CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#msbuild
Stan
Stan

Reputation: 746

MSBuild in a Client Environment

I'm wondering if anyone has some solid advice for me. I'm trying to see if MSBuild is an appropriate tool for a client-side application (sold, commercial product). For example, if on the client machine there is .NET 4.0 and my program, I want users to be able to create screen savers and save them as an EXE.

So far, all I've seen is MSBuild being used for ASP.NET and build machines in a controlled environment, but is it appropriate to use it "in the wild" for a scenario such as described above?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 190

Answers (3)

Dave
Dave

Reputation: 7025

What you have to ask yourself here is how transparent you want msbuild to be? I would not advise using a command line and giving clients these commands and parameters, but if you mask it and have a good presentation layer that keeps all the technical stuff hidden then it's a pefectly good idea.

My current project relies pretty heavily on msbuild when installing, it works great and no one would know unless they seen the code.

Hope this helps.

Upvotes: 1

Jay
Jay

Reputation: 625

Overkill

MSBuild is great for managing complex projects with many interdependencies. If all you want to do though is generate an EXE from a simple set of inputs, like the screensaver scenario you used, I'd just use the C# APIs for calling the compiler or call csc.exe directly.

Upvotes: 3

Fredrik Mörk
Fredrik Mörk

Reputation: 158369

I can't advise whether it is appropriate or not in your particular case, but since it is included in the .NET Framework setup, it is reliable to use it.

Upvotes: 3

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