Has the Batch Build option been removed in Visual Studio 2012 Express? - visual-studio-2012

I just recently switched from Visual C++ 2010 Express to Visual Studio 2012 Express for Desktop. Since I use it often, I soon found myself looking for the Batch Build... option under the Build menu (or Solution Explorer → <solution>'s right-click menu).
At work, I have Visual Studio 2012 Professional and the Batch Build... option is where it was in Visual Studio 2010.
Has this feature been cut from the Express editions?

It turns out the Batch Build... feature still exists in the Express edition of Visual Studio 2012; it's just been hidden for some reason.
To access it, you can either assign a keyboard shortcut via menu Tools → Options... → Environment → Keyboard and finding Build.BatchBuild, or you can add it to the Build menu and the Solution context menu, where it used to be, via Tools → Customize... → Commands. The Build menu is under the menu bars named Build and the Solution context menu is under the context menus named Project and Solution Context Menus | Solution.

You can also (Visual Studio 2013 Express) customize the menu to get the command (back):
How to: Customize Menus and Toolbars in Visual Studio

No, it hasn't been cut. I've been using it recently.
However, I have at least one solution where Batch Build is not present on the menu (and wasn't present in Visual Studio 2010, either). My guess is that there's something about the solution that Visual Studio doesn't like, and it disables the batch build feature - but I've never got to the bottom of it.
I would say that if you really need that feature, create a new solution and re-add the existing projects one by one.

Related

Cannot find C++ project templates after installing Visual Studio 2015

After installing Visual Studio 2015, when I go to File -> New Project, I cannot find any project templates related to Visual C++. How can I get them?
You can do that by modifying the Visual Studio, and you can do that using these steps:
Go to Control panel
In the Add or Remove Programs dialog box, select the product you want to repair and then click Change/Remove
In the Setup wizard, click Next
Click Repair
Then Modify - now you can select C++ to add it.
Visual Studio 2015 has made a number of setup components optional. This means that the default installation set is very small and the user can select any additional components he wants to install. Visual C++ is one of the optional install components.
Most of the optional install components can also be acquired through regular product work-flows. For example, when you go to File -> New Project dialog and are not able to find any Visual C++ templates, you will at least see an item that allows you to acquire Visual C++ tools. It does this by launching the setup experience with the "Visual C++" tools pre-selected.
For more information, please see this link:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vcblog/archive/2015/07/24/setup-changes-in-visual-studio-2015-affecting-c-developers.aspx
You can add the missing templates by:
Go to File(in visual studio).
Select New project.
Under Templates Select Open Visual Studio Installer.
Now you can add any component.
Works on Visual Studio 2017.
Don't know about others.
If you have an MSVS update 3 installed then you may have face with one of the problem of this update. See more here Visual Studio 2015 Update 3 Known Issues. Here is a quote from this document
In some cases, applying Update 3 can cause the optional feature selections for Visual C++ (e.g. Common Tools for Visual C++ 2015) to become deselected and uninstalled.

Create a setup file in Visual Studio 2012

I have a windows form project and I want to create an installation package for this project. How can I create a setup file in Visual Studio 2012 ? My project is without data base.
How to create a Setup package using Visual Studio 2012.NET?
Microsoft released the Visual Studio Installer Project extension in April of this year, the catch is it's for VS2013, not VS2012.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudio/archive/2014/04/17/visual-studio-installer-projects-extension.aspx
The 'lite' InstallShield option remains in VS if you need something with more flexibility.
Advanced Installer also has a free version that includes an extension for VS. This is a commercial tool but the extension is included in the free edition as I said, for more advanced features you need to purchase a Professional or higher licenses and edit the project direct from Advanced Installer GUI, not from VS. (but you can still use the project in the VS solution, so you get the MSI built at the end of your build process)
Visual Studio setup projects (vdproj) are not supplied with VS 2012
There are several solutions for you:
You could use InstallShield instead.
If you don't want or
can't use InstallShield for any reason, you could try WiX. This
toolset builds Windows installation packages from XML source code.
If you only use Windows Presentation Foundation (.xbap), Windows Forms (.exe), console application (.exe), or Office solution (.dll) you could look at ClickOnce. To use this you should right click on the project file in the solution explorer and select "Publish" from the pop-up menu.
Alternatively you can use previous version of Visual Studio (2010).

Where is the Architecture Menu in Visual Studio 2012 Premium?

I can't seem to access the Architecture Tools available in Visual Studio 2012 Premium Version 11.0.60610.01 Update 4 using .Net Version 4.5.50709
My only visible menu options on startup are:
FILE
EDIT
VIEW
DEBUG
TEAM
SQL
TOOLS
TEST
ANALYZE
WINDOW
HELP
And with a project open these two extra items appear:
PROJECT
BUILD
There is nothing under the any of the menus related to Architecture Tools except for
VIEW > Toolbars > Architecture Designers
The Architecture Designers toobar's buttons are all grayed out when enabled.
Do I need to do something extra after the Visual Studio 2012 install to make them show up?
Does it only work for certain types of projects (I am trying to make an MVC4 project)? Does it have to be enabled on a per-project basis?
Is there a difference between how the Architecture tools work in Premium vs Ultimate?
Isn't it only available in VS 2012 Ultimate? (which used to be called "Architecture Edition".)

ReSharper - How to revert back to Visual Studio code templates

When creating a property in Visual Studio, I use the snippet prop and can TAB between the type and the name and Visual Studio jumps between the 2.
ReSharper has taken over this functionality, and I would like to know how to reset it back to Visual Studio. The problem I have is I don't know where to look. In Visual Studio 2012 I can see a ReSharper menu, but there are so many options I don't know where to look.
In ReSharper 9.2 in Visual Studio 2015, I achieved this by doing the following:
Going to the ReSharper -> Tools -> Templates Explorer... menu
Deleting all templates in all scopes in all three of the Live Templates, Surround Templates and File Templates tabs. To speed this up, I was able to select all templates in a scope by pressing Ctrl+A and then delete them by pressing the X button in the toolbar.
I had a similar situation with Visual Studio 2013 and ReSharper 9. I simply went to menu ReSharper → Tools → Templates Explorer and then found the prop template and removed it.
You can also deselect templates as well which may work, but I didn't try that approach.

Compile Tab missing from project properties in Visual Studio 2012

When I right click on a project in my solution and go into the properties, I don't see the Compile tab on the left. I see Application, Build, Build Events and then the next one is Debug.
I've Googled for this but couldn't find anything, and also couldn't find anything here. Does anyone have any idea what I'm doing wrong?
Many thanks!
The Compile tab shows up for Visual Basic projects, but not for C# projects. For Visual Basic it mainly houses constructs specific to VB, like OPTION EXPLICIT, but there are elements like target platform that are found on the Build tab for C#. The target framework, available under the Advanced Compile Options of the Visual Basic Compile tab is found on the C# Application tab.
UPDATE: With Update 2 of Visual Studio 2012 I'm now seeing Target Framework for a VB project also in the Application tab.

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