Build Events Dialog Box (Visual Basic)
Applies to: 
Visual Studio 
Visual Studio for Mac
Note
This article applies to Visual Studio 2017. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here
Use the Build Events dialog box to specify build configuration instructions. You can also specify the conditions under which any pre-build or post-build events are run. For more information, see How to: Specify Build Events (Visual Basic).
Pre-build event command line
Specifies any commands to execute before the build starts. To type long commands, click Edit Pre-build to display the Pre-build Event/Post-build Event Command Line Dialog Box.
Note
Pre-build events do not run if the project is up-to-date and no build is triggered.
Post-build event command line
Specifies any commands to execute after the build ends. To type long commands, click Edit Post-build to display the Pre-build Event/Post-build Event Command Line dialog box.
Note
Add a call statement before all post-build commands that run .bat files. For example, call C:\MyFile.bat or call C:\MyFile.bat call C:\MyFile2.bat.
Run the post-build event
Specifies the conditions for the post-build event to run, as shown in the following table.
| Option | Result |
|---|---|
| Always | Post-build event will run, regardless of whether the build succeeds. |
| On successful build | Post-build event will run if the build succeeds. The event will run even for a project that is up-to-date, as long as the build succeeds. This is the default setting. |
| When the build updates the project output | Post-build event will run only when the compiler's output file (.exe or .dll) differs from the previous compiler output file. A post-build event is not run if a project is up-to-date. |