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How do you compile C# code using mono embedded in C++?

How do you compile .cs files using C++
I have searched all through Mono's documentation and can't find a way to just compile C# code from the embedded mono runtime in C++. I know how to open a C# .exe assembly file using the embedded mono functions from C++, but I can't seem to find a way to just compile a .cs file to the .exe from C++.
I have also managed to compile the .cs files by calling the mcs.bat file from the CreateProcessA() function that Windows provides, however this does not give me a way to log errors or even check if it succeeded in compilation etc. (It also feels like a hack and not the official solution). The main reason I need to do this is so that I can recompile C# scripts on the fly by detecting when the source code has changed and another subset of conditions.
Does anyone know of a way to properly compile C# files using the embedded Mono runtime? And where to find the documentation for this? Currently I've been using the documentation here: http://docs.go-mono.com/?link=xhtml%3adeploy%2fmono-api-assembly.html which provides enough information for the most part.
Linking Mono in a DLL
Also, if you're familiar with embedding mono, do you know how to use it in a dll? I've managed to successfully link and compile it within a console application, but when I try to compile it as a part of a dynamic library, I get unresolved external symbol errors (specifically functions with the prefix __imp*).
Lastly, I'm using mono to embed C# as a scripting language for my game engine, however I don't know if there is a better (smaller) solution that I can use. If you know of any better solution feel free to leave a recommendation.

The mono runtime is a "Runtime", only for running the code,
but if you have installed the csc command then you can use this:
#include <cstdlib>
int main(){
system("csc yourfile.cs")
return 0;
}

how to explicitly link a cpp/cli file to a c# library .dll?

I have a c++/CLI library that is in turn calling a c# library. That is fine, it is linking implicitly and all is good with the world. But for various reasons the libraries are not getting quite the prefect treatment by our automated build process, and the libraries are not finding each other unless we move the libraries to locations that we would rather not have them in, and would rather not fold into our build process.
It is suggested to me that we/I could write a post-build event that uses XCOPY. but lets say we don't want to do that.
Another suggestion is to explicitly load the dll. Windows says that to link explicitly "Applications must make a function call to explicitly load the DLL at run time." The problem is that Microsoft's example is not enough for my small mind to understand how to proceed with this idea. Worse, the only example I could find is out of date. Perhaps I am not using the right search terms but I am having difficulty finding more about it with google.
How do we explicitly Link a c++/Cli Library to a C# .dll?
----edit
OK, How do we explicitly Link a C++/CLI code, which exports a library using __declspec(), to a C# .dll.

There is no such thing as a "C++/CLI library", only assemblies are supported. There is no explicit or implicit linking, binding always happens at runtime. Assemblies are found at runtime by the CLR, the rules it uses to locate them are described in detail in the MSDN library.
Copying all dependencies into the same directory as the EXE is the sane way to go about it while you are developing the code. Well supported by build system, the C# and C++ rules are however different. C++ projects build to the solution's Debug directory, C# projects build to the EXE project's bin\Debug directory. So yes, altering a C++ project's Output Directory setting or copying files with a post build event is usually required to get everything together.

What language is Mono written in and how do I read the source code?

I want to read the source code for Mono. I looked up this URL and there are several folders here.
What language is the Mono project written in?
Which folder/file do I download to read its source?
From looking at the folder hierarchy, it appears (although my assumption could be wrong) that it has been written in several languages and that I could download any one of them.
But I'd just like to make sure.

You'll want the mono subdirectory, pick the version you are interested in.
The equivalent of the CLR and the jitter were written in C. You'll find it in the mono/mini subdirectory.
The C# compiler was written in C#. You'll find it in the mcs/mcs subdirectory.
The framework classes were written in C#. You'll find them in the mcs/class subdirectories.

For the most part, C#. There is a page on the Mono website that talks about the various languages. So look here: MonoProject - Languages

How is it that the Mono sources are mostly C#?

I just looked at the source of Mono for the first time and I thought I would find a bunch of C or C++ code, instead I found 26,192 .cs files and 7 .cpp files.
I am not totally shocked but it made me think of a quesiton I've always had in the back of my mind:
How does a project end up being written in "itself" like this?
Was an older version of mono more c/c++? Or was there initial effort to create some kind of machine coded compiler...
What's the "trick" here?

Mono's compiler is written in C#. You may want to read about compiler bootstrapping.

You should be looking for .c files, instead of .cpp files: the mono runtime is written in C, not C++.

I think it is also important to remember that mono is both a virtual machine runtime (the JIT compiler, garbage collector, etc.) as well as a collection of class libraries that run on this framework (the System.Linq namespace, the XML parsers, etc.).
The majority of the .cs files you see are part of the class libraries. These are basically C# code that run like your own C# code (with some exceptions, but basically it doesn't make sense for everyone to reinvent and re-distribute the wheel over and over, so these are the C# "base" class libraries). This is why you can download complex mono programs as such small file sizes if mono is already installed on the machine.
For mono, the JIT, runtime and garbage collector are largely written in C/C++ as you would expect. If you ever get a low level error, you will often see GNU debug tool dumps as you would in C, just with lots more useful information. The Mono framework is very good at taking any C# code and converting it to CIL code that can run anywhere, and they use whatever toolset is best suited to ensure the code does run anywhere (which in this case meant a C compiler runtime on linux).

Packaging script source files in IronPython and IronRuby

Does anyone know how to add python and ruby libs as a resource in a dll for deployment? I want to host a script engine in my app, but dont want to have to deploy the entire standard libraries of the respective languages in source files. Is there a simple way to do this so that a require or import statement will find the embedded resources?

You could add custom import hook that looks for embedded resources when an import is executed. This is slightly complex and probably not worth the trouble.
A better technique would be to fetch all of the embedded modules at startup time, execute them with the ScriptEngine and put the modules you have created into the sys.modules dictionary associated with the engine. This automatically makes them available for import by Python code executed by the engine.

You can create StreamContentProviders for example
In the ironrubymvc project under IronRubyMVC/Core/ you will find what you need.
AssemblyStreamContentProvider
Usage of the ContentProvider

IronPython 2.0 has a sample compiler called PYC on Codeplex.com/ironpython which can create DLL's (and applications if you need them too).
IronPython 2.6 has a newer version of PYC under Tools\script.
Cheers,
Davy