Many times it’s more desirable to collect your post build commands into batch files. Some of the reasons include easier maintenance, portability and satisfying the “don’t repeat principle” when multiple projects are sharing the same commands. If you do decide to go down the batch road there are a couple of things you should be aware of:

1.       If you want to run multiple batch files or commands. You will need to use the “call” command to ensure that all the other commands execute. If you don’t do that only the first batch file will run. To use the call command, simply precede each batch file name with “call”.

Example:

Instead of writing:

 C:\MyBatchFile.bat

Write:

call C:\MyBatchFile.bat

2.       Sometimes you will need to run external programs that could be installed in different locations on different dev machines. In such cases you might find the batch “start” command very useful. Instead of specifying the path, you just use the external program name or its file associations.

Example:

Let’s say you have several developers that have installed Winrar in different locations.

Writing: “C:\XXX\Winrar.exe” in the batch will not work in cases where developers installed it on another drive or location.

But writing: “start winrar” in the batch will work if it’s installed on the developer’s machine.

 Hope this helps!