8

So I mean compile without visual studio

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  • Do you mean without opening the IDE or litterally without Visual Studio installed? Commented May 13, 2009 at 14:10
  • To be critical, without using MSVS the only other way would be in Mono under Linux. Commented May 13, 2009 at 14:25
  • 3
    @Mike: Not necessarily true. If you download the .NET SDK, you will have the command-line compilers and other tools, allowing the answers below to work. Otherwise, open source IDEs like SharpDevelop would require you to install MSVS in order to function. Commented May 13, 2009 at 14:30
  • 1
    @Mike, that's not entirely true. Commented May 13, 2009 at 14:30
  • @Tom: if one of these answers was helpful, please accept one. Commented Jun 21, 2009 at 8:52

7 Answers 7

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15

From here:

Compiles File.cs producing File.exe: 

csc File.cs

Compiles File.cs producing File.dll: 

csc /target:library File.cs

Compiles File.cs and creates My.exe: 

csc /out:My.exe File.cs

Compiles all the C# files in the current directory, with optimizations on and defines the DEBUG symbol. The output is File2.exe: 

csc /define:DEBUG /optimize /out:File2.exe *.cs
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3 Comments

The build environment is available by clicking on the "Visual Studio 2003/2005/2008 Command Prompt" icon in the tools menu in your MS Visual Studio Start menu group.
@Mike Curry: "The build environment"? you mean the command line with the environment variables set?
csc /out:myapp.exe *.cs just works (even in 2024). I'd suggest updating the here link to the new location and add the title as well, like this: Working with the C# 2.0 Command Line Compiler | Microsoft Learn
11

Go to the project directory (I assume .NET framework is in your PATH):

msbuild <enter>

If you want to compile a bunch of C# source files (not in a project), you'd use the csc command. vbc is VB.NET compiler. jsc is JScript.NET compiler. cl is C++/CLI (& plain C++) compiler.

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8 Comments

Technically this would require Visual Studio.
@Mike. Nope. A project is a plain XML file (syntax is fully documented: msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/0k6kkbsd.aspx) which you could write manually. Also, the OP mentions "How to compile a C# Project"
Mehrdad is totally right: "Since MSBuild is available as part of .NET, it is possible to build Visual Studio projects and solutions without the Visual Studio IDE installed. MSBuild is available at no cost." (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MSBuild)
Yes - MSBuild is part of the .NET Framework SDK. You don't need VS at all. In fact you can create your own .sln files with a text editor and use MSBuild that way. I do that regularly.
What If I want to compile solution only in Debug or Release?,
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5

If you already have a solution or project file, use msbuild tool. You can find it deeply inside folder "%windir%\Microsoft.NET\". For example, on my machine I run the following to compile my project:

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\MSBuild.exe MassiveMultithreading.sln
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What If I want to compile solution only in Debug or Release?,
To build in RELEASE or DEBUG see stackoverflow.com/questions/5854905/…
3

I created a batch file that i use for this, so I can compile multiple projects in a row. This should help you get in the right direction:

cls
echo off
c:


cd windows
cd microsoft.net
cd framework
cd v3.5

msbuild c:\Project\Project.sln /t:rebuild /p:Configuration=Debug /p:Platform="any cpu" /clp:Nosummary
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3

There are currently three ways to compile a C# project. The first is with Visual Studio, but you've stated that VS not installed is a constraint. The second is using the raw .NET SDK tools. The third way is to use Mono.

Using msbuild requires Visual Studio to be installed. Using csc does NOT, however it does require the .NET SDK to be installed.

Using .NET:

  • Compiles File.cs producing File.exe:

    csc File.cs

  • Compiles File.cs producing File.dll:

    csc /target:library File.cs

  • Compiles File.cs and creates My.exe:

    csc /out:My.exe File.cs

  • Compiles all of the C# files in the current directory, with optimizations on and defines the DEBUG symbol. The output is File2.exe:

    csc /define:DEBUG /optimize /out:File2.exe *.cs

Using Mono:

  • Compiles File.cs producing File.exe compat with .NET 1.1:

    mcs File.cs

or for .NET 2.0 compatible

gmcs File.cs

  • Compiles File.cs producing File.dll:

    msc /target:library File.cs

  • Compiles File.cs and creates My.exe:

    msc /out:My.exe File.cs

  • Compiles all of the C# files in the current directory, with optimizations on and defines the DEBUG symbol. The output is File2.exe:

    msc /define:DEBUG /optimize /out:File2.exe *.cs

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0

use command line with csc.exe or msbuild

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0

Set your path or change directory to C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727 ( note, if directory if using different framework version ).

type:

MSBuild /path/to/your/project/projectname.solution /rebuild

Or, using csc from the commandline. Again, switch to the directory mentioned above, this time the command is

csc /out:filename.exe /path/to/your/project/*.cs

Note, CSC.exe has a few hundred operations. Type csc -help for more details.

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