I am using NCrunch with the Release Candidate of VS2012 on the Release Preview of Windows 8.

I have created a Metro library that references the Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Package. In order to use this reference you have to set the target explicitly which I have done (set to x86). When this is done VS2012 builds the library just fine. NCrunch seems to be having trouble loading the project:


The processor architecture of the project being built "Any CPU" is not supported by the referenced SDK "Microsoft.VCLibs, Version=11.0". Please consider changing the targeted processor architecture of your project (in visual studio this can be done through the Configuration Manager) to one of the architectures supported by the SDK: "x86, x64, ARM".

"APPX" attributes were found in the SDK manifest file "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v8.0\ExtensionSDKs\Microsoft.VCLibs\11.0\SDKManifest.xml" however none of the attributes matched the targeted configuration and architecture "Debug | Neutral" and no "APPX" attribute without configuration and architecture could be found. If an app package is required then the project will fail at runtime.


It so happens these are the same two build errors that you get if you reference the C++ Runtime Package and don't set the target explicitly.

There's a lot happening here that I'm not sure if I completely understand, though I suspect this is related to the default configuration specified in the project file.

NCrunch will always rely on the default build configuration and platform that is specified in the project file when running its builds. It does not consider the chosen target platform within Visual Studio itself, and as such its builds far more closely resemble a command-line invocation of MSBuild.exe against the project file. If you see this again, make sure that you've specified a default platform inside the .proj file's build XML that makes sense given your development context.

Metro apps aren't yet officially supported by NCrunch. Hopefully this will be introduced later down the line as the WinRT platform matures and more documentation becomes available. NCrunch may work well for you on your project, or it may be a bit hit and miss..


Cheers,

Remco