Complete build process of Matlab component for .Net with meaningful version number

The previous post describes a recipe for injecting meaningful version number into NE Builder produced .Net assembly.

The normal NE Builder generated assembly using non-embedded CTF archive requires the use of a /linkres option to describe in its manifest an external linkage to a CTF file. Unfortunately, this option is not available to Visual Studio C# project and as a result, it is not possible to create a class library project in Visual Studio to automate this process; batch process is still required.

Incidentally, some one in the forum was puzzled by the automatic copying of the CTF file when one referenced a NE Builder generated assembly. This action is caused by the use of /linkres option.

In view of the need to use a batch file or command line operation to build the .Net assembly, it is therefore advantage to automate all the build steps without the need to invoke the Matlab IDE to generate the external CTF archive, the C# and companion files. Below are the steps to construct this batch file:

1. Create a command to invoke the Matlab component compiler (mcc.exe) to generate the CTF archive, the C# and companion files using the -F switch with your Matlab prj file. To see this switch usage, invoke MCC -? on a command prompt.

This switch takes all the setting from the PRJ file and is a convenient way to centralize all the specifications in one place that is also available to Matlab IDE, which is a convenient visual tool to set those specifications.

2. Execute the CSC.EXE, the C# compiler, with the response file constructed as described in the previous post.

This batch program generates all the files afresh without the need to rely on part IDE build and part command line build to complete the process; this technique ensures all files are in sync and that it can be incorporated into any automatic build process.