When working within the Visual Studio .NET environment, you don't need to worry about the compiler, because the editor takes care of compilation. Likewise, when simply developing ASP.NET pages, you can rely on the framework to compile pages as required. However, when building components or controls, you'd want to compile code into a DLL, so you need to know how the compiler works.
There is a separate compiler for each language, but luckily, you use them all in the same way, and most of the switches and flags are identical. The compilers are:
csc for C#.
vbc for Visual Basic .NET.
jsc for JScript.NET.
These are automatically part of the .NET installation, and are invoked from the command line. For example:
vbc /t:library /out:..\bin\People.dll /r:system.dll person.vb programmer.vb
This compiles the
person.vb and
programmer.vb source files into an assembly named
People.dll .
Compiler switches fall into two usage categories. The first includes those that enable or disable an option: in this case, the switch or the switch name followed by plus enables the option, and the switch name followed by minus disables it. For example:
|
/cls |
Enables the option |
|
/cls+ |
Enables the option |
|
/cls- |
Disables the option |
The second category contains switches that specify a file or reference. Here a colon (
: ) separates the switch and the argument. For example:
The full list of options including a list of which languages the option is supported in is as follows:
|
Option |
Language |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
@ |
All |
Specify the file containing the compiler options. |
|
/? /help |
All |
Display the options, without compiling any code. |
|
/addmodule:module |
VB / C# |
Reference metadata from the specified module . |
|
/autoref |
JScript |
Automatically reference assemblies based on imported namespaces and fully qualified names. This defaults to on . |
|
/baseaddress:number |
VB / C# |
Specify, as a hexadecimal number , the base address of the DLL. |
|
/bugreport:file |
VB / C# |
Create a file containing information that can be used when filing bug reports. |
|
/checked |
C# |
Generate overflow checks |
|
/codepage:id |
JScript / C# |
Specify the code page id used in source files. |
|
/debug |
All |
Add debugging information to the created file. This is required if you need to debug into components. |
|
/define:symbols |
All |
Define conditional compiler constants. You can define multiple constants by separating them with commas. For example: /define:DBTracing=True,CustomErr ors=False |
|
/doc:file |
C# |
Emit the XML documentation in the source files into the named file . |
|
/delaysign |
VB |
Delay-sign the assembly, using only the public part of the strong name key. |
|
/fast |
JScript |
Disable language features to allow better code generation. |
|
/filealign:n |
C# |
Specify the alignment used for output file sections. |
|
/fullpaths |
C# |
Generate fully qualified paths. |
|
/imports:list |
VB |
Import a namespace from the specified assembly. |
|
/incr /incremental |
C# |
Enable or disable incremental compilation. |
|
/keycontainer |
VB |
Create a unique container name for a key. Used when generating shared components as it inserts a public key into the assembly manifest, and signs the assembly with a private key. Can be used with the sn utility which manages keys. |
|
/keyfile |
VB |
Specify the file containing the public and private keys to be added to a shared component. This can be used with the sn utility, which manages keys. |
|
/lcid:id |
JScript |
Use the specified locale id for the default code page and messages. |
|
/lib:directories |
C# / JScript |
Specify additional directories to search for references. |
|
/libpath:directories |
VB |
Specify additional directories to search for references. |
|
/linkres:resinfo /linkresource:resinfo |
All |
Create a link to a resource file. The first argument is the file name containing the resource, and an optional second argument specifies the identifier in the resource file. For example: /linkresource:Wrox.resource,Auth orBio |
|
/m:type /main:type |
C# / VB |
Specify the class or module type that contains the main start-up procedure. |
|
/noconfig |
C# |
Do not auto-include CSC.RSP file. |
|
/nologo |
C# / VB |
Don't show the copyright banner during compile. This makes it a lot easier to see compilation messages. |
|
/nowarn |
VB |
Disable warnings. |
|
/nostdlib |
C# / JScript |
Enable or disable the import of the standard library mscorlib.dll compilation. |
|
/nowarn:list |
C# |
Disable warning messages specified in the list . |
|
/optimize |
C# / VB |
Enable or disable compiler optimizations. |
|
/optioncompare:type |
VB |
Specify the type of comparison used for strings. The values are text or binary (the default). For example: optioncompare:text |
|
/optionexplicit |
VB |
Enable (the default) or disable explicit variable declaration. |
|
/optionstrict |
VB |
Enables (the default) or disables strict type conversions. In strict mode the only implicit conversions are those that widen types (for example an integer to a long). |
|
/out:file |
All |
Specify the name of the output file . By default a DLL will take its name from the first sourcecode file, and an EXE will take its name from the file containing the main procedure. |
|
|
JScript |
Enable or disable provision of the print() function. |
|
/quiet |
VB |
Quiet output mode. |
|
/recurse:wildcard |
C# / VB |
Recurse through subdirectories compiling files. For example: vbc /target:library /out:Foo.dll /recurse:inc\*.vb |
|
/r:list /reference:list |
All |
Reference metadata from the specified file list . For multiple files use a semi-colon ( ; ) to separate them. |
|
/removeintchecks |
VB |
Enable or disable (the default) overflow error checking for integer variables. |
|
/res:resinfo /resource:resinfo |
All |
Embed a resource into the assembly. The first argument is the file name containing the resource, and an optional second argument specifies the identifier in the resource file. For example: /resource:Wrox.resource,AuthorBio |
|
/rootnamespace |
VB |
Indicate the namespace in which all type declarations will appear. |
|
/target:type |
All |
Indicate the type of file to be created. This can be one of: exe , for a console application library , for a DLL module, for a module winexe , for a Windows application The module option is not applicable in JScript .NET. |
|
/time |
C# |
Display the project compile-times. |
|
/unsafe |
C# |
Enable or disable unsafe code. |
|
/utf8output |
All |
Output compiler messages in UTF-8 encoding. |
|
/verbose |
VB |
Enable or disable verbose error and information messages. |
|
/versionsafe |
JScript |
Enable or disable specification of default for members that aren't marked as override or new . |
|
/w:n /warn:n |
C# / JScript |
Set the warning level to n . |
|
/warnaserror |
All |
Enable or disable the treatment of warnings as errors. |
|
/win32icon:file |
C# / VB |
Specify the icon file ( .ico ) to be added to the resource. |
|
/win32res:file /win32resource:file |
All |
Insert a Win32 resource file into the target. |