutionFolder\MyProjectFolder\MyProject.csproj"

Answer 3

"$(DevEnvDir)devenv" "$(SolutionPath)" /Rebuild $(configuration) /project "$(SolutionDir)MyProjectFolder\MyProject.csproj"

Tested now on Visual Studio Community 16.11.1

Answer 4

Using the below command in visual studio 2019, build is faster with msbuild as compared to "$(DevEnvDir)devenv".

msbuild "$(SolutionDir)Sample.sln" /p:configuration=$(configuration)