How do I turn my C++ code into a .app file? [duplicate] - c++

I am building a C++ OpenGL card game in Xcode 4.3.3, with the intention of running it on both 64-bit and 32-bit Macs, which is not my problem. My problem is that I have reached a point in the development of the program where I would like to test that it works on a different 32-bit Mac (mine is 64-bit) without having to install Xcode. This, obviously, requires me exporting it as an .app. I can find and run the exported Unix Executable File from my project, after some cd'ing, through Terminal, but that is undesirable for me and the intended audience of the program. I have trawled the google and Stack Overflow, looking for anything to help me, but all the things mentioning Archiving seem to have been unsuccessful with my particular project, and I think that's because it's a C++ command line tool project. So, can someone please help me export my project as a .app?
Thanks in advance.

The simplest way of doing this would be to create a Cocoa project, go to 'build phases' and remove all the objective-c frameworks from the 'link with libraries' build phase, remove any objective-c files added by the template (app delegate, etc.) and then replace main.c with your main.cpp file.
There's nothing really special about a Cocoa project except for the fact that it links against Cocoa and calls NSApplicationMain() from its main() function.
There are also a bunch of .plist entries used by Cocoa which you'll no longer need. But they won't affect the way OS X treats your application.

I'm searching for an XCode Settings solution but here's my current way to create an app:
You have to take your binary file (let say myapp) and put it in "MyApp.app/Contents/MacOS/myapp" then it can now be launched as a .app. That's a trick.

Just go to the targets folder in the file navigator on the left, and there will be an executable listed there. Left click on that executable and click "show in finder". (I'm describing from memory so I may have the exact details wrong.) The file path is ridiculously long (there is an arbitrary alphanumerical pathname involved, I have no idea why), so you probably won't be able to find it with the command line.
If you want you can change the extension of the file from nothing to ".app", it shouldn't affect the nature of the file at all. Also if you want a custom icon, you can "get info" on it in the finder, then click on the icon in the info window, and use Cmd-V to paste it in (obviously you have to have your icon copied to the clipboard). There is also a way to do this inside of Xcode, but I don't remember it.

Related

Why are buttons when not using wxSmith flat?

I'm new to wxWidgets. I'm using Code::Blocks (MSW compiler), version wxWidgets-3.0.2 on Windows 7.
I started learning this, but I got stuck when I found out that I couldn't develop a good looking wxButton when I write the codes myself without using wxSmith.
All I get as output are flat wxButtons and toolbars that look like buttons. I thaught it was my fault, then I created a little frame with wxButton in it, then compiled. The output suits my taste.
I copied the exact code for this little frame and created another project file without wxSmith and I pasted them in their corresponding file. When I compile this same code, all I get is a flat wxButton.
If I hover the mouse over it, it won't turn blue as it does in wxSmith compiled code. I also noticed that anything, e.g, toolBars that is likely to be clickable, will look flat, but not menus.
What am I missing?
It seems like you need to add the manifest to your application. The manifest is the thing that describes your application needs to system: what visual style you want to use, which OS are your app compatible with, etc.
The most simple way to do it with wxWidgets is to add a resource file (*.rc) to your project (or if you already have one then edit the one you have) and put this line of code there:
#include "wx/msw/wx.rc"
You may need to change the path to wx.rc file depending on your project settings. File location is:
<wxWidgets directory>\include\wx\msw\wx.rc
wx.rc will include correct manifest based on your build type:
x86 -> "wx/msw/wx.manifest"
x64 -> "wx/msw/amd64.manifest"
ia64 -> "wx/msw/ia64.manifest"
If you don't want to use wxWidgets default manifest files, then you need to:
create a file name your_app_name.exe.manifest (or your_dll_name.dll.manifest) and fill it manually (you can find description of application manifests and an example here: MSDN: Application Manifests (Windows);
place this manifest file in the folder with your executable file (just to be clear, if your app name is MyCoolApp.exe, then manifest must be named MyCoolApp.exe.manifest) or embed manifest into executable with mt.exe tool (mt.exe is shipped with Visual Studio, you can find the tutorial on how to use it to work with manifests here: MSDN: How to: Embed a Manifest Inside a C/C++ Application.

Quickly create and run new C++ files in XCode

I'm learning c++ and I'm building simple, procedural programs that only consist of the one file (where int main() is located). I find it fairly tedious to create a new project in Xcode for each file and I was wondering whether there's a way to either have multiple files in a project and choose which one to compile, or a faster way to create and run/build C++ files in Xcode. I'm currently just commenting programs out as I go and I'd appreciate someone suggesting a better way. I'm open to using Sublime and Command line as well
You can choose which files to build and run by changing the Scheme.
I am assuming that you are creating a Console Application / target for each set of files you want to run separately.
go to Product->Scheme and change the Scheme.
Then Build and Run your files.
I think command line is the way to go here. You can easily edit the files in XCode (open -a Xcode file.cpp) and compile and run it from the terminal (clang++ -std=c++11 -stdlib=libc++ -o name_of_executable file.cpp).
An alternative to having multiple targets in XCode is to have one command line target and change the file that you compile as a part of the target. In XCode 5 you can show the Utilities panel (top right icon - Hide or show the utilities) and check/uncheck whether a selected file belongs into a target (in the window titled Target Membership). That way you can have a number of files, each having its main() but you always have only one file selected as a part of the target.
You can create a single project file, then create a new target for each new app instead of a new Xcode project. I'm not sure if that meets your needs or not.
Although if all you're doing is compiling and running a single file, why even use Xcode? Just go to the command line and compile and run it directly, if that's easier. You can invoke clang directly. See the man page for details.

How would I build Box2D to work in Code::Blocks/Mingw32(Windows)

hey the title pretty much says it all. i have been trying different methods from internet sources, but whenever i try something goes wrong..this is where i got Box2D
in cMake, i get a bunch of errors when building it(i was going through the steps in the readme.txt, but onfortunately, theyre for Visual C++...)
so im wondering hot to set this up as i guess a library (.lib or .a) and use it in my project(my friend passed me his library and when i loaded it in and tried #includeing the box2D headers, they didnt read at all(i got a list of undefined errors) also his box2d was i believe made for linux/unix so i think thats the reason...)
if anyone can help provide some steps that would be nice.
thanks for reading.
Assumptions:
You have installed cmake.
You have installed Code::Blocks/MinGW to C:\codeblocks.
You have downloaded Box2D and extracted it to C:\Box2D_v2.1.2.
If any of those are wrong, modify the paths to match what you have.
Start->Run->cmd.
Navigate to the Box2D "Build" folder:
cd C:\Box2D_v2.1.2\Box2D\Build
Create the makefiles:
cmake -G "MinGW Makefiles" ..
Do it:
mingw32-make
This will throw some warnings, but should work almost completely. Then, near the end, it will error trying to compile the Testbed. AFAIK, there is no way to compile the Testbed using MinGW (you have to use Visual Studio, I believe). Luckily, an .exe of it is available on the Box2D site.
In the Box2D\Build\Box2D folder, there should now be a file called libBox2D.a. Copy this file into C:\codeblocks\mingw\lib.
Copy the Box2D\Box2D folder (the one containing Box2D.h) into C:\codeblocks\mingw\include.
[Thus, after this step, you should have a file C:\codeblocks\mingw\include\Box2D\Box2d.h, and NOT C:\codeblocks\mingw\include\Box2d.h]
And that's it. You should be able to compile and run the "Hello Box2D" example. Don't forget to link to the library.
[EDIT]
From the looks of your error, I'm going to guess that your MinGW Path environment variable is not setup correctly. Which is unusual, since when you install Code::Blocks/MinGW it usually sets it for you, I believe.
Anyway, (these steps may vary slightly depending on your version of Windows):
Right-click on "[My] Computer"-> Properties -> Advanced System Settings
Click "Environment Variables"
Depending on which Windows you have, you may see User Variables and System Variables, or it may be just one group (I can't remember the name). Anyway, create a new System Environment Variable called MINGDIR, with the value C:\codeblocks\mingw or wherever you installed it to. Then, find the variable called Path (or PATH) and append this to the end: C:\codeblocks\mingw\bin. Put a semicolon at the end of the previous entry, and do not use a space.
Also make sure that C:\CMake\bin is present in either the System Variable called Path, or the user variable called Path. If not, append it to the end.
I think that's it.

xcode's executable product for c++ project

I've completed a simple numbers-version of the game "Towers of Hanoi" using xcode's command line tool in C++. Being accustomed to PC compilers like borland's and visual-c, I've attempted to "share" the game with others via e-mail by simply attaching the executable product built by xcode. However, the recipients can't run the program as it shows up in a different format - usually machine code, it sounds like.
After a bit of extensive searching, I'm realizing the complexity of building projects within xcode's IDE and the variations on the build settings/ targets, etc.
Anyone know how to build a self-contained c++ executable to be universally run? I don't go outside the STL library for this game. I'd greatly appreciate any help.
thanks
OS X is based on Unix, which uses plain binary files (i.e. no filename extension) as executables. If they have a certain "executable permission," they can be double-clicked to be run as executables, or run from the command line. However, this permission can't be sent over email - it's metadata within the file system itself, and this makes sense from a security standpoint (you wouldn't want spammers sending you executable viruses over email right?). So when the recipient receives the binary, they'll need to run the following command line command on it, assuming "hanoi" is the name of the binary file:
chmod +x /path/to/hanoi
If you really want to package it as an instantly double-clickable application, you'll need to give it a native UI and package it as a .app, then put that .app (which is actually a folder with the .app extension) in an archive to distribute. Sorry if that's more work than you were hoping for. Hope this helps!
Sharing applications across dot releases of the same OS can be notoriously difficult on the Mac (at least, as far as personal experience goes).
In order to be able to share your application with the least amount of effort, you will need to figure out:
What project type is this? Are you using any resources like images etc?
What version of the OS your friends are using? If they are not on the Mac, you're out of luck (or you'll have to recompile for their OS-es).
If they run Mac, check out that you have the same OS versions, if you have developed on Leopard and someone's running on SnowLeopard your application might simply fail. (I also ran into issues between Mac OS 10.5.4 and 10.5.3 so keep your fingers crossed.)
Check out what sort of hardware you are running. Are you building for your hardware (say, MacIntel) only or are you creating an Universal Binary?
Make sure that all resources are packaged into your application bundle. Make sure your application uses only relative paths.
Check if you are not writing to special folders (i.e. use only temp and/or word-writable locations, if you need to).
I wish I could give a more detailed/to the point reply but unfortunately you'll have to figure out some of the answers yourself (without any other specific information about the error you are getting).
If you're satisfied with a command line tool rather than a double-clickable app, it should suffice to zip it and attach that to the e-mail. Be sure to build universal if anyone you're sending to might be using a PowerPC-based Mac. Oh, and set the deployment target to the minimum OS that any recipient might be using.

Beginner questions regarding to "building a library", in Xcode on iPhone specifically

I have never been clearly understand all these linking/building/dependency business. Now, I am trying to build the FreeType library (which is in C++), into the *.a library file for the iPhone (because another library I am trying to use, openFrameworks, would depend on FreeType).
I know that to compile C++ with iPhone I simply need to rename *.cpp to *.mm. (I have tried with some simply programs in main() and it works) But how can I build the library in Xcode then ? (without the main() I suppose)
On the other hand, it would be great if you guys could recommend some books or documents on such linking/building topics, which I found myself most confused about.
PS. I have already got the paid version of Xcode and some sample apps compiled onto the iPhone.
Renaming .cpp files to .mm would mean they'll be treated as Objective-C++ code rather than C++ code. I don't think that'd be a good idea, even if it should still work. Besides, FreeType is written in C, not C++.
Google for "compiler linker" and you'll find quite a few documents on how they work. That should help for documentation.
It's entirely possible to compile static libraries for the iPhone; what you can't do is compile dynamic libraries or frameworks - you could, but it's not encouraged.
Open your project
In the source/target browser, select the "Targets" node (with the little red and white target icon).
Right-click on the node, and in the popup menu select "Add", followed by "New Target".
A dialog opens. On the left hand side, there's an iPhone OS and a Mac OS X section. The iPhone OS section should already be selected; if not do so.
You should have three choices of targets, one of it is a static library. Select it, click OK.
Give the library a name in the next page. Click finish.
Your "Targets" node has includes a child for your static library now. You can add sources either via the file menu, or by dragging it onto the "Compile Sources" child node.
Hope that helps.
First, you do not need to rename any files to compile C++ code for the iPhone. Secondly, you'll want to create a separate project for the library. It looks like the iPhone target types don't include "static library", so you might need to create a Mac OS X project and modify it to output an ARM .a file. Not trivial, but probably doable.
Alternatively, if you're not going to be using this code in a lot of otherwise unrelated projects, you could include the source files directly into your App project. Collect them all into their own group, and you'll hardly know they are there.