Did you know… How the Configuration Manager works - Part 2

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Now that you know the different between solution and project configurations, let’s move on to the solution and project platforms.  Once again a solution platform is just the collection of all its projects’ platforms.  If you want all of your projects to target x64 platforms, change the Active solution platform to “x64”, and all of the projects will change.  If you need a specific project to target a different platform, you can modify individual project platform changes. 

For example, you could have one project targeting Any CPU and another targeting x86.  When you build, you’ll see the following:

—— Build started: Project: ClassLibrary1, Configuration: Debug Any CPU ——
<snip>
—— Build started: Project: ClassLibrary6, Configuration: Debug x86 ——
<snip>

Batch Build

Now, let’s combine both sets of combinations (configuration and platform), using the above example, to see what all the possible build outcomes are.  For both ClassLibraries, we get

  • Debug | Any CPU
  • Debug | x86
  • Release | Any CPU
  • Release | x86

Both C# and J# support a “Batch Build” feature that allows you to select which combinations you want to build all at the same time.  To get to this dialog, just right-click on the Solution folder and choose Batch Build.

Batch Build Dialog illustrating the different combinations of solution and project configurations and platforms

Happy Visual Studio’ing!