I have a Windows CE 5.0-based Platform Builder image. It is intended to be installed on Visual Studio 2005. My team would like to upgrade our build tools to utilize Visual Studio 2012, but Visual Studio 2012 does not support this platform image.
To be clear; I am not asking whether or not Visual Studio 2012 (or higher) supports Platform Builder SDKs targeting Windows CE 5.0. That question has already been answered (more or less), and the answer is clearly "No."
Instead, what I'd like to do is install the Platform Builder SDK, and manually modify the Visual Studio 2012 environment to allow compilation of my Windows CE code. Features like remote debugging and deployment are acceptable losses to my team; we have our own pathway for deployment and debugging on our embedded device. What I'm really hoping to gain is simply the ability to build WinCE 5.0 code in VS2012, which was intended for VS2005. I am attempting to reduce the number of Visual Studio installations, and get access to the superior intellisense faculties of newer versions of Visual Studio.
Does anyone know if this is possible? How would I go about doing that?
There does not appear to be a way to do this, in such a fashion as to no longer require Visual Studio 2005.
You can, however, use registry hacks to force Visual Studio 2012 to build a WinCE 5.0 project by utilizing the compiler binaries from Visual Studio 2005, during compilation. This would allow you to develop code in VS2012, but would also require that VS2005 be installed for a successful build.
Here is an article explaining the steps to set this up.
VS2012 doesn't have any of the Windows CE compilers. The last one that shipped with compilers compatible with CE 5.0 was VS 2008, so that's the "latest" version you'll be able to use to build. (VS2012 is capable of building for Windows CE, but only for WEC 2013, and only after installing a WEC 2013 SDK, which includes the requisite compiler pieces).
In short, there's no way you can get VS2012 by itself to compile a CE 7.0 or earlier app.
There is a plug-in for VS 2013 that will allow you to use that IDE for managed code (I've never used it, so I can't say how well it works), but it still requires VS 2008 to be installed to get the compilers.
Related
Can we use MSBuild without Visual Studio 2012?
Currently, we have a build server where we are compiling and creating deployment copy of one of our projects, it has Visual Studio Professional Edition installed. We are setting up a new build server now. Do we really need Visual Studio 2012 on the new build server?
If yes, then how? I googled it but I couldn't find an answer.
We have spent a lot of time trying to get our Build Servers to work without Visual Studio.
We do not use TFS for builds and therefore I am not sure the license exemption above applies to us. Also not having Visual Studio installed helps you really understand how your software is building and get references correct.
We have seen many examples of solutions with projects that contains references for the same piece of software with some in nuget packages shipped with the solution and others that are pointing to locations in the "program files" path which are not present on machines without Visual Studio installed. Once you attempt to build software without VS installed you can really see how "self-contained" your applications are.
Before I start listing the things you typically need to install, let me just point out that MS Build is now no longer considered part of the .NET framework but is shipped with Visual Studio but can also be installed separately. See this blog post for more: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudio/archive/2013/07/24/msbuild-is-now-part-of-visual-studio.aspx
The following software needs to be installed for most builds, there may be others for example if you are creating portable class libraries.
Microsoft Build Tools 2013
Web Deploy 3.5 (for packaging applications)
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.1 Developer Pack
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.2 Developer Pack
Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows 8 (You can use the SDK to build applications that target these operating systems: Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008)
The following directories need to be copied:
Reference Assemblies (need to be copied from a machine running Visual Studio from/to directory C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies)
Public Assemblies (need to be copied from a machine running Visual Studio from/to directory C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE\PublicAssemblies
We also use Wix and therefore we install the following:
WIX Toolset 3.8
I have a similar set for testing however that was not part of the question so I will leave that off!
Hope this helps someone.
Update: 3rd March 2017
Microsoft recently responded to a long standing user voice request "Support .NET Builds without requiring Visual Studio on the server" for the requirement for Visual Studio to be installed on a build server to be removed.
From the description on the download page "These Build Tools allow you to build native and managed MSBuild-based applications without requiring the Visual Studio IDE." Not tested yet but after RTM I will look at this and provide a further update here.
There is a blog post that promises these build tools install all pre-requisites and can be used to build MS Build based applications.
No, you don't need Visual Studio on your build box. If I recall correctly, msbuild is installed as part of the .NET framework - it certainly used to be.
Depending on what you're building, you may find that there are some things which are easier to get working if you do install Visual Studio though - things like portable class library profiles. While there are usually non-VS installers available, I've found it simpler to install an Express edition of Visual Studio just to get the bundled build targets.
Remember: The easiest way to build your visual studio solutions is to install Visual Studio on the build server. Even Visual Studio Express is often enough.
That said, you can make it work without it. But it it sometimes a lot of work to figure out. You'll need to install the right Windows / .NET Platform SDK. You can install multiple of these SDKs side by side. Now, when you depend, for example, on ASP.NET MVC 5 or Entity Framework 6, you might need to install further SDKs to get your application to compile. The downloads for these all assume that you also have Visual Studio installed, but many of their payloads can also be installed separately. It can become quite a hassle.
Personally I've grown tired of trying to figure out which parts of which installers enable what. But that is also driven by the fact that Microsoft allows you to install Visual Studio on a build server (TFS) with the same license as your development machine as long as you are an MSDN subscriber. Check the Visual Studio License Whitepaper for more details.
Using Visual Studio on the Build Server
If you have one or more licensed users of Visual Studio Ultimate with MSDN, Visual Studio Premium with MSDN, or Visual
Studio Professional with MSDN, then you may also install the Visual Studio software as part of Team Foundation Server
2013 Build Services. This way, you do not need to purchase a Visual Studio license to cover the running of Visual Studio on
the build server for each person whose actions initiate a build.
If you, like me, would prefer this to change in the future, I suggest you make sure you're heard by submitting your request or voting for an existing one over at the Visual Studio User Voice.
Here's just a quick take on this.
Your build machine should decouple development tools as much as is possible. With that said, and as already stated by others here, MSBuild can be run independently of Visual Studio, and it should!
If your build requires Visual Studio to run then there is a very good chance that you have a solution or project architecture problem that ought to be resolved.
Visual Studio doesn't need to be installed. MSBuild is part of the .net SDK.
Other .net dependencies will need to be installed though, if you are using them. MSTest, or anything that is part of Team foundation will require Visual Studio installed.
I believe you only need MSBuild ( that is part of the .NET framework you're targeting ) .
Make sure you install the proper .NET distribution
the following is a good place for build servers it have the developer tooling.
The .NET Framework 4.5.1 Developer Pack installs the multi-targeting pack for .NET Framework 4.5.1. Developers can build applications targeting the .NET Framework 4.5.1 using either Visual Studio 2012 or third party IDEs. You need to download the web installer instead of this package if you intend to redistribute .NET Framework 4.5.1.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40772
Best of luck.
C++ :
There is a "Build Tools" that contains MSBuild, Visual studio is not required.
From the official doc :
These tools allow you to build C++ libraries and applications
targeting Windows desktop. They are the same tools that you find in
Visual Studio 2015 in a scriptable standalone installer. Now you only
need to download the tools you need to build C++ projects.
Managed :
The same applied : Build Tool Managed
From my understanding Visual Studio 2005 always uses MFC8 automaticly, VS2008 MFC9 and VS2010 the MFC10.
Can use a newer Visual Studio Version and still link to an older MFC Version?
I searched the options and the project settings all over but I could not find any option about the MFC.
VS2010 apparently (I don't have it, so I haven't tried it) has the ability to use both VS2008 and VS2010 toolsets to build the applications, provided they are both installed in the machine.
More here
I would expect Visual Studio 11 to have the same ability, but who knows...
Is Windows Phone 7 Development SDK available for other versions of Visual Studio 2010 than Express?
If I already have the Ultimate version do I still need to download VS2010 Express to use WP7 SDK?
When you install the Windows Phone 7 SDK it installs everything including "Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone" even if you have another non-express version of Visual Studio 2010 already installed.
If you have another version of VS2010 installed. the installer will NOT create any shortcuts for the express version. Nor will it set any file associations for it.
This has two effects:
The installer is simpler (It just gets everything and only needs logic around setting shortcuts) and so should be less buggy. - Most people have no issues with it. The few who do have problems have mostly fixed them with a repair of the install.
You can use both the Express and other version of VS2010 on the same machine. I find this particularly useful when looking at open source or demo projects which were created with the express version.
The WP7 environment will install into your existing instance of Visual Studio if you have one (and will install an Express edition if you don't)
Yes, you would need to download the full SDK. But nothing to worry since installing the SDK would automatically take care of installing the templates, and you should be able to work with your Ultimate edition with all the goodness :)
Microsoft could verify that the Visual Studio (not Express) is already installed on the machine BEFORE you download the Express version!
Still, the Express version does not interfere with your other version of Visual Studio.
Is it possible to use a platform builder 5.0 SDK in visual studio 2010 for a C++ project.
I want to compile code for a specific ARM WinCE 5.0 environment and I have VS2010 at the moment.
The Microsoft website recommends visual studio 2005. I'm currently downloading the VS2005 evaluation but I'm also a bit worried about installing this on a machine that already has vs2010 installed.
Any advise would be greatly received.
Read this question: ETA on Smart Device Projects for Visual Studio 2010
In short, Visual Studio 2010 does not currently support Smart Device projects so you cannot do what you want. You can use either VS2008 or VS2005 for Smart Device application development.
VS2005 and VS2010 on the same machine should not pose a problem as far as I know. You can read this msdn forum and this SO question in that regard.
I recently downloaded VS 2010 trial, the new version is more easy to use.
I have VS 2008 installed, If i decide to use VS 2010 in the future, do I still have to keep VS 2008? Is there any compatibility issue with it?
You would need to keep VS2008 installed if you target Windows CE (via Compact Framework, native smart device projects, etc.)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/sa69he4t.aspx
Also if you want to write native applications that run on versions of Windows before XP SP3 and Server 2003 SP2, this is no longer possible with VC++ 2010. The same applies to managed code written for the .NET Framework 4.0, but you can still use Framework 3.5 with VS2010 for projects with managed code only.
And Intellisense for C++/CLI code is gone (MS promises to remedy that in the future, whether a service pack or the next version I cannot say).
If you open a VS 2008 solution or a project in VS 2010 it will be converted to VS 2010 and you will not be able to open it in VS 2008.
If that is not a problem then you don´t have to keep VS 2008, unless you are using a addin or some other third party application with VS 2008 that is not compatible with VS 2010.
Edit:
Look at Ben Voigt´s answer for information for which version have support for different platforms.
VS2010 allows you to specify the target framework that you'd like to develop on. There should be no reason to keep VS2008 installed unless you've become accustom to some handy plugins :)