I am using several Boost libraries in my C++ project. The libraries are acquired through NuGet packages, e.g. the Boost Thread library boost_thread.
Compiling and linking works without any changes to the project properties. But debugging and running the application fails due to missing DLLs in the output directory.
One solution is to use the post build step copying the required DLLs. This is described at other places, e.g. how to make visual studio copy dll to output directory?.
This is an example for the required copy command in the Debug configuration:
xcopy /F /Y "$(SolutionDir)\packages\boost_regex-vc100.1.58.0.0\lib\native\address-model-32\lib\boost_regex-vc100-mt-gd-1_58.dll" "$(OutDir)"
The Project is Visual Studio 2010 project. But the IDE actually used is Visual Studio 2013.
But is there a better way to achieve this?
I used MSBuild's copy task for this exact purpose:
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)'=='Debug'">
<BoostRT>-gd</BoostRT>
</PropertyGroup>
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)'=='Release' Or '$(Configuration)'=='Release_withPDB'">
<BoostRT></BoostRT>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<BoostDlls Include="..\packages\boost_log-vc120.1.59.0.0\lib\native\address-model-$(PlatformArchitecture)\lib\boost_log-vc120-mt$(BoostRT)-1_59.dll;
..\packages\boost_thread-vc120.1.59.0.0\lib\native\address-model-$(PlatformArchitecture)\lib\boost_thread-vc120-mt$(BoostRT)-1_59.dll;
..\packages\boost_system-vc120.1.59.0.0\lib\native\address-model-$(PlatformArchitecture)\lib\boost_system-vc120-mt$(BoostRT)-1_59.dll;
..\packages\boost_chrono-vc120.1.59.0.0\lib\native\address-model-$(PlatformArchitecture)\lib\boost_chrono-vc120-mt$(BoostRT)-1_59.dll;
..\packages\boost_date_time-vc120.1.59.0.0\lib\native\address-model-$(PlatformArchitecture)\lib\boost_date_time-vc120-mt$(BoostRT)-1_59.dll;
..\packages\boost_filesystem-vc120.1.59.0.0\lib\native\address-model-$(PlatformArchitecture)\lib\boost_filesystem-vc120-mt$(BoostRT)-1_59.dll" />
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="CopyFiles" AfterTargets="Build">
<Copy SourceFiles="#(BoostDlls)" DestinationFolder="$(OutDir)" />
</Target>
Hardcoding the boost lib version (1.59) is not awesome but other than that it works well.
Related
I am a big fan of the C++ Core Guidelines and I like to follow them in all projects I work on, so I enabled the following option in my project template in Visual Studio 2017:
This tool is great and helps me write better code, but I simply cannot figure out how to make it only analyze my files. Whenever my project has a dependency such as Boost or OpenCV, I will get plastered with a wall of warnings:
These dependencies are added through vcpkg, however, the same thing happens when adding them manually with C/C++ > General > Additional Include Directories.
Is there any way to only make these warnings apply to project files, and not all included files?
As mentioned in the comments, right after the following section in your .vcxproj near the end of the file:
<Import Project="$(VCTargetsPath)\Microsoft.Cpp.targets" />
<ImportGroup Label="ExtensionTargets">
</ImportGroup>
The problem may be solved by adding the following after the section mentioned above:
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Language)'=='C++'">
<CAExcludePath>$(QTDIR)\include;.\GeneratedFiles;$(CAExcludePath)</CAExcludePath>
</PropertyGroup>
Furthermore, if you are using vcpkg, which was the case in my situation, you will need to add the following element to the CAExcludePath:
$(VcpkgRoot)include
This will ensure that all headers from any packages will not be analyzed.
I have a project in VS13 and I need it to include few libraries which were compiled using CMake and VS. I have a pair of binaries for a debug and for a release modes. They both have the same names, lets say example.lib and example.dll both for debug and release versions.
Though I can specify separately which example.lib file it needs to include into a project changing a *.lib files in release and debug mode by simply renaming files to something like example_d.lib example_r.lib files, it still does searching for example.dll file in any case. And so every time I change from a release to a debug I need to swap example.dll from one to another and back again.
My question is how to specify catalog which contains certain both dll and lib file, or how to specify a certain dll filename to include it into a project?
Thanks.
The problem is that you rename the .lib file, but do not change the .dll name inside that .lib.
The proper solution is to change the Project Settings when building the DLL, to include $(Configuration) in the names.
You could try and edit the vcxproj file manually and add something as below:
<ItemGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)' == 'Debug'">
<Reference Include="MyLib">
<HintPath>..\..\Debug\MyLib.dll</HintPath>
</Reference>
</ItemGroup>
<ItemGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)' == 'Release'">
<Reference Include="MyLib">
<HintPath>..\..\Release\MyLib.dll</HintPath>
</Reference>
</ItemGroup>
I'm building a multi-architecture installer for a C++ program with NSIS. I'm using Visual Studio 2010. All is well except I don't know how to make the installer depend on the build for all architectures.
I have created a project to run makensis as a build step, and configured it to depend on all other projects in the solution. I'm currently building for Win32 and X86_64 architectures. The NSIS project is only built as a part of X86_64 configuration. But it packs files built in both X86_64 and Win32 configurations. Here lies the problem. If I build Win32 and then immediately X86_64, all is well. If I start with X86_64, the build fails because it can't find Win32 files. Worse, if I change some source code and rebuild only X86_64, the installer project will happily pick up out-of-date Win32 files without any indication of a problem.
Can I force a Win32 build from an X86_64 build, or do anything else to make this work?
I'm a Unix type, Windows is an alien world to me.
Any
As for "foolproof" solutions, if I understand you correctly:
You have solution containing multiple projects (lets say Test.sln),
You want to build this solution for several platforms,
... and use the MakeNSIS tool (I have no idea what that is) to create an installer packaging binaries built for all the platforms.
Please correct me if I am wrong. So, to achieve this task:
I would completely drop the project you introduced (the one running MakeNSIS),
Then would create Test.msbuild file such as the one below,
Notice the <Exec> element, that is the place where you want to run you MakeNSIS,
Then simply run the msbuild as msbuild Test.msbuild,
Using this solution you would have all the projects from Test.sln first built for Win32, then for x64, and MakeNSIS would only be run afterwards.
<Project DefaultTargets="Build" ToolsVersion="12.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<Target Name="Build" DependsOnTargets="Build_Win32;Build_x64">
<!-- Run whatever command you like, such as MakeNSIS .. ? -->
<Exec Command="notepad.exe" />
</Target>
<Target Name ="Build_Win32">
<MSBuild Projects="Test.sln" Properties="Configuration=Release;Platform=Win32" />
</Target>
<Target Name ="Build_x64">
<MSBuild Projects="Test.sln" Properties="Configuration=Release;Platform=x64" />
</Target>
</Project>
Please provide clarification to your actual question if the above isn't what you asked for.
EDIT:
After clarifying your request in the comment, I would propose following solution. I like the above solution with Test.msbuild more, but here you go:
Add new project BuildInstaller into your solution,
In Configuration Manager uncheck the checkbox "Build" for this new project for all combinations of Configuration/Platform,
Still in Configuration Manager, create new configuration, lets say Installers,
For this new configuration, uncheck the "Build" checkbox for all the projects from the solution, except for the BuildInstaller,
Now open the BuildInstaller.vcxproj in text editor and append the following snippet right before the closing </Project> tag:
<ItemGroup>
<ProjectsToBuild Include="..\**\*.vcxproj" Exclude="..\**\BuildInstaller.vcxproj"/>
</ItemGroup>
<Target Name="Build" DependsOnTargets="Build_Win32;Build_x64">
<!-- Run whatever command you like, such as MakeNSIS .. ? -->
<Exec Command="notepad.exe" />
</Target>
<Target Name="Build_Win32">
<MSBuild Projects="#(ProjectsToBuild)" Properties="Configuration=Release;Platform=Win32" />
</Target>
<Target Name="Build_x64">
<MSBuild Projects="#(ProjectsToBuild)" Properties="Configuration=Release;Platform=x64" />
</Target>
This way you effectively override the default build target,
So now:
Everytime you build for Release/Debug configuration, installer won't be built, that is preferred from many reasons,
Everytime you build for Installers configuration, your new BuildInstaller.vcxproj will take over, will build both win32 and x64 binaries and in the end will run the custom command line executable. Of course binaries will be built using Release configuration which should be desired.
Initially I thought I could drop the <ItemGroup> element and use Projects="..\Test.sln" instead of Projects="#(ProjectsToBuild)" as there should be no circular dependency (BuildInstaller.vcxproj is not built for Release) but the build took forever so there had to be some problem, weird...
Does this satisfy your needs?
I think you need to build Win32 configuration first and then 64bit configuration.
The makensis project should be built after both are finished (successfully!).
For example it is possible to call it from Post Build event (for 64bit configuration) or as separate project.
I am not sure whether your makensis project is based on Visual & Installer (http://www.visual-installer.com - sorry for little self promo :) or it is pure (text - batch) project included in VS Solution.
In both cases the Configuration manager in VS allows you to define the build order. The makensis project should be always the last so it can find all dependencies from previous configurations.
Also it is good to use relative path in makensis project - something like ${TARGET_PATH} which will be defined for each configuration with different value.
I have a visual c++ project that outputs a library and I would like to build it on Linux using xmake. I can build it in monodevelop but I want to be able to build it from a command line.
If I try building the project using "xbuild" call then I get the following error:
....ItemMinerLibMono.cproj: error : Target named 'Build' not found in the project.
I understand from the documentation that I need to add a Target named "Build" in the csproj file but I don't know how to do that. I tried importing the Microsoft.Common.targets file like this:
<Import Project="$(MSBuildBinPath)\Microsoft.Common.targets" />
but then I get the error:
: error : Target 'CreateManifestResourceNames', a dependency of target 'PrepareResources', not found.
Does anybody have any idea how to successfully compile a c++ project from a command line?
Thanks,
Gregor
Add the following to you .cproj file from MonoDevelop and it will build with xbuild.
<Target Name="Build" DependsOnTargets="$(BuildDependsOn)" Outputs="$(TargetPath)"/>
There is probably a simpler solution, but so far I have not been able to come up with one.
You need to import Cpp targets.
<Import Project="$(VCTargetsPath)\Microsoft.Cpp.Default.props" />
<Import Project="$(VCTargetsPath)\Microsoft.Cpp.props" />
<Import Project="$(VCTargetsPath)\Microsoft.Cpp.targets" />
On a Windows machine with a full Visual Studio installation, some or all of these can be found at the following locations. I've not tested these under any version of Linux with xbuild:
VS2012: C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft.Cpp\v4.0\v110
VS2013: C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft.Cpp\v4.0\v120
VS2015: C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft.Cpp\v4.0\v140
I have a solution with several C++ projects. For some of the projects I need some custom file copy, e.g. to copy some configuration files to the output directory or to copy the output files of one project to a specific folder after build.
In some cases I don't want or cannot add these files to the projects directly through the Visual Studio IDE. I created simple .targets files which I can reuse and add to the projects which need the file copying.
Here is a simple example .targets file for copying configuration files:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<PropertyGroup>
<BuildDependsOn>
$(BuildDependsOn);
CopyCustom
</BuildDependsOn>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<CustomFiles Include="$(ProjectDir)Config\**\*.xml" />
</ItemGroup>
<PropertyGroup>
<DestCustFolder>$(OutDir)Config\</DestCustFolder>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target Name="CopyCustom"
Inputs="#(CustomFiles )"
Outputs="#(CustomFiles ->'$(DestCustFolder)%(RecursiveDir)%(FileName)%(Extension)')">
<Message Text="Copy custom files..." />
<Copy SourceFiles="#(CustomFiles )" DestinationFiles="#(CustomFiles->'$(DestCustFolder)%(RecursiveDir)%(FileName)%(Extension)')" SkipUnchangedFiles="true" />
</Target>
</Project>
Through the "Build Customization" dialog in Visual Studio I add it to the project so it will be included like this at the end of the project file:
<ImportGroup Label="ExtensionTargets">
<Import Project="..\Targets\CopyCustom.targets" />/
</ImportGroup>
This should enable incremental build of my custom target. If I just edit one of my custom files (and none of the C++ files) and build it form the console with
msbuild foo1.vcxproj
it will actually detect the changes and does an incremental build for my custom target. If no changes are made the target is skipped.
If I do however build inside Visual Studio it will not detect changes to the custom files and only and gives me the message that the project is up to data:
========== Build: 0 succeeded, 0 failed, 5 up-to-date, 0 skipped ==========
I would have to additionally change one of the C++ files to make it check all targets again and to the incremental build.
I was expecting that Visual Studio just executes MSBuild which will then do the up-to-date check on the projects, so it should be the same result as running MSBuild from the console. I was trying to get more information by setting the verbosity level to diagnostic but I just get the same line. It seems to me that MSBuild is not even executed for the project but Visual Studio itself determines that the project is up-to-date.
So I was wondering how Visual Studio actually determines when it should execute MSBuild for a project.
I asked basically the same question before on the MSDN forum but couldn't get a clear answer.
See this suggestion on Microsoft Connect.
Basically you need to set DisableFastUpToDateCheck property to true to disable the fast-up-to-date check.
Just add to your vcxproj or your targets file:
<PropertyGroup>
<DisableFastUpToDateCheck>true</DisableFastUpToDateCheck>
</PropertyGroup>
I found an answer by looking into the book "Inside the Microsoft Build Engine, Second Edition".
Note: I also updated the same in my question in the MSDN forum but I will mainly duplicate the text here again for completeness.
On page 280 they actually saying that the IDE does a "fast up-to-date check" on the project-level. It only spawns a project build and does a more fine-grained check on the individual tasks if this rough project-level check fails.
When running MSBuild from the command line however there is always a fine-grained up-to-date check on the individual tools.
So the IDE only seems to do this fast check on the files which are added to the projects directly and set as one of the "Input File" types.
In my opinion this is not a good design. I would prefer that the IDE is only used to edit the MSBuild project files and then just invokes MSBuild to do the up-to-date check. This would make it much clearer.
I can understand that in a solution with a lot of projects it can make the up-to-date check much faster but there should be at least an option to disable the fast up-to-date check. I was checking the IDE if there is a way to disable this behavior but could not find anything.
The solution suggested here actually works and I am using it at the moment. But I added several custom targets for different kinds of custom files. If I add a new custom file I should never forget to set it to "Custom Build Tool" otherwise the incremental build for this file will not work.
I guess a solution would be to make a full build customization for my custom files and use specific file extensions for them so Visual Studio will automatically detect them when I add them to the project and sets the right Item Type.