Step 5. Build the Visual Studio Solution

The following diagram shows how the XML schema and empty ODS Database are used to create the API for the Ed-Fi ODS using code generators within the solution. The presence of the "EdFi_Ods_Empty" database is necessary because the code generation uses the database to understand the structure that it uses to generate data access code.

When the "EdFi_Ods_Empty" database has been created (by running the initdev PowerShell command in the previous step), there are two ways to build the solution:

Either option may be used.

Option 1. Build from within Visual Studio

To build the solution from within Visual Studio:

1. Ensure that the MsBuildDisableNodeReuse flag is set (see Configure MSBuild in Step 4).
2. If the above flag has been set globally, start Visual Studio normally. Otherwise, open Visual Studio from the Visual Studio Developer Command Prompt (where you set the flag value by typing devenv).
3. Within Visual Studio, open the "Ed-Fi-Ods.sln" solution file from the C:\Ed-Fi-ODS-Implementation\Application directory.
4. Select Build > Build Solution (or press Ctrl+Shift+B).

Option 2. Build from the Developer Command Prompt

The solution may be built from a Developer Command Prompt for Visual Studio using the Windows start menu.

To do a clean build from the command prompt:

1. Open the Developer Command Prompt for Visual Studio.
   
2. Navigate to your C:\Ed-Fi-ODS-Implementation\Application directory.
3. Issue a command similar to the following:

Msbuild /nr:false /t:clean;build Ed-Fi-Ods.sln