Displaying build times in Visual Studio?

187
votes

Our build server is taking too long to build one of our C++ projects. It uses Visual Studio 2008. Is there any way to get devenv.com to log the time taken to build each project in the solution, so that I know where to focus my efforts?

Improved hardware is not an option in this case.

I've tried setting the output verbosity (under Tools / Options / Projects and Solutions / Build and Run / MSBuild project build output verbosity). This doesn't seem to have any effect in the IDE.

When running MSBuild from the command line (and, for Visual Studio 2008, it needs to be MSBuild v3.5), it displays the total time elapsed at the end, but not in the IDE.

I really wanted a time-taken report for each project in the solution, so that I could figure out where the build process was taking its time.

Alternatively, since we actually use NAnt to drive the build process (we use Jetbrains TeamCity), is there a way to get NAnt to tell me the time taken for each step?

13
visual-studiomsbuildbuild-process

13 Answers

214
votes

Menu Tools → Options → Projects and Solutions → VC++ Project Settings → Build Timing should work.

94
votes

Go to Tools → Options → Projects and Solutions → Build and Run → MSBuild project build output verbosity - set to "Normal" or "Detailed", and the build time will appear in the output window.

38
votes

Visual Studio 2012 - 2019

  • For MSBuild Projects (e.g. all .Net-Projects):
    Click Tools -> Options and then select Projects and Solutions -> Build and Run. Change MSBuild project build output verbosity to Normal. So it will display Time Elapsed in every Solution Project it builds. But there is unfortunatily no Elapsed Time Sum over all project. You will also see the Build started Timestamp

  • FOR C/C++ Project:

Click Tools -> Options and then select Projects and Solutions -> VC++ Project Settings.

Change Build Timing to Yes.

12
votes

I have created an extension to measure the build times and present the order of events in a graph: Visual Studio Build Timer.

enter image description here

It is available on visual studio market place and works for VS2015, VS2017 and VS2019.

Apart from showing which projects take longer, the chart displays effectively dependencies between them, i.e. projects that need to wait for others, which helps figuring out what dependencies need to break to increase the parallelization of your build.

9
votes

For Visual Studio 2012 you could use the Build Monitor extension.

7
votes

Tools->Options->Projects and Solutions->Build and Run->

Set "MSBuild project build output verbosity" from "Minimal" to "Normal"

6
votes

If you're stuck on VS2005 you could use the vs-build-timer plugin. At the completion of a build it shows the total time taken and a (optional) summary of each of the project durations.

Disclaimer; I wrote it. And yes, I need to create an installer...one day!

4
votes

If you want to visualize your build you can use IncrediBuild. IncrediBuild's now available in standalone-mode (not distributed but for use only on 8 cores on your local machine) for free as part of Visual Studio 2015 Update 1

Disclaimer: I work for IncrediBuild

4
votes

Since your question involves using DevEnv from the command line, I would also suggest using MSBuild (which can build .sln files without modification). 

msbuild /fl /flp:Verbosity=diagnostic Your.sln

msbuild /? will show you other useful options for the filelogger.

3
votes

I ended up here because I just wanted the date and time included in the build output. Should others be searching for something similar it's as simple as adding echo %date% %time% to the Pre-build and/or Post-build events under project, Properties → Compile → Build Events.

2
votes

Do a build first and see which project is appearing first in the build output (Ctrl + Home in the output window). Right click that project → Project Properties → Compile → Build Events → Pre-build. And echo ###########%date% %time%#############.

So every time you see build results (or during build) do Ctrl + Home in the output window. And somewhere in that area the time and date stares at your face!

Oh and you might end up adding these details to many projects as the build order can change :)

I found a better solution! ###

Tools → Options → Projects & Solutions → Build and Run → MSBuild project build output verbosity = Normal (or above Minimal). This adds the time in the beginning/top of output window. Ctrl + Home in the output window should do.

If we want to see how much time each projects take then Projects & Solutions → VC++ Project Settings → Build Timing = yes. It is applicable to all projects; "VC++" is misleading.

1
votes

If you want to invoke an external program that can track your total build times, you can use the following solution for VS 2010 (and maybe older). The code below uses CTime by Casey Muratori. Of course you can also use it to simply print the build time.

Open up the macro explorer, and paste the following before End Module:

Dim buildStart As Date
Private Sub RunCtime(ByVal StartRatherThanEnd As Boolean)
    Dim Arg As String
    Dim psi As New System.Diagnostics.ProcessStartInfo("ctime.exe")
    If StartRatherThanEnd Then
        psi.Arguments = "-begin"
    Else
        psi.Arguments = "-end"
    End If
    psi.Arguments += " c:\my\path\build.ctm"
    psi.RedirectStandardOutput = False
    psi.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden
    psi.UseShellExecute = False
    psi.CreateNoWindow = True
    Dim process As System.Diagnostics.Process
    process = System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(psi)
    Dim myOutput As System.IO.StreamReader = process.StandardOutput
    process.WaitForExit(2000)
    If process.HasExited Then
        Dim output As String = myOutput.ReadToEnd
        WriteToBuildWindow("CTime output: " + output)
    End If
End Sub

Private Sub BuildEvents_OnBuildBegin(ByVal Scope As EnvDTE.vsBuildScope, ByVal Action As EnvDTE.vsBuildAction) Handles BuildEvents.OnBuildBegin
    WriteToBuildWindow("Build started!")
    buildStart = Date.Now
    RunCtime(True)
End Sub

Private Sub BuildEvents_OnBuildDone(ByVal Scope As EnvDTE.vsBuildScope, ByVal Action As EnvDTE.vsBuildAction) Handles BuildEvents.OnBuildDone
    Dim buildTime = Date.Now - buildStart
    WriteToBuildWindow(String.Format("Total build time: {0} seconds", buildTime.ToString))
    RunCtime(False)
End Sub

Private Sub WriteToBuildWindow(ByVal message As String)
    Dim win As Window = DTE.Windows.Item(EnvDTE.Constants.vsWindowKindOutput)
    Dim ow As OutputWindow = CType(win.Object, OutputWindow)
    If (Not message.EndsWith(vbCrLf)) Then
        message = message + vbCrLf
    End If
    ow.OutputWindowPanes.Item("Build").OutputString(message)
End Sub

Answer taken from here and here.

1
votes

Options -> Projects and Solutions -> VC++ Project Settings -> Build Timing

enter image description here