Automate Your Software Builds

Visual Build is a tool that enables developers, software process engineers, and build specialists to create an automated, repeatable process for building their software. Visual Build provides built-in support for Microsoft Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual J++, SourceSafe, Installer, eMbedded Tools, Borland Delphi, C++Builder, JBuilder, and more.

Order the new build management solution for Windows and web developers and increase your productivity today! It's easy to put Visual Build to work doing all that manual labor for you so you can focus on more important things. Visual Build is a powerful but affordable build management solution that will automate the build process without a huge commitment of time, and it works with the tools you're using today. Click on the links to the left to learn more.

By using Visual Build, you will...

• Save time and money -- Automating your builds with Visual Build can save many hours of manual effort every month and easily pay for itself in the first month alone.
• Improve product quality -- By implementing a regular build process, your team's software quality will improve and bugs will be found and repaired more quickly.
• Avoid boring jobs -- Visual Build performs the menial, repetitive tasks so you can focus on the fun, challenging stuff.
• Eliminate key-person dependencies -- "Tribal knowledge" about the build procedure (often kept only in people's heads) will be replaced by a documented build framework.
• Create a permanent build record -- XML project files and log files, which become part of your project's source code (and can be maintained in source control), provide a persistent, documented record of how builds are performed.

Product Overview - Visual Build

Visual Build is the way for Windows and web developers to save time while performing routine development tasks. It executes all those tedious steps that must be performed over and over again, while ensuring that all steps have been successfully completed. A detailed status of each step performed is displayed during the build and optionally logged to a file. If any step fails, Visual Build pinpoints the error and then continues from the point of failure after the problem has been corrected.

Visual Build allows developers to create an automated, repeatable process for building their software. It can integrate with virtually any development tool and has built in support and samples for Microsoft Visual Studio and Borland/Inprise development tools. With Visual Build, build day is reduced to a one-click operation!

Why Visual Build?

Some of the alternatives are:

• Batch Files: a poor choice for automating builds because it's very cumbersome to implement error handling, it doesn't provide easy status and logging, and there is no simple way to stop at an error and then continue from that point after correcting the problem.
• Make Files: While make files serve a useful purpose in many builds, they tend to be arcane and cryptic and are not well suited for managing the entire build process.
• Script: Windows Script Host allows you to write script for automating many tasks, but it requires writing a lot of custom code, it doesn't provide a framework for displaying the build progress and status, logging all tool output, or stopping and resuming from error conditions.
• Configuration Management: More complex products are available that cover the entire spectrum of configuration management (including build management), but they are very expensive, have a steep learning curve, and require you to buy into that company's entire methodology.

Visual Build is the solution! It provides an easy to learn interface for creating automated builds, has built-in support for logging, capturing tool output and error conditions, works with practically any tool, and is very affordable. Use Visual Build for automating builds of shrink-wrapped software, automating development tasks within an enterprise, and more.

Features

What Can Visual Build Do?

• Retrieve the latest source code and check out files from a source control system
• Create directories and files used in the build
• Build software projects
• Set or increment project versions
• Run unit test suites and test cases
• Create installs and copy to a web site or network path
• Check in updated files and label the build
• Send e-mail notification of build success or failure
• Initialize registry settings
• Register type libraries and components
• Start and stop services (IIS, DTC, etc.)
• Configure COM+ applications, MSMQ, IIS, etc.
• Initialize and populate SQL Server or other databases
• Much, much more

Features Include:

• Provides an intuitive Windows interface. Tooltips are used extensively.
• Extensive online help is provided with the application.
• Can invoke any Windows graphical or console application, DOS application, batch file, operating system command, or script.
• Keyboard shortcuts are similar to those used in Microsoft Visual Studio.
• Powerful macro concept easily handles complex development scenarios.
• Unlimited capabilities when used in conjunction with Windows Script Host.

Supported Tools:

• Microsoft Visual Studio (Visual C++, Visual Basic, Visual J++, SourceSafe, Installer, etc.)
• Borland/Inprise development tools (C++ Builder, Delphi, JBuilder, etc.)
• Configuration management tools (PVCS, Rational, StarBase, Continuus, Merant, etc.)
• Installation tools (InstallShield, Wise, Installer VISE, etc.)
• WinZip
• Java Development Kit (javac, javadoc, etc.)
• Microsoft Windows commands and Scripting (copy, attrib, cscript, wscript, etc.).
• Any Windows program or command-line utility

Visual Build is available as as Electronic Download only. Visual Build is a Non-Returnable product.