Visual studio c++ force rebuild of a specific file

Question

Is there a way to force Visual studio to rebuild a specific file on every build?

I have a version header with __DATE__ and __TIME__ and I want it automatically updated for each release.

I can do a prebuild event and a batch file to touch the file, just wondered if there was a feature to do this yet?

Answer 1

You can also delete the .obj file with a pre-build step. It will cause the compiler to rebuild your .cpp or .h file. Right click your project > Properties > Build events > Pre-Build Event > Command Line and add the following line:

del $(TargetDir)source.obj

Answer 2

From superuser, try adding a prebuild command:

copy /b filename.ext +,,

Where filename.ext is the path/name of the header you want touched. Caveat: I'm not certain VStudio always executes prebuild events, or only if it detects it actually needs to do a build.