Optimizing msbuild (C#/.NET/C++) build performance with Visual Studio 2022

Having a fast incremental build time for your .NET app can be the difference between staying productive or going to get a cup of coffee every time you need to build. Visual Studio 2022 has some new capabilities that help you root cause issues that are slowing down your build cycles. In this video we’ll look at the logging tools for MSBuild and some tips to speed up your build times.

Intro
Checking why a build isn’t marked as up to date
Packages breaking incremental builds

#vs2022 #build #dotnet

Note: In this video, we reference an issue where a CopyToOutputDirectory=Always item would lead to its project always being built. This issue has been streamlined and you can take advantage of this change by upgrading to Visual Studio 2022 17.2 or above.

[DavidWengier]

If only this was an hour long conference talk that went over more scenarios!

[drewnoakes]

I have some good news to share that updates some of the content in this video!

In 17.2, we have fixed the issue where a CopyToOutputDirectory=Always item would lead to its project always being built. You don't have to take any action to see that improvement, beyond upgrading to 17.2 or above.

[smartmanapps]

In regards to your comment at the end about building from an SSD, I have a RAMdisk, but impractical to host all my repo's there (they're currently on HDD). The only way I know of to take advantage of RAMdisk build time would be to copy repo from HDD to RAMdisk whilst working on it, then copy back when finished for the day - is there a simpler solution to this?

[sandorseely]

is there a weight limit for using the .NET framework? I weigh 400 ish lbs

[Adamus]

How are you able to print full build time in output widow?
I was looking for this option, but I found out that only project-scoped build times could be printed out.

[albertoescobedo]

Can something like this be used for .Net Framework projects?

[shantanumethikar]

how did you get the whole build time logged?

[joelanzo]

I wonder why you don't make it straight forward to build visual studio projects, something like : file--> export-->.exe