I have set my project to output my .exe file into a specific directory, and if I run this compiled executable outside of Visual Studio, it can find and use the files around it using cstdio. However, if I run it within Visual Studio, those files are suddenly gone, as if it's in the wrong directory.
What is causing this, and how might I fix it?
Visual Studio will run the program that's "over there" in its own project folder, so the program's working directory, where it creates and looks for files etc..., will be the project directory and not where the executable is stored.
You can do this yourself. Open a command prompt and type the full path to the executable. It will run, write, and look for files in the prompt's current folder.
Do not use argv[0]. this will give you the command line, and might not include the actual location of the executable.
If you want to keep your files with the executable no matter where the program is run from, GetModuleFileName will tell you where the executable is. You can then strip off the executable to get the path and concatenate that with the names of other files you want to stay in the same folder as, or relative to, the executable. With this approach you can run the program from anywhere, including Visual Studio.
If you want to know where the executable is being run from and make your own way, use _getcwd.
If all you care about is Visual Studio, navigate to Project->Properties->Configuration Properties->Debugging and set the Working Directory to the target directory
I will assume that what you really want to do is to copy the executable elsewhere after the build. That way you don't have to have anything special in the executable that is only for debugging (development). You can have Visual Studio do the copy for you automatically using a Custom Build Step. The build should create the executable in the same project directory that it normally does, then the copy will be done after that (like a mini deployment).
In the project's properties:
Select "Build Events" | "Post-Build Step"
Enter a post build event command to do the copy, for example:
copy "$(TargetDir)$(TargetFileName)" "G:\Temporary"
Where "G:\Temporary" is wherever you want the file to be copied to.
Be mindful of the configuration. You can choose to create the Custom Build Step for both debug and release configurations, but then the executable will be copied to the same place for both configurations. You probably will want a different copy command for each configuration.
While in the property page for entering the Custom Build Step, you can click the down-arrow and select "Edit..." (inside the less than and greater than symbols) to get help creating the command. While doing that, click on "Macros>>" to see the big list of available macros.
Related
SDL Folder in the same directory:
Contents of SDL folder:
I cant get my program to run as it says it cannot find SDL2.DLL? Any ideas?
Programs don't search your entire hard drive for DLLs. That would be expensive, horribly insecure, and bug prone.
Instead they have a search path, which depends on how you load it. Often your PATH environment variable is used, together with various other system places, as well as the directory of the process loading the dynamic library.
This list rarely includes "a subdirectory of the process executable called SDL". You can, however, modify the search path; how exactly depends on how you are trying to load SDL.
The easy solution is to try to copy them all into the same directory.
You can use a Post-Build-Event to copy sdl2.dll into the directory where your .exe is built. Manually copying the file is fine for a quick test, but having Visual Studio do it for you has some advantages. For example, this lets you completely delete your Debug and Release directories and have the correct file copied when you do a clean build.
In your directory listing I see bin32 and bin64 directories inside the SDL directory. I assume that there is a copy of sdl2.dll directly inside each of those directories, but there are no separate debug and release versions, just 32-bit and 64-bit. Let me know if this is incorrect, otherwise, you can do this:
Open the Solution Explorer and select your project (not the solution). Then use Alt+Enter to go directly to the Property Pages. (Or right-click the project and select Properties at the bottom of the menu.)
In the selection panel on the left, go to Configuration Properties/Build Events/Post-Build Event.
At the top of the property sheet, set the Configuration dropdown to All Configurations and the Platform dropdown to All Platforms.
Click the edit box to the right of Command Line and enter this command:
copy "$(SolutionDir)SDL\bin$(PlatformArchitecture)\sdl2.dll" "$(TargetDir)"
Now click OK, and save and build your solution. You should find that it copies the correct version (32-bit or 64-bit) of sdl2.dll into the build directory.
The various $(FooBar) entries in the command line are macros which ar automatically expanded according to things like your project directory location, the type of platform you're building for, etc.
$(SolutionDir) is the directory containing your .sln file, with a trailing backlash.
$(PlatformArchitecture) is 32 or 64 depending on which platform you're building for.
$(TargetDir) is the directory that VS creates your .exe file in.
So this command line is an ordinary copy command as you might use in a command prompt, with the paths filled in to copy either SDL\bin32\sdl2.dll or SDL\bin64\sdl2.dll to your build target directory. We use quotes around the source and destination paths in case you have any spaces in your project path.
In some cases you may need specific commands for a particular configuration (Debug/Release) or platform (Win32/x64). You can do this by selecting that configuration or platform at the top of the property sheet. In our case, we can use one command for both 32-bit and 64-bit builds thanks to the $(PlatformArchitecture) macro.
To learn more about the macros, you can select the Command Line box in the property page and then click the drop-down arrow that appears to the right of the box, and select <Edit...>. This opens a multiline edit window (you can use more than one command in the build event), with an Evaluated value below it that shows the actual command that will be used for your current configuration and platform. You can inspect this command to see if it looks right, and you can also copy the evaluated command and paste it into a command prompt window for a quick test.
To see a full list of available macros and what they expand to for your current configuration/platform, click the Macros>> button below that and look through the list or use the search box at the top.
I crack my head already, I need to deploy a project. I tried to use InstallShield, it create an msi file, and local installation has no errors, but then when I tried to launch the program it output "debug error". In my settings code generator -> runtime library set for Multi-threaded Debug DLL(/MDd). If I'll set it to Multi-threaded (/MT) it would not compile: "Please use the /MD switch for _AFXDLL builds"
Then I tried to use VS Installer project extension. It creates the msi and setup file, but after I install it, I can't find the .exe file and launch program. What I am doing wrong?
Folder with project files
![enter image description here][3]
Folder with exe file
![enter image description here][4]
At the stage of creating the installer for your program, you have to put all the external files, libraries and resources, that your program needs in order to run correctly, in your program's working directory. When you run the program via Visual Studio, everything works fine since it can find the files, because, as you've mentioned, they are in the project folder, and the project folder is where Visual Studio is looking for them.
When you launch your program outside VS, the program can't find these files since it by default tries to locate them in the folder in which the .exe file being run is located. So, if you wan't to run program outside VS, you need to put all the files needed to your .exe's directory.
For the same reason, while creating your installer, you need to include all the files necessary in the installation target directory together with your .exe. Every installer creator lets you do that.
In general, if you cannot run your program outside any IDE, and you can run it within that IDE, it is a rule of thumb that you should first check if you have included all the necessary files/libraries/dll's/etc. in your program's working directory.
I solved it!!!!!!!!
1)Help to run .exe file, helped updating .uld file in the same directory as a exe file.
2)I used Dependency Walker (http://www.dependencywalker.com/) to find all dll that it's need. And then I create a Setup Project using Wizard at the "Choose file to include" step I add every file and every library that it's depend on! Build->Install-> Then magic, and my application installed and running! Thank you all for your help
I have made a test program in Visual Studio 2013 using Direct X 11. It consists of a simple sprite which rotates slowly based on a timer implementation. The program loads and runs fine using F5 or Ctrl-F5, but when I try to open the actual created .exe (in my \Debug folder) it just shows the window then closes instantly.
Most of the answers I have read on this issue correspond to loading the .exe from inside visual studio. I have also tried Release mode but the same thing happens.
Sprite files are kept in your project folder. The default run-location from the Visual Studio IDE is the project folder of the project which you're executing. That is, normally it executes from the directory where your .vcproj or .vcprojx file is kept (and that is often one folder below your solution directory folder, where your .sln file is kept).
If your project runs correctly from the IDE, but fails to run directly from the debug folder, it is highly likely you are relying on project data files that are kept along side your source files in the project folder. When run from the Debug folder, those files are no longer visible because Debug folder is your working directory; not the project folder.
There are a number of ways to solve this problem, each with its own merits. A few options are:
Post Build Step
Make a post-build step for your project that copies your data files to the $(TargetDir) location with your project. These files will then be visible in the same directory as your executable.
Benefit: Its easy.
Drawback: It will always run if you click "build solution" even if the data files are "up-to-date."
Custom Build Targets
Add your data files to the project and write a Custom Build script that performs the same copy, but also establishes an output dependency file(s).
Benefit: Almost as easy as #1, but a little more tedious.
Drawback: You may have a lot of data files and each will require its own custom build step. (Note: you can multi-select all the data files in your project, and if you're creative with the built-in macros you can have them all use the "same" build rules and commands).
Embedded Resources
Add the data files as custom resources to your executable.
Benefit: Your project no longer requires data files side-by-side with the executable since they are embedded in the resource table of your EXE module.
Drawback: Custom code is required to dynamically load the custom resources from your executable's resource table rather than off-disk. It isn't difficult at all to do, but is additional work.
There are other options as well, but I hope this gives you some ideas to start with.
I have been following some tutorials for c++ game programing. I am kind of new to c++ and I'm using Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Express IDE. I'm working on creating a game, and when I run the program through the IDE, it shows the grass sprites as expected. But when I run the .exe file from the Release folder, it shows weird images. and when I run the .exe file from the debug folder I get a grey screen. Can anybody tell me why this is happening?
I hazard to guess that your sprite images are kept as data files in your project folder. With that I offer the following premise:
The default run-location from the Visual Studio IDE is the project folder of the project which you're executing. That is, normally it executes from the directory where your .vcproj or .vcprojx file is kept (and that is often one folder below your solution directory folder, where your .sln file is kept).
If your project runs correctly from the IDE, but fails to run directly from the release folder, it is highly likely you are relying on project data files (images in your case) that are kept along side your source files in the project folder. When run from the Release folder, those files are no longer visible because your the Release folder is your working directory; not the project folder.
There are a number of ways to solve this problem, each with its own merits. A few options are:
Post Build Step
Make a post-build step for your project that copies your data files to the $(TargetDir) location with your project. These files will then be visible in the same directory as your executable.
Benefit: Its easy.
Drawback: It will always run if you click "build solution" even if the data files are "up-to-date."
Custom Build Targets
Add your data files to the project and write a Custom Build script that performs the same copy, but also establishes an output dependency file(s).
Benefit: Almost as easy as #1, but a little more tedious.
Drawback: You may have a lot of data files and each will require its own custom build step. (Note: you can multi-select all the data files in your project, and if you're creative with the built-in macros you can have them all use the "same" build rules and commands).
Embedded Resources
Add the data files as custom resources to your executable.
Benefit: Your project no longer requires data files side-by-side with the executable since they are embedded in the resource table of your EXE module.
Drawback: Custom code is required to dynamically load the custom resources from your executable's resource table rather than off-disk. It isn't difficult at all to do, but is additional work.
There are other options as well, but I hope this gives you some ideas to start with.
I use VS2008 and try to answer your question. Right click on the project and select properties on the bottom of popup, then go to Debugging under Configuration properties. You can see command you run and arguments you pass in IDE. I guess you miss some parameters.
I have a project in a c++ solution. For that project, I have some config files that I would like to manage from within the project and when I build the project, have those config files added to the executable build path in the proper directory structure.
Example:
test.exe references config/myconfig.txt
Is there a way to setup myconfig.txt and my project so when I build test.exe, I get
/
as well as
//config/config.txt
so when I run test, all paths stay in the proper order without me having to go in and manually create those directories.
I'm not sure I'm making sense here, but maybe one of you will understand where I'm going.
You could use pre-build events to create the directories and copy the files.
In Visual Studio's Solution Explorer, you can right-click on the non-code files, select "Properties" and set the "Copy To Output Directory" property.
This creates a rule in the build file to (1) include the file, and (2) to copy that file as part of the build process. In other words, it's possible to get this behavior without Visual Studio, but a little more work.