New features and improvements

Apr 2, 2010 14:50 GMT  ·  By

The promise from Microsoft is that developers leveraging the Windows SDK command line build environment included with version 7.1 of the Windows software development kit will be able to create both native and managed applications. According to the Redmond company, the evolution of Windows SDK 7.1 build environment is planned to bring to the table a number of custom props and target files specifically designed to support devs working on either native or managed projects.

It supports building applications from makefiles and Visual Studio project and solution files. Because the Visual Studio 2010 Managed 4.0 content/toolset, VC++ 2010 compiler/toolset and MSBuild v4.0 toolset will ship in the Windows 7.1 SDK, customers who do not have VS2010 installed should be able to easily build applications using these in the 7.1 SDK build environment,” Nanda Lella, from the Windows SDK Team, revealed.

Microsoft is telling developers that they will have to rely exclusively on MsBuild v4.0, as Windows SDK7.1 build environment will feature no support for MsBuild v3.5. In this regard, those that are putting together Managed projects will have to do it by using MSBuild v4.0 (included in .NET Framework 4), whether they will be targeting.NET Framework 2.0, .NET Framework 3.5, or .NET framework 4.

“Windows SDK build environment will support building VC2010 projects if PlatformToolSet property in the project files is either set to Windows7.1SDK or is left blank. When you create a new project in Visual Studio 2010, by default the PlatformToolSet property is left blank. There projects will be able to build alright without any changes to the project files. But if the PlatformToolSet value is changed in the project setting either using the IDE or manually, you will have to change it to Windows7.1SDK to be able to build in the Windows SDK build environment,” Lella added.

VCUpgrade.exe is the VC project upgrade tool that will be offered packaged with Windows SDK. The software giant indicated that devs could turn to the tool in order to migrate projects from the 2008 format to the 2010 format. However, the VCUpgrade tool does come with a limitation. Devs will only be able to use it in order to upgrade individual project, but not for whole solutions.

By changing the MsBuild platform property, developers will, in effect, enjoy the flexibility of targeting specific platform architectures. In this manner, devs can change the default behavior of the SDK build environment that will normally create the default platform configuration in accordance with the project or solution file.

“If you have build machine which has Team Build 2010. Team build includes MsBuild but does not have the required C/C++ build system files. So, if you install Windows SDK 7.1 on the machine you should be able to target Windows SDK 7.1 headers, libs and tools and build the native projects by setting the PlatFormToolset to Windows7.1SDK and managed projects using MsBuild v4.0,” Lella added.

Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 is available for download here.

Visual Studio 2010 Premium Release Candidate (RC) is available for download here.
Visual Studio 2010 Professional Release Candidate (RC) is available for download here.
Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate Release Candidate (RC) is available for download here.

.NET Framework 4 Release Candidate (RC) is available for download here.