Dependent project always built

Question

Hi, I hope I this is the most appropriate forum for my question.

I have a VS 2008 solution with a DLL project, and a number of Web Application projects which are dependent on the DLL project.

Whenever I build one of the Web Application Projects, the shared DLL project always gets built again, even if no changes have been made to it. This significantly increases build time.

I was of the understanding that a when performing a build (not rebuild), a project build will be skipped if no changes have been made to the project. I'm sure I've seen this occur in our older VS 2005 solutions.

Am I correct in assuming this? If so, any ideas how I can stop my DLL project from being compiled every time?

Many thanks,
Anthony.

Answer 1

Perhaps could someone recommend a different forum for me to post this on?

Many thanks,
Anthony.

Answer 2

Hi ants_cx,

I tried to add two ASP.Net web sites and a Visual C++ win32 DLL project to a solution file, and set the two web sites dependent on the DLL project, when I build the web site, it will ignore to build the DLL project if it is up-to-date, the message is “Build: 1 succeeded, 0 failed, 1 up-to-date, 0 skipped”.

Also, I replace the Win32 DLL project with a .Net class library project, when I build a web site, it will not to build the other projects if they are up-to-date, the message is following.

------ Build started: Project: ClassLibrary1, Configuration: Debug Any CPU ------

ClassLibrary1 -> E:\ClassLibrary1\bin\Debug\ClassLibrary1.dll

------ Build started: Project: D:\WebSite070927\, Configuration: Debug .NET ------

Validating Web Site

Building directory '/WebSite070927/'.

 

Validation Complete

========== Build: 2 succeeded or up-to-date, 0 failed, 0 skipped ==========

If the class library is modified, the message is different which indicated that the project was built.

Therefore, I cannot repro the issue; have you change the configuration of the project? If it is so, try to reset it as default settings. Or if you still cannot figure the issue out, would you please upload the project to some network drives, such as http://skydrive.live.com/

You can simplify the project if it is necessary; just make sure we can repro the problem.

Also, if you want to give some feedback to the VS product team, you can do it via the following CONNECT portal.

http://connect.microsoft.com/visualstudio/

Regards,

Xun

---

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help. http://forums.msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/csharpide/thread/8e9ed0d7-11ff-402a-8489-9b5f05eeb706

Answer 3

Hi Xun,

Thanks for your response. I believe I've found the cause of the problem.

The issue only seems to occur when the DLL project contains a .edmx file (ADO .NET Entity Data Model). When I remove these files from my project, the project only builds when changes have been made.

I have created a sample solution which replicates the problem on my PC:

http://cid-059a79e7ba59118d.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/EXMXTest.zip

If I build the Web project, the DLL project is always rebuilt. If I remove the .edmx file, then only the Web project is built.

Cheers,
Anthony.

Answer 4

Hi ants_cx,

Thanks for sharing your project and info, I can repro the problem by building your project. since the problem was caused by "ADO .NET Entity Data Model", perhaps you can try the following forum.

in ADO.NET Entity Framework and LINQ to Entities (Pre-release)

http://forums.microsoft.com/msdn/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=533&SiteID=1

Or you can just report a bug via the CONNECT portal.

Regards,
Xun

---

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help. http://forums.msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/csharpide/thread/8e9ed0d7-11ff-402a-8489-9b5f05eeb706

Answer 5

I've created a new thread on the LINQ to Entities Forum:

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=4172878&SiteID=1

Thanks for your help,
Anthony.