This task compiles Visual Basic.NET source into executables or modules. The task requires vbc.exe on the execute path, unless it or an equivalent program is specified in the executable parameter
All parameters are optional: <vbc/> should
suffice to produce a debug build of all *.vb files.
The task is a directory based task, so attributes like includes="**\/*.vb" and excludes="broken.vb" can be used to control the files pulled in. By default, all *.vb files from the project folder down are included in the command. When this happens the destFile -if not specified- is taken as the first file in the list, which may be somewhat hard to control. Specifying the output file with destfile is prudent.
Also, dependency checking only works if destfile is set. As
with <csc> nested src filesets of
source, reference filesets, definitions and resources can be
provided.
| Attribute | Description | Type | Requirement |
| additionalmodules | Semicolon separated list of modules to refer to. | String | Optional |
| debug | set the debug flag on or off. | boolean | |
| destdir | Set the destination directory of files to be compiled. | File | |
| destfile | Set the name of exe/library to create. | File | |
| executable | set the name of the program, overriding the defaults. Can be used to set the full path to a program, or to switch to an alternate implementation of the command, such as the Mono or Rotor versions -provided they use the same command line arguments as the .NET framework edition | String | |
| extraoptions | Any extra options which are not explicitly supported by this task. | String | |
| failonerror | If true, fail on compilation errors. | boolean | |
| imports | Declare global imports for namespaces in referenced metadata files. | String | |
| includedefaultreferences | If true, automatically includes the common assemblies in dotnet, and tells the compiler to link in mscore.dll. set the automatic reference inclusion flag on or off this flag controls the /nostdlib option in CSC | boolean | |
| mainclass | Sets the name of main class for executables. | String | |
| optimize | If true, enables optimization flag. | boolean | |
| optioncompare | Specify binary- or text-style string comparisons. Defaults to "binary" | String | |
| optionexplicit | Whether to require explicit declaration of variables. | boolean | |
| optionstrict | Enforce strict language semantics. | boolean | |
| referencefiles | Path of references to include. Wildcards should work. | Path | |
| references | Semicolon separated list of DLLs to refer to. | String | |
| removeintchecks | Whether to remove integer checks. Default false. | boolean | |
| rootnamespace | Specifies the root namespace for all type declarations. | String | |
| srcdir | Set the source directory of the files to be compiled. | File | |
| targettype | set the target type to one of exe|library|module|winexe | "exe", "library", "module", "winexe" | |
| utf8output | If true, require all compiler output to be in UTF8 format. | boolean | |
| warnlevel | Level of warning currently between 1 and 4 with 4 being the strictest. | int | |
| win32icon | Set the filename of icon to include. | File | |
| win32res | Sets the filename of a win32 resource (.RES) file to include. This is not a .NET resource, but what Windows is used to. | File | |
| useresponsefile | Sets whether a response file instead of a command line only invocation should be used. Defaults to false but Ant will still use a response file if more than 64 command line arguments would be used. | boolean |
add a define to the list of definitions
add a new reference fileset to the compilation
link or embed a resource
add a new source directory to the compile
<vbc optimize="true" debug="false"
warnLevel="4" targetType="exe" definitions="RELEASE"
excludes="src/unicode_class.vb" mainClass="MainApp"
destFile="NetApp.exe" optionExplicit="true"
optionCompare="text" references="System.Xml,System.Web.Xml" >
<reference file="${testCSC.dll}"/>
<define name="RELEASE"/>
<define name="DEBUG" if="debug.property"/>
<define name="def3" unless="def2.property"/>
</vbc>
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