Click here to Skip to main content
15,867,686 members
Articles / Programming Languages / C++
Article

.NET Command Prompt Here

Rate me:
Please Sign up or sign in to vote.
4.63/5 (21 votes)
22 Aug 20032 min read 110.4K   931   23   15
Command Prompt Here for VS.NET Users

Image 1

Introduction

I find the Open Command Window Here utility in the XP Power Toys bundle absolutely indispensable. Put simply, it adds an item to Windows Explorer's context menu that opens a DOS session in the current directory. This article contains and explains two simple registry hacks that add a .NET Command Prompt Here menu item to Windows Explorer's context menu that runs vsvars32.bat and then opens a DOS session in the current directory. I use this in place of the Visual Studio .NET 2003 Command Prompt shortcut installed by VS.NET 2003. It's not magic. Just simple and useful.

Using the code

Unzip dotNET_cmd_here.zip. Double click on both .reg files contained therein, which should be named  .NET Command Prompt Here - Directory.reg and .NET Command Prompt Here - Drive.reg. This adds the .NET Command Prompt Here menu item that is both described and shown above. When you select the menu item, you get something like the DOS session shown below.

Image 2

Now you can gacutil and ngen to your heart's content.

Points of Interest

Each .reg script has been tested on several XP Pro systems with VS .NET 2003. The command actually added to the registry reads

cmd /k 
                "%VS71COMNTOOLS%vsvars32.bat"
, which uses the VS71COMNTOOLS variable added to the environment variables by VS.NET 2003. I'm not sure whether VS.NET 2002 adds this variable so, if you're still using VS.NET 2002, look at your environment variables and add the appropriate variable or <kludge>hardcode the path</kludge>.

If you actually look into the .reg scripts, you'll see that the command is written in hex(2). This has to do with the fact that the value is REG_EXPAND_SZ types rather than the default REG_SZ . If you're a registry maven, this is all old hat. For me, however, this was all new. Thus ends my first CodeProject article.

License

This article has no explicit license attached to it but may contain usage terms in the article text or the download files themselves. If in doubt please contact the author via the discussion board below.

A list of licenses authors might use can be found here


Written By
Web Developer
United States United States
This member has not yet provided a Biography. Assume it's interesting and varied, and probably something to do with programming.

Comments and Discussions

 
GeneralFor VC6.0 Pin
MG Man11-Dec-06 19:28
MG Man11-Dec-06 19:28 
Generaluninstall method [modified] Pin
MG Man11-Dec-06 18:29
MG Man11-Dec-06 18:29 
GeneralRe: uninstall method Pin
flipdoubt12-Dec-06 3:05
flipdoubt12-Dec-06 3:05 
Generalwhidbey version Pin
andy_p3-May-05 4:44
andy_p3-May-05 4:44 
GeneralRe: whidbey version Pin
flipdoubt27-Jun-05 2:24
flipdoubt27-Jun-05 2:24 
QuestionRe: whidbey version Pin
engfelt27-Mar-06 2:46
engfelt27-Mar-06 2:46 
AnswerRe: whidbey version Pin
andy_p27-Mar-06 3:40
andy_p27-Mar-06 3:40 
GeneralNice one Pin
Daniel Vaughan29-Mar-05 14:14
Daniel Vaughan29-Mar-05 14:14 
GeneralNice and 2002 .. Pin
hotind12-Nov-03 20:34
hotind12-Nov-03 20:34 
Nice one.

But as you pointed, it didn't work for 2002. As 2002 sets then ENV variable as 'VSCOMNTOOLS'.

Thanks
GeneralGood Stuff Pin
fbougadou28-Aug-03 5:16
fbougadou28-Aug-03 5:16 
GeneralGood stuff Pin
Tim Stubbs26-Aug-03 22:33
Tim Stubbs26-Aug-03 22:33 
QuestionDOS? Pin
Anonymous24-Aug-03 5:54
Anonymous24-Aug-03 5:54 
AnswerRe: DOS? Pin
flipdoubt24-Aug-03 6:05
flipdoubt24-Aug-03 6:05 
AnswerRe: DOS? Pin
anoner25-Aug-03 6:08
anoner25-Aug-03 6:08 
GeneralNice and useful :-) Pin
Nish Nishant22-Aug-03 19:44
sitebuilderNish Nishant22-Aug-03 19:44 

General General    News News    Suggestion Suggestion    Question Question    Bug Bug    Answer Answer    Joke Joke    Praise Praise    Rant Rant    Admin Admin   

Use Ctrl+Left/Right to switch messages, Ctrl+Up/Down to switch threads, Ctrl+Shift+Left/Right to switch pages.