Build means compile and link only
the source files that have changed since
the last build, while Rebuild means compile and link all source files regardless of whether they changed or not. Build is
the normal
thing to do and is faster. Sometimes
the versions of project target components can get out of sync and rebuild is necessary to make
the build successful. In practice, you never need to Clean.
Build or Rebuild Solution builds or rebuilds all projects in
the your solution, while Build or Rebuild <project name> builds or rebuilds
the StartUp project. To set
the StartUp project, right click on
the desired project name in
the Solution Explorer tab and select Set as StartUp project.
The project name now appears in bold.
Compile just compiles
the source file currently being edited. Useful to quickly check for errors when
the rest of your source files are in an incomplete state that would prevent a successful build of
the entire project. Ctrl-F7 is
the shortcut key for Compile.
All source files that have changed are saved when you request a build/rebuild, so you don't have to save them first.
When you run your executable (F5 or Ctrl-F5), Visual Studio saves all your changed source files and builds anything that changed, so you don't need to explicitly do those steps every time. This allows for quick "trial and error" debugging.
Incidentally, if you like those little Visual Studio keyboard shortcuts, you can download posters of
the C# and
the VB.Net ones, respectively (I am personally a big fan of using keyboard shortcuts :) ).
Visual Studio 2010
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=92ced922-d505-457a-8c9c-84036160639f
Visual Studio 2005
C#: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c15d210d-a926-46a8-a586-31f8a2e576fe&DisplayLang=en
VB.NET: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=6bb41456-9378-4746-b502-b4c5f7182203&DisplayLang=en
