#if and Compiler switches

Question

I'm trying to get my project to evaluate a compiler switch (/define:ORACLE) using a #if.

The syntax I'm using is:

#if ORACLE
using DAL=mydll.Oracle;
#else
using DAL=mydll.SqlServer;
#endif

The problem is that this always drops into the SQL server leg, anf ideas on how to get it to use the Oracle leg??

Using Visual Studio 2005 & C#

Thanks Ash...

Alan · Answer

I've just tried it again from within the VS IDE but with the same compiler error as before whether I used debug or release mode. When you added ORACLE as a conditional compilation symbol in the build properties did you set 'all configurations' and not just 'debug' or 'release' specifically?

Ashley Jackson · Answer

Definately no undefines. The /define switch has been added via the Visual Studio GUI (not the command line) in the project's build properties.

Alan · Answer

Well it certainly looks as though it should work properly :-/ In fact I tried something similar myself (from the VS 2005 command line) with the /define:ORACLE switch namely this console app: using System; #if ORACLE using DWORD = System.Int32; #else using DWORD = System.Int64; #endif class Test { static void Main() { DWORD dw = (long)3; } } As expected I was informed by the compiler that you can't implicitly convert a long to an int so that seems to be working OK :) Are you sure you haven't got an #undef ORACLE in your source code somewhere cancelling out the effect of the command line switch?