Recently I put my two C++ projects under one solution in VS 2010.
One project creates a DLL and the second is a test app that makes use of the DLL.
Before this transition, I used to build the DLL and copy the output .dll file into the Debug directory of the test app, then I would build that too (The app loads the DLL at run-time with LoadLibrary())
I wonder if there is a way to force a build of the DLL project when I build the test app , if the existing .dll file is outdated.
Yes.
In solution explorer, right click on the exe project and select
Project Dependencies....Select the DLL project checkbox and you’re all set.
If your DLL project was a static library then this checkbox would also auto link to your dependency implicitly.