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Specifying Custom Build Events in Visual Studio

By specifying a custom build event, you can automatically run commands before a build starts or after it finishes. For example, you can run a .bat file before a build starts or copy new files to a folder after the build is complete. Build events run only if the build successfully reaches those points in the build process.

For specific information about the programming language that you’re using, see the following topics:

Syntax

Build events follow the same syntax as DOS commands, but you can use macros to create build events more easily. For a list of available macros, see Pre-build Event/Post-build Event Command Line Dialog Box.

For best results, follow these formatting tips:

  • Add a call statement before all build events that run .bat files.

    Example: call C:\MyFile.bat

    Example: call C:\MyFile.bat call C:\MyFile2.bat

  • Enclose file paths in quotation marks.

    Example (for Windows 8): "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v8.0A\Bin\NETFX 4.0 Tools\gacutil.exe" -if "$(TargetPath)"

  • Separate multiple commands by using line breaks.

  • Include wildcards as needed.

    Example: for %I in (*.txt *.doc *.html) do copy %I c:\mydirectory\

    Note

    %I in the code above should be %%I in batch scripts.

See Also

Reference

Pre-build Event/Post-build Event Command Line Dialog Box

Concepts

MSBuild Special Characters

Walkthrough: Building an Application

Other Resources

Building Applications in Visual Studio