.NET Command Prompt Here

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Introduction

I find the Open Command Window Here utility in the XP Power Toys bundle absolutely indispensable. Put simply, it adds an item to Windows Explorer's context menu that opens a DOS session in the current directory. This article contains and explains two simple registry hacks that add a .NET Command Prompt Here menu item to Windows Explorer's context menu that runs vsvars32.bat and then opens a DOS session in the current directory. I use this in place of the Visual Studio .NET 2003 Command Prompt shortcut installed by VS.NET 2003. It's not magic. Just simple and useful.

Using the code

Unzip dotNET_cmd_here.zip. Double click on both .reg files contained therein, which should be named  .NET Command Prompt Here - Directory.reg and .NET Command Prompt Here - Drive.reg. This adds the .NET Command Prompt Here menu item that is both described and shown above. When you select the menu item, you get something like the DOS session shown below.

Now you can gacutil and ngen to your heart's content.

Points of Interest

Each .reg script has been tested on several XP Pro systems with VS .NET 2003. The command actually added to the registry reads cmd /k "%VS71COMNTOOLS%vsvars32.bat" , which uses the VS71COMNTOOLS variable added to the environment variables by VS.NET 2003. I'm not sure whether VS.NET 2002 adds this variable so, if you're still using VS.NET 2002, look at your environment variables and add the appropriate variable or <kludge>hardcode the path</kludge>.

If you actually look into the .reg scripts, you'll see that the command is written in hex(2). This has to do with the fact that the value is REG_EXPAND_SZ types rather than the default REG_SZ . If you're a registry maven, this is all old hat. For me, however, this was all new. Thus ends my first CodeProject article.