Error when run from GUI but not command line
 

My VBP project is failing on the build of a VB.NET 2003 project, but only when I run my .bld file from the VBP GUI application (VisBuildPro.exe).

I can compile the VB project in Visual Studio. I can even compile it from a command prompt using the command line that VisBuildPro.exe is trying to use. Stranger still, when I run my .bld file from the VBP command line application (VisBuildCmd.exe), it works fine. It only seems to fail when I use the GUI (stepping though it manually or called from a sheduled task using VisBuildPro.exe /b).

Any ideas?

Here is the output generated from the GUI app:

2/22/2006 10:04:09 AM: Building project step 'Build Data Service 2003'...
Pre-processing...

Rebuilding configuration 'Release'...
Command: "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\Common7\IDE\devenv.com" C:\Develop\DataService2003\DataService2003.sln /rebuild Release

Microsoft (R) Development Environment Version 7.10.3077.
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp 1984-2001. All rights reserved.
------ Rebuild All started: Project: DataService2003, Configuration: Release .NET ------

Preparing resources...
Updating references...
Performing main compilation...
vbc : error BC30145: Unable to emit assembly: Unexpected exception processing attribute -- System.ArgumentException: Unable to generate permission set; input XML may be malformed..
Building satellite assemblies...
Satellite assemblies could not be built because the main project output is missing.


---------------------- Done ----------------------

Rebuild All: 0 succeeded, 1 failed, 0 skipped

That error is consistent with the WINDIR environment variable being missing: http://tinyurl.com/z7v53. It's unclear why that it is missing or why the behavior would be different between the VBP GUI and console apps. How is the build started (manually, scheduled task, batch file, etc.), and are the GUI and console apps being started identically? Does the problem occur every time or sporadically? Please ZIP and post or send:
1) The info from Help | About | Install Info.
2) The .bld file that is building the solution.
3) The command-line used to invoke the GUI and console apps.
4) The solution and project files being built.
5) Instead of invoking VBP directly, invoke it from batch file like this:

set > %TEMP%\set.before

set > %TEMP%\set.after

Also, add a Run Program step to the beginning of your project with a command of
%DOSCMD% set

and send the build log and the set.before/after files. Thanks.

Thank you for the suggestions. I will try and post my findings...