1 .. _build_visualstudio:
7 The build system automatically generates Visual Studio project files to aid
8 with development, as part of a normal ``mach build`` from the command line.
10 You can find the solution file at ``$OBJDIR/msvc/mozilla.sln``.
12 If you want to generate the project files before/without doing a full build,
13 running ``./mach configure && ./mach build-backend -b VisualStudio`` will do
20 The Visual Studio solution consists of hundreds of projects spanning thousands
21 of files. To help with organization, the solution is divided into the following
25 This folder contains common build targets. The *full* project is used to
26 perform a full build. The *binaries* project is used to build just binaries.
27 The *visual-studio* project can be built to regenerate the Visual Studio
30 Performing the *clean* action on any of these targets will clean the
31 *entire* build output.
34 This folder contains common binaries that can be executed from within
35 Visual Studio. If you are building the Firefox desktop application,
36 the *firefox* project will launch firefox.exe. You probably want one of
37 these set to your startup project.
40 This folder contains entries for each static library that is produced as
41 part of the build. These roughly correspond to each directory in the tree
42 containing C/C++. e.g. code from ``dom/base`` will be contained in the
45 These projects don't do anything when built. If you build a project here,
46 the *binaries* build target project is built.
48 Updating Project Files
49 ======================
51 Either re-running ``./mach build`` or ``./mach build-backend -b VisualStudio``
52 will update the Visual Studio files after the tree changes.
54 Moving Project Files Around
55 ===========================
57 The produced Visual Studio solution and project files should be portable.
58 If you want to move them to a non-default directory, they should continue
59 to work from wherever they are. If they don't, please file a bug.
61 Invoking mach through Visual Studio
62 ===================================
64 It's possible to run mach commands via Visual Studio. There is some light magic
67 Alongside the Visual Studio project files is a batch script named ``mach.bat``.
68 This batch script sets the environment variables present in your *MozillaBuild*
69 development environment at the time of Visual Studio project generation
70 and invokes *mach* inside an msys shell with the arguments specified to the
71 batch script. This script essentially allows you to invoke mach commands
72 inside the MozillaBuild environment without having to load MozillaBuild.
74 Projects currently utilize the ``mach build`` and ``mach clobber`` commands
75 for building and cleaning the tree respectively. Note that running ``clobber``
76 deletes the Visual Studio project files, and running ``build`` recreates them.
77 This might cause issues while Visual Studio is running. Thus a full rebuild is
78 currently neither recommended, nor supported, but incremental builds should work.
80 The batch script does not limit its use: any mach command can be invoked.
81 Developers may use this fact to add custom projects and commands that invoke