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A new moz.build-based build backend for Visual Studio project generation has been added. The build backend can be used by specifying 'VisualStudio' to the backend option of config.status or mach build-backend. e.g. `mach build-backend -b VisualStudio`. Usage docs have been added to build/docs/visualstudio.rst. --HG-- extra : rebase_source : dfb5c43a22434600c5bb4870ec5be2f39b4820e9 extra : amend_source : f1000754400f280778a669b8c34d90c5ef95d966
101 lines
3.9 KiB
ReStructuredText
101 lines
3.9 KiB
ReStructuredText
.. _build_visualstudio:
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======================
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Visual Studio Projects
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======================
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The build system contains alpha support for generating Visual Studio
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project files to aid with development.
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To generate Visual Studio project files, you'll need to have a configured tree::
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mach configure
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(If you have built recently, your tree is already configured.)
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Then, simply generate the Visual Studio build backend::
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mach build-backend -b VisualStudio
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If all goes well, the path to the generated Solution (``.sln``) file should be
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printed. You should be able to open that solution with Visual Studio 2010 or
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newer.
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Currently, output is hard-coded to the Visual Studio 2010 format. If you open
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the solution in a newer Visual Studio release, you will be prompted to upgrade
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projects. Simply click through the wizard to do that.
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Structure of Solution
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=====================
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The Visual Studio solution consists of hundreds of projects spanning thousands
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of files. To help with organization, the solution is divided into the following
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trees/folders:
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Build Targets
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This folder contains common build targets. The *full* project is used to
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perform a full build. The *binaries* project is used to build just binaries.
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The *visual-studio* project can be built to regenerate the Visual Studio
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project files.
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Performing the *clean* action on any of these targets will clean the
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*entire* build output.
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Binaries
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This folder contains common binaries that can be executed from within
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Visual Studio. If you are building the Firefox desktop application,
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the *firefox* project will launch firefox.exe. You probably want one of
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these set to your startup project.
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Libraries
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This folder contains entries for each static library that is produced as
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part of the build. These roughly correspond to each directory in the tree
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containing C/C++. e.g. code from ``dom/base`` will be contained in the
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``dom_base`` project.
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These projects don't do anything when built. If you build a project here,
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the *binaries* build target project is built.
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Updating Project Files
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======================
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As you pull and update the source tree, your Visual Studio files may fall out
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of sync with the build configuration. The tree should still build fine from
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within Visual Studio. But source files may be missing and IntelliSense may not
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have the proper build configuration.
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To account for this, you'll want to periodically regenerate the Visual Studio
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project files. You can do this within Visual Studio by building the
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``Build Targets :: visual-studio`` project or by running
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``mach build-backend -b VisualStudio`` from the command line.
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Currently, regeneration rewrites the original project files. **If you've made
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any customizations to the solution or projects, they will likely get
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overwritten.** We would like to improve this user experience in the
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future.
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Moving Project Files Around
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===========================
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The produced Visual Studio solution and project files should be portable.
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If you want to move them to a non-default directory, they should continue
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to work from wherever they are. If they don't, please file a bug.
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Invoking mach through Visual Studio
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===================================
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It's possible to build the tree via Visual Studio. There is some light magic
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involved here.
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Alongside the Visual Studio project files is a batch script named ``mach.bat``.
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This batch script sets the environment variables present in your *MozillaBuild*
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development environment at the time of Visual Studio project generation
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and invokes *mach* inside an msys shell with the arguments specified to the
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batch script. This script essentially allows you to invoke mach commands
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inside the MozillaBuild environment without having to load MozillaBuild.
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While projects currently only utilize the ``mach build`` command, the batch
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script does not limit it's use: any mach command can be invoked. Developers
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may abuse this fact to add custom projects and commands that invoke other
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mach commands.
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