With Visual Fortran, you can build programs either from a command-line window (which allows you to enter text commands directly into a command prompt) or from the Microsoft visual development environment.
For information on using the Microsoft visual development environment, see Building Programs and Libraries. For information on using the command-line environment, see Using the Compiler and Linker from the Command Line.
The visual development environment offers a number of ways to simplify the task of compiling and linking programs. For example, a dialog box presents compiler and linker options in logical groupings, with descriptive names and simple mouse or keyboard selection methods. (If you need assistance using this or any other dialog box, choose the Help button in the dialog box.)
The visual development environment also provides a default text editor, which is integrated with Help, the debugger, and error tracking features. The default visual development environment text editor can be customized for keyboard compatibility with certain editors (in the Tools menu, select Customize and click the Compatibility tab) and you can customize keyboard bindings (in the Tools menu, select Customize and click the Keyboard tab). You can also use your favorite ASCII text editor outside the visual development environment. If you do, however, you may not be able to use the integrated Help, debugger, and error tracking features.
Because software development is an iterative process, it is important to be able to move quickly and efficiently to various locations in your source code. If you use the visual development environment to compile and link your programs, you can call up both the description of the error message and the relevant source code directly from the error messages in the output window.
You also use the visual development environment text editor to view and control execution of your program with the integrated source level debugger. Finally, when you use the project browser to locate routines, data elements, and references to them, the visual development environment uses its editor to go directly to the source code.
When you build programs from the console, you are in complete control of the build tools. If you choose to, you can customize how your program is built by your selection of compiler and linker options. Compiler and linker options are described in Compiler and Linker Options.
Even if you choose to edit and build your program from the command line, you can still use the visual development environment debugger and browser after your program has compiled and linked cleanly (see Preparing Your Program for Debugging). Finally, you can run the profiler to produce a text report of your program's execution statistics either from the command-line console or from the visual development environment.