C / C++ / MFC

Re: Creating an automated build process - where do I start?

30-Nov-05 9:56

Hello,

I've been tasked with creating an automated build process in a Visual Studio 6.0 environment. This is not something I'm familiar with and I'm hoping some of you may be able to point be to some tools or articles that would help me in this area.

Any and all ideas welcome!

Thanks!

-Ian

David Crow30-Nov-05 10:01

Re: Creating an automated build process - where do I start?

30-Nov-05 10:01

By "automated" do you mean without any human intervention? If so, I've compiled from a command prompt in the past and it has worked fine. It required a few .bat and .mak files.

"Take only what you need and leave the land as you found it." - Native American Proverb

Ian Bowler30-Nov-05 10:23

Re: Creating an automated build process - where do I start?

30-Nov-05 10:23

Beyond starting the process, there should be no further human intervention. I'm researching .mak files now. they look like a pain. Do you know of any good resources that I can use to learn about them? I'm just googling now...

C^hris L^osinger30-Nov-05 10:40

C^hris L^osinger

30-Nov-05 10:40

it's pretty easy to launch Visual Studio from a command line prompt, with a solution/workspace and build configuration name. ex. here's a bit of what we use for our ImgSource builds, on VC7:

you need to launch this from the command line prompt that VS creates for you (it sets up a bunch of ENV variables for you). but, there are no makefiles - just create the configutations in the UI as you normally would, then run them from the command line.

Cleek | Image Toolkits | Thumbnail maker

Re: Creating an automated build process - where do I start?

Ian Bowler30-Nov-05 10:57

Re: Creating an automated build process - where do I start?

30-Nov-05 10:57

Unfortunately I'm stuck with Visual Studio 6 right now. There must be similar support in VS6 though huh?

For now, I think I'll delve deeper in the makefile bussiness - that is, unless you can tell me why I shouldn't...?

Sorry, I'm still trying to grasp the overall architecture of an automated build process. I probably have a few days research to do..

Thanks for your suggestion!

C^hris L^osinger30-Nov-05 14:08

C^hris L^osinger

30-Nov-05 14:08

i'm fairly certain VC6 has a similar interface.

in VC6 we can use the "Build All" option from the UI to build our 5 different targets, but VS.Net's dependency checker handles .LIBs differently, so we have to simulate a Build All with a .BAT file.

Cleek | Image Toolkits | Thumbnail maker

Re: Creating an automated build process - where do I start?

David Crow30-Nov-05 10:49

Re: Creating an automated build process - where do I start?

30-Nov-05 10:49

Makefiles are actually simple once you peel away all of the unnecessary stuff. For example:

myproject.exe : myproject.obj file1.obj file2.obj myproject.res
    link.exe /out:myproject.exe myproject.obj file1.obj file2.obj myproject.res
 
myproject.obj : myproject.cpp
    cl.exe /W4 myproject.cpp
 
file1.obj : file1.cpp
    cl.exe /W4 file1.cpp
 
file2.obj : file2.cpp
    cl.exe /W4 file2.cpp
 
myproject.res : myproject.rc
    rc.exe /fo myproject.res myproject.rc

says that myproject.exe depends on myproject.obj, file1.obj, file2.obj, and myproject.res; myproject.exe is created by executing link.exe /out:myproject.exe myproject.obj file1.obj file2.obj myproject.res. Also, myproject.obj depends on myproject.cpp; myproject.obj is created by executing cl.exe /W4 myproject.cpp. The files listed on the right side of ':' are what get compiled or linked together to create the file on the left side of ':'.

Any clearer?

There's also the IDE that can be launched without any human intervention. Check out its command-line arguments.

"Take only what you need and leave the land as you found it." - Native American Proverb

Ian Bowler30-Nov-05 10:52

Re: Creating an automated build process - where do I start?

30-Nov-05 10:52

Ahhhh... much clearer. This is very helpful. Thanks a bunch!

-- modified at 16:52 Wednesday 30th November, 2005

Again, thanks for taking the time to post such a great response. I really appreciate it.

-Ian

PJ Arends30-Nov-05 10:57

Re: Creating an automated build process - where do I start?

30-Nov-05 10:57

VC6 has the ability to export .mak files that you can use with nmake.exe (project -> Export Makefile). If you add file or projects to your workspace you simply generate a new .mak file. From there it is simply a matter of writing a .bat file for setting up all the proper nmake options.

Note that I hvae never done this for anything more than simply trying it out. Most of my apps compile very quickly, so I usually just wait for them to compile from the IDE.

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Ian Bowler30-Nov-05 11:04

Re: Creating an automated build process - where do I start?

30-Nov-05 11:04

That sounds great! I'll look into this right now. Thanks!

-Ian

Graham Bradshaw30-Nov-05 11:39

Graham Bradshaw

30-Nov-05 11:39

You can just build the .dsw file from the command line. Saves the risk of the .mak getting out of step with the main project.

Re: Creating an automated build process - where do I start?

Graham Bradshaw30-Nov-05 11:38

Graham Bradshaw

30-Nov-05 11:38

You don't need extra .mak files, just use a .dsw file from a batch file. We use:

@msdev "components.dsw" /MAKE ALL > BuildComponents.log 2>&1

That's an excerpt from our automated build. Here we have one batch file that

compiles .mc files
builds all the projects (the .dsw file above is simply a workspace with all the projects in it)
parses the build log for errors
compiles the HTML help
builds the base InstallShield installations
builds self-extracting installtions for the web site
builds the CD-ROM images for CDs

It is a bit of effort automating the whole build process, but believe me, it's well worth it.

Re: Creating an automated build process - where do I start?

SilentSilent1-Dec-05 0:28

SilentSilent

1-Dec-05 0:28

Ian Bowler wrote:
I've been tasked with creating an automated build process in a Visual Studio 6.0 environment. This is not something I'm familiar with and I'm hoping some of you may be able to point be to some tools or articles that would help me in this area.

Automated Builds in DevStudio, or the Night Build Scenario [^]

Dialup internet connections

PJ Arends30-Nov-05 9:25

30-Nov-05 9:25

Hey

I have an app that needs to be able to connect to the internet at anytime, unattended, day or night. What I have done in the past is called InternetAttemptConnect(). But in order for this to work I had to make sure that I allowed my dialup connection to connect automatically. But thanks to some poorly written apps (Firefox, ZoneAlarm) that option is no longer becoming viable as those apps are also able to connect at any time (and they do). So what I did was change the connection call from InternetAttemptConnect() to InternetAutodial(INTERNET_AUTODIAL_FORCE_UNATTENDED,...) which allows me to clear the automatically connect flag in the dialup dialog and still be able to make the internet connection my app has to make, but stop the other apps from doing the same.

But that has lead to another problem. If the dialup dialog is started by one of the other apps and is waiting for user input, InternetAutodial will also hang, waiting for the same user input.

So what I would like to know is if there is an API or other way of telling if the dialup dialog is already present, and if so how can I kill it so that my call to InternetAutodial() will succeed? I could use FindWindow to look for a dialog with the caption "Dial-up Connection" but to me that just doesn't seem to be a very safe or portable way to it.

David Crow30-Nov-05 9:33

30-Nov-05 9:33

PJ Arends wrote:
So what I would like to know is if there is an API or other way of telling if the dialup dialog is already present...

Do you know what process owns that dialog?

PJ Arends wrote:
I could use FindWindow to look for a dialog with the caption "Dial-up Connection" but to me that just doesn't seem to be a very safe or portable way to it.

Agreed.

"Take only what you need and leave the land as you found it." - Native American Proverb

PJ Arends30-Nov-05 9:48

30-Nov-05 9:48

DavidCrow wrote:
Do you know what process owns that dialog?

No, If I did I could do a search by processID.

David Crow30-Nov-05 9:59

30-Nov-05 9:59

Does the dialog show up on the Applications tab of Task Manager?

"Take only what you need and leave the land as you found it." - Native American Proverb

PJ Arends30-Nov-05 10:09

30-Nov-05 10:09

DavidCrow wrote:
Does the dialog show up on the Applications tab of Task Manager?

No, but according to Spy++ it is a top level window.

David Crow30-Nov-05 10:29

30-Nov-05 10:29

PJ Arends wrote:
No...

That's unfortunate. One of my computers uses AT&T Global Network Client and its process is netclient.exe.

"Take only what you need and leave the land as you found it." - Native American Proverb

PJ Arends30-Nov-05 10:45

30-Nov-05 10:45

It's the standard windows/IE dialup connection dialog box. It is used by almost every app I have that needs an internet connection. Only MS Outlook 2000 uses a different one that does not interfere with my app.

David Crow30-Nov-05 10:57

30-Nov-05 10:57

PJ Arends wrote:
It's the standard windows/IE dialup connection dialog box.

Ahhh, it's been a while since I used that one. It seems like it would belong to the explorer.exe process. Yes? Not that that's any more help, however.

"Take only what you need and leave the land as you found it." - Native American Proverb

PJ Arends30-Nov-05 11:05

30-Nov-05 11:05

DavidCrow wrote:
It seems like it would belong to the explorer.exe process.

One would think so. But according to spy++ it belongs to the process that started it. That is how I figured out that firefox and zonealarm are popping the dialog up at random points in time.

DavidCrow wrote:
Not that that's any more help, however.

No, it's not. D'Oh! | :doh:

Shog⁹30-Nov-05 12:09

Shog⁹

30-Nov-05 12:09

This might be overkill, but perhaps you could set up a second (non-default) connection that will be used only by this program, and connect through it using InternetDial()?

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Broken glass and rusty nails
If you're to bring back something for us
I have bullets for sale...

PJ Arends30-Nov-05 15:06