Getting Started

Getting Started

1. Clone or fork the repository from GitHub
   It is recommended to use at least one level of directory hierarchy from the root to accommodate the binaries from step #3
   For example:

...\GitHub\NETMF\Bin  
...\GitHub\NETMF\netmf-interpreter  
...\GitHub\NETMF\Tools  

2. Download the binary tools zip file
   The zip contains binaries necessary to build the SDK along with support files needed to build custom device images. Our longer term goal is to remove the need for these binaries so they are a separate download at present.
3. Unzip the contents of the tools zip to the parent folder of the repository, that is the tools and bin folders in the zip should become siblings of the folder containing the repository.

Building the code

Build Requirements:

1. To build the SDK you must have Visual Studio 2013 Community, Pro, or Ultimate editions and the Visual Studio 2013 SDK If you want to generate a VSIX package for Visual Studio 2015 Preview, you must also have the Visual Studio 2015 SDK installed.

Building the SDK

1. Open a command prompt and navigate to the root of the repository
2. Run the build_sdk.cmd command script to generate a new SDK MSI and VSIX packages.
   This will generate the SDK installer MSI and the VSIX packages in the BuildOutput folder

Building a firmware solution

1. Open a command prompt and navigate to the root of the repository
2. run setenv_ to set up the build environment for the tool-set you have.
   Example: C:\GitHub\Netmf\netmf-interpreter>setenv_mdk 5.05
3. navigate to the Solutions\<platformname> folder for the platform you wish to build
4. Select the build flavor of the tools
   set FLAVOR_WIN=(Release | Debug) This step is new for anyone coming from previous versions. This is a temporary step as part of transitioning the build. If you forget this you may get build errors about missing binaries. We intend to resolve this with further improvements to the build.
5. Run msbuild to build the firmware
   While a simple msbuild with no arguments is enough it tends to make for a noisy display. An easier to follow and faster build is achieved by providing the options for generating a detailed log file but use only minimal logging to the console window as follows:
   msbuild /flp:verbosity=detailed /clp:verbosity=minimal

A commonly used shortcut for the build command is to use a command line alias via DOSKEY as follows:
DOSKEY mfbld=cls$Tmsbuild /flp:verbosity=detailed /clp:verbosity=minimal $*

This sets up an alias command mfbld that clears the screen and runs msbuild with the previously mentioned logging settings. Any additional arguments specified on the command line when using the mfbld alias are passed directly on to msbuild.