Script to Compile and Build C#.NET application

 

Recent Blogs << Back Coding against Abstractions vs Implementations, C# 1/24/2010 How To enable Outlook autocomplete from Contacts 2/10/2010 What is Microsoft .NET and How does it work? 3/9/2010  More Blogs...

This article provides a simple example of how to compile your .NET code to a DLL using a batch/command file to call CSC.exe.

Follow these simple steps and you will have a compiled .NET dll in a few minutes:

Step 1: Create a temporary folder, for this example I will use C:\temp\compile

Step 2: Create a class file, C:\temp\compile\TestClass.cs, and paste the following code into it and save.

namespace CompileDotNet
{
	public class TestClass
	{
		public string ClassName
		{
			get { return "TestClass"; }
		}
	}
}

 

Step 3: Create an AssemblyInfo class file, C:\temp\compile\AssemblyInfo.cs, and paste the following code into it and save.

using System.Reflection;
using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;

[assembly: AssemblyTitle("CompileDotNet")]
[assembly: AssemblyDescription("CompileDotNet v 1.0")]
[assembly: AssemblyConfiguration("")]
[assembly: AssemblyCompany("CompileDotNet")]
[assembly: AssemblyProduct("CompileDotNet v 1.0")]
[assembly: AssemblyCopyright("Copyright 2007.")]
[assembly: AssemblyTrademark("CompileDotNet")]

//[assembly: AssemblyCulture("en")]
[assembly: AssemblyCulture("")]

[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.0.0")]
//[assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.*")]

[assembly: AssemblyDelaySign(false)]

Step 4: Create a batch/make file, C:\temp\compile\build.cmd, and paste the following code into it and save.

@echo off

REM *** csc parameters ***
SET dll=CompileDotNet.dll
SET src=%cd%
SET dst=bin
SET csc=C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\csc.exe /nologo
SET out=/out:%src%\%dst%\%dll%
SET target=/target:library
SET recurse=/recurse:%src%\*.cs

REM *** Referrences ***
SET ref=


REM *** delete existing dlls, etc ***
del /F /Q %src%\%dst%\*.*

REM *** compile the dll ***
%csc% %out% %target% %ref% %recurse%

Step 5: Create a bin folder, C:\temp\compile\bin\.

Step 6: Open a command prompt window and go to the C:\temp\compile\ folder ( type "cd\temp\compile" and press Enter).

Step 7: Build the dll, in the command prompt window type "build" and press Enter.

Step 8: In Windows Explorer, go to the C:\temp\compile\bin\ folder and right click on the CompileDotNet.dll file and click the Properties menu to see the Product Name and Version information that was specified in the AssemblyInfo.cs class.

Oila!

3/10/2010 7:50:42 PM