Where I work we use Visual Studio as IDE to run our main app that compile the Visual Studio solution .sln and the IIS Sever.

Since I never liked Visual Studio as it's an heavy and bloated IDE, with many things that I will never use, I wanted to to find a more lightweight approach for my machine just using a code editor like Sublime Text/Visual Studio Code.

So, I wrote a small script that does switch to the project repository directory then use the msbuild tools and start a browser instance while running IIS Express Server.

Requirements:

Visual Studio build tools 2019
IIS 10+ Express

You can install those dependency with Chocolatey package manager for Windows

choco install visualstudio2019buildtools -y
choco install iisexpress -y

vsbuild.bat

@ECHO OFF
CD /D "C:\gitrepos\my-repo"
call "C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual           Studio/2019/BuildTools/Common7/Tools/VsDevCmd.bat"
msbuild
start msedge http://localhost:49797/index.aspx
CD /D "C:/Program Files (x86)/IIS Express"
iisexpress /path:C:\gitrepos\my-repo /port:49797 /clr:v4.0
CMD

Place the vsbuild.bat in your app root folder and then add an alias

If you don't know what .bashrc and alias is, please refer to this post: How to speed up Git terminal workflow with bash

.bashrc

#alias 
vsb="./vsbuild.bat"

Run the vsbuild

vsb

Solve the same problem with a Powershell script

I wrote 2 version of this script.

First one just run the solution and IIS on Edge browser, the second let you pick between Edge or Firefox and the type of msbuild.

vsbuild-1.ps1

# Msbuild - Run Visual studio solution from command line, then start IIS Web Server and Open the site on localhost
# Paniconi Fabio
# 15-03-2021

# Define variables

$folder = $PSScriptRoot

$sln = "$folder/app.sln"

$url = "http://localhost:49797/index.aspx"

$firefox = "firefox"

$edge = "msedge.exe"

$port = "49797"

$iisExpressExe = '"C:\Program Files (x86)\IIS Express\iisexpress.exe"'

$path = (Resolve-path .)

$params = "/port:$port /path:$path"

$command = "$iisExpressExe $params"

function buildVS
{
    param
    (
        [parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
        [String] $path,

        [parameter(Mandatory=$false)]
        [bool] $nuget = $true,

        [parameter(Mandatory=$false)]
        [bool] $clean = $true
    )
    process
    {
        $msBuildExe = "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\MSBuild\Current\Bin\MSBuild.exe"

        if ($nuget) {
            Write-Host "`r"
            Write-Host "Restoring NuGet packages" -foregroundcolor green
            Write-Host "`r"
            nuget restore "$($path)"
        }

        if ($clean) {
            Write-Host "`r"
            Write-Host "Cleaning $($path)" -foregroundcolor green
            Write-Host "`r"
            & "$($msBuildExe)" "$($path)" /t:Clean /m
        }

        Write-Host "`r"
        Write-Host "Building $($path)" -foregroundcolor green
        Write-Host "`r"
        & "$($msBuildExe)" "$($path)" /t:Build /m
    }
}

function vsBuild($witch)
{
    if($witch -eq "rcb")
    {
        # Restore clean and build
        buildVS $sln
    }
    if($witch -eq "cb")
    {
        # Cleab and build
        buildVS $sln $false $true
    }
    if($witch -eq "b")
    {
        # Build
        buildVS $sln -nuget $false -clean $false
    }
    if($witch -eq "rb")
    {
        # Restore and build
        buildVS $sln -clean $false
    }
}

vsBuild("b")

# Open firefox and start IIS express web server

Start-Process $edge $url

Write-Output "`r"

Write-Host $path

Write-Output "`r"

Write-host "Starting site on port: $port" -foregroundcolor green

cmd /c start cmd /k "$command"

Start-Sleep -m 1000

Write-Output "`r"

Write-Host "App started" -foregroundcolor green

Write-Output "`r"

vsbuild-2.ps1

# Msbuild - Run Visual studio solution from command line, then start IIS Web Server and Open the site on localhost
# Paniconi Fabio
# 15-03-2021

# Define variables

$folder = $PSScriptRoot

$sln = "$folder/app.sln"

$url = "http://localhost:49797/index.aspx"

$firefox = "firefox"

$edge = "msedge.exe"

$port = "49797"

$iisExpressExe = '"C:\Program Files (x86)\IIS Express\iisexpress.exe"'

$path = (Resolve-path .)

$params = "/port:$port /path:$path"

$command = "$iisExpressExe $params"

function buildVS
{
    param
    (
        [parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
        [String] $path,

        [parameter(Mandatory=$false)]
        [bool] $nuget = $true,

        [parameter(Mandatory=$false)]
        [bool] $clean = $true
    )
    process
    {
        $msBuildExe = "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\MSBuild\Current\Bin\MSBuild.exe"

        if ($nuget) {
            Write-Host "`r"
            Write-Host "Restoring NuGet packages" -foregroundcolor green
            Write-Host "`r"
            nuget restore "$($path)"
        }

        if ($clean) {
            Write-Host "`r"
            Write-Host "Cleaning $($path)" -foregroundcolor green
            Write-Host "`r"
            & "$($msBuildExe)" "$($path)" /t:Clean /m
        }

        Write-Host "`r"
        Write-Host "Building $($path)" -foregroundcolor green
        Write-Host "`r"
        & "$($msBuildExe)" "$($path)" /t:Build /m
    }
}

function vsBuild($witch)
{
    if($witch -eq "rcb")
    {
        # Restore clean and build
        buildVS $sln
    }
    if($witch -eq "cb")
    {
        # Cleab and build
        buildVS $sln $false $true
    }
    if($witch -eq "b")
    {
        # Build
        buildVS $sln -nuget $false -clean $false
    }
    if($witch -eq "rb")
    {
        # Restore and build
        buildVS $sln -clean $false
    }
}

function RunServer($browser)
{
    if($browser -eq "f")
    {
        Start-Process $firefox $url
    }
    if($browser -eq "e")
    {
        Start-Process $edge $url
    }
}

Write-Host "`r"

Write-Host "If you have problem with restore builds due to nuget,please install:`r" -foregroundcolor yellow

Write-Host "`r"

Write-Host "choco install -y nuget.commandline" -foregroundcolor yellow

Write-Host "`r"

Write-Host "then restart the terminal and try again." -foregroundcolor yellow

Write-Host "`r"

Write-Host "Available MS-Builds:" -foregroundcolor green

Write-Host "`r"

Write-Host "rcb -- restore, clean and build" -foregroundcolor green

Write-Host "cb  -- clean and build" -foregroundcolor green

Write-Host "b   -- build" -foregroundcolor green

Write-Host "rb  -- resotre and build" -foregroundcolor green

Write-Host "`r"

$buildType = Read-Host "Type the build to run"


if(($buildType -eq "rcb") -or ($buildType -eq "cb") -or ($buildType -eq "b") -or ($buildType -eq "rb"))
{
    Write-Host "`r"

    Write-Host "Available Browsers:" -foregroundcolor green

    Write-Host "`r"

    Write-Host "f -- Firefox" -foregroundcolor green

    Write-Host "e -- Edge" -foregroundcolor green

    Write-Host "`r"

    $browser = Read-Host "Pick a browser"

}
else
{
    Write-Host "`r"

    Write-Host "This build do not exist, will now exit" -foregroundcolor red

    Write-Host "`r"

    Write-Host "To run again '.\ms-build'"

    Write-Host "`r"

    exit
}

if($browser -eq "f" -or $browser -eq "e")
{
    vsBuild($buildType)
}
else
{
    Write-Host "`r"

    Write-Host "This browser do not exist, will now exit" -foregroundcolor red

    Write-Host "`r"

    Write-Host "To run again '.\ms-build'"

    Write-Host "`r"

    exit
}

# Open browser and start IIS express web server

RunServer($browser)

Write-Output "`r"

Write-Host $path

Write-Output "`r"

Write-host "Starting site on port: $port" -foregroundcolor green

cmd /c start cmd /k "$command"

Start-Sleep -m 1000

Write-Output "`r"

Write-Host "App started" -foregroundcolor green

Write-Output "`r"

Run Visual Studio solution and IIS from a script

Paniconi Fabio

Solve the same problem with a Powershell script

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