Assembly Programming in Visual Studio 2008

Does anyone have a best practice Project Template for Visual Studio 2008 MASM projects? I don't know why Microsoft shipped VS with MASM but epxect you to use a blank C++ project when there is so much that could have been added b开发者_Go百科y default using a Project Template.

Also, is there a project connector for TFS 2008 for MASM projects as I have been unable to find one?

Well, after some checking, it appears that VS 2008 at least contains the masm .rules file (the one that gives you all the compilation options):

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\VCProjectDefaults\masm.rules

The good news is that I currently have a real full fledged masm solution with four projects, including an 100% masm one opened in VS 2008 Express SP1. The masm project is fully integrated into VS 2008 With all the config gadgets etc - no kludge like using an external script etc. So there is masm support in VS2008, it is just not exposed. According to this vs developer blog entry, masm was reintroduced in VS2800 starting at SP1.

The solution is well hidden, but quite easy to reach: it's a mere 4-click operation. Remember, masm was added starting with VS 2008 SP1 (tested here with Express).

• Open your solution
• right click on your project node
• select Custom Build Rules
• You should see the masm rule there, it's just not enabled by default. Click its checkbox.

Done. masm is now exposed in your project properties, with all its options and everything.

For more, "Visual C++ Custom Build Rule Files Dialog Box" in help:

ms-help://MS.VSCC.v90/MS.msdnexpress.v90.en/dv_vcide/html/ad4f26a5-8373-42ac-9044-8a806a50241e.htm

Extremely new to this, I found what you explained using vs 2008 express...have no idea what to do with it yet, wonder if this contributes any to the discourse (if not forgive me, I glanced through it and saw MASM and figured it may be of some help!) from Microsoft Document Explorer (you have to go to the help tab and search for custom build, I cant insert the xml file): A rule file, or RULES file, is an XML file that has a .rules file extension. It allows you to define custom build rules and incorporate them into the build process of a Visual C++ project. Custom build rules are associated with one or more file extensions. A custom build rule enables you pass input files to a tool, which results in one or more output files, as part of the build process.

Use the Visual C++ Custom Build Rule Files Dialog Box to manage the rule files in your projects.

Note: Rule files follow the same property inheritance guidelines as property sheets (VSPROPS files). For more information, see Property Inheritance.

When you incorporate custom build rules into the build process, you can also specify the order in which those build rules are run. For more information, see Tool Build Order Dialog Box. Use the XML Schema Definition for Rule Files to validate your own RULES files.

See Also Concepts XML Schema Definition for Property Sheets Project Files Understanding Custom Build Steps and Build Events Send feedback on this topic to Microsoft.