Configuration Manager vs Platform Target

Question

I'm trying to figure  out the relationship between the platform (as displayed in the configuration manager) and the target as displayed in the project properties.

My computer is a Dell Latitude E65120 running Win 7 x64 (updates are current) and VS 2010 Professional (also current).

I have a solution with a mixture of C, C++, Managed C++, and C#.  Configuration manager shows three configurations.

My understanding (please correct where I'm wrong)

Open the property page on a c# project and on the 'Build' tab I change the 'Platform Target' from 'Any CPU' to to x86.

Open the configuration manager and I see the three configurations.

1) Any CPU (created when we added the C# projects)

2) Win32 (created when we added the c/c++ projects)

3) Mixed Platforms (because we have c/c++ and c# projects in the same solution)

Select the 'Mixed Platforms configuration.

So far so good.  I see a column labeled platform.  I find the c# project where set it's 'Platform Target' and it shows 'Any CPU'.

So, now I'm confused.  It seems that the property page for the project wins but if so, I don't understand what the 'Platform' column in the configuration manager is for.

Can someone point me in the right direction?

Answer 1

Ok, let me take a stab at anserwing my own question...I think I was just being stupid...

Each project has a set configuration propertes...one of which, for a c# project, is Platform Target.

The configuration manager creates sets of of the project property pages as defined by the configuration and platform and you can have as many sets as you want.

Now, available platforms are defined by Visual Studio and are not changeable but different based on the type of project.

C/C++ gets win32 and x64

C# gets x86, x64 and 'Any CPU'.

win32=x86

Am I on the right track?

Answer 2

Hi erickson_brian,

I think you are right. Each project has a set configuration property for platform. You can change it by choose the right type.  The option was identified by Visual Studio automatically.

Also, win32 means x86 , that's right.

Best regards,

---

Barry Wang [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 3

It is probably worth noting that while the configuration may be something like 'win32' it really has no meaning.  It's up to the property sheet of each individual project to be built in a way that 'makes sense'.

I.E. It doesn't make much sense but's it perfectly ok with VS 2010 to have a project built using the win32 configuration that targets a 64 bit OS.