MSBuild: What is it, and when do I need it?

Question

I seem to have missed Day 1 of MsBuild 101. I find myself asking \"What does it do, what does it replace, and when do I need it?\" since I can just hit F5 and compile my a

Answer 1

It's useful when you want do automated builds, and have to implement a build process

The F5 Key Is Not a Build Process and links therein (e.g this) is a good read in that regard.

Also, your Visual Studio project files are msbuild files. If you want to do more advanced stuff when you build (e.g. run a javascript minifier, have more control over autogenerated version identifiers, post processing of files etc.) , you'll have to dig into msbuild.