Building

Building from Source

Elite-TaskBar utilizes a highly automated PowerShell build pipeline. Follow these instructions to compile the project yourself.

🧰 Prerequisites

1. Visual Studio Build Tools / MSBuild: Ensure you have the C++ build tools and the .NET Framework 4.6 (or 4.8) targeting packs installed.
2. Windows SDK: Required for the unmanaged C++ native shell APIs.
3. PowerShell: Used for all build orchestration.

🚀 The Build Pipeline

The entire build process for all executables and CPL files is managed by a single script: build.ps1.

Do not attempt to build individual visual studio solutions manually. You must use the build script to ensure proper architecture targeting, code signing, and artifact generation.

Running a Build

1. Open PowerShell and navigate to the project root: C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\Elite-TaskBar.
2. Execute the primary build script:

   .\build.ps1

3. The script will automatically compile both x64 and x86 architectures sequentially, utilizing lock files to prevent concurrent build collisions.

🔐 Code Signing

During the build process, the pipeline automatically signs all resulting binaries to ensure system trust and prevent SmartScreen warnings.

📦 Build Outputs

Upon a successful build, the compiled, signed, and cleanly renamed executables will be placed into the following directories:

• BuildOutput\ (Contains x64 binaries)
• BuildOutputx86\ (Contains x86 binaries, already renamed to match x64 equivalents for easy deployment)

All temporary compiler files and *old*.exe files generated during the build swap are automatically purged by the pipeline.