I have few header files (+ some cpp files) and I want them to be accessible from all VS C++ projects.
For example, I have these files: myclass.h myclass.cpp and I want to #include <myclass.h> from all projects I create (and also I want myclass.cpp to be accessible from projects where myclass.h is included).
What you want to do is to put your common code into a sensible location. Now you can modify the configuration of your project to point at your additional include directories.
There are various ways you can do this. The simplest is to right click your project, select "properties", open the "Configuration Properties" section of the property page dialogue, and select "VC++ Directories". There are two setting under there you would need to modify... "Include Directories" and "Source Directories". Double click them to bring up an edit dialogue.
The next possibility is to create your own custom property sheet. See the relevant documentation here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/669zx6zc.aspx#bkmkPropertySheets
You'll need to bring up the "Property Manager"... for me, this was under the main "View" menu, under "Other Windows". When the property manager is up, you can right-click a particular build configuration or project and select "Add New Project Property Sheet". You can now set up a whole bunch of config options, and save them out to a "props" file.
Next time you want to make a project with this same set of settings (eg. the same include and source paths that your common code is in), you can use "Add Existing Property Sheet" instead.
It is possible to modify the standard property sheets. This is probably not a sensible thing to do!
Related
I often make C++ Google Test projects inside Visual Studio that test another project via Project References.
For the test project to find the tested project's methods, I need to configure something in the "Public Project Content" of the tested project.
By default nothing is public. With every new project I need to edit the properties. So I was wondering, is there a way to make "Yes" the default for "All Header Files are Public", for instance ?
Thanks.
Use a custom Property Sheet that can be added to a project.
View > Property Manager > Add new Property Sheet (the wrench/spanner with the star).
Name it and save it somewhere. (I'd recommend "Google.Test.Default.props" the quotes are required)
Open the sheet by double-clicking on it in the list.
Change only the properties relevant to default Google Test settings.
Apply/OK
The list is ordered where higher entries supersede lower entries and the top-most "project" properties contains all changes and can be modified on a per-project basis.
Then, for every subsequent project:
View > Property Manager > Add existing property sheet
Navigate to the previously saved Google.Test.Default.props file.
Reorder in the list as needed.
Done.
If you've changed any settings in the top-most project settings you'll have to go through them and change the relevant settings to <Inherit from parent or project defaults> to have the project use the new property sheet.
I am refactoring my Visual-Studio-C++ project to use a folder structure rather than the filters in Visual Studio but I have noticed that when I try to include a file, it will use the current directory of that file so my includes look something like...
#include "../../server/IGameServer.h"
This is quite problematic when I refactor and move things around as I then have to go into each file and change their includes...
Is there a way to make every file start from the base directory no matter where the current file is, or a way to include the folder path so I can just use
#include "IGameServer.h"
(1) Go to project properties:
And add folders to "Addiotional Include Directories". ...Make sure that you aply to "All Configurations" (Debug, Release, etc.) and "All Platforms" (X86, X64).
--
(2) Click on that line + one more click on right side, on the down-arrow) & click Edit.... It opens a dialog that looks like that (I already added some folders in this example):
I have combined several projects into one solution. I created empty solution and added these projects and here is a blue print of how it looks like:
Root:
Project1 - directory
Project2 - directory
Debug - directory
Main.sln - file
Now I want to direct the executable and dll from both projects to \debug folder shown up of the solution file. I go into project properites >> Configuration Properities >> General >> 'Output Directory' and change the output directory to $(SolutionDir)$(Configuration)\ which is default for a new project.
The problem is that it has no effect on where the output file is created, it is still created in the old destination. The old path for `Output Directory' was .\Debug\ not that it matters.
Could this be because the SolutionDir & Configuration may not be defined? Where can I see their definition or values? I also want to create a new configuration which would be 'Release with Debug' how can I create that using environment variable? Thanks!
My project is MFC/Visual C++.
Add-on:
Where are these identifiers like SolutionDir defined in the scrip? I look up for in .vcxproj file but there is mention of it. I create a new dummy VS2010 project just to look at it's .vcxproj file but these project settings identified are not defined in any place that I can see!
This is most likely caused by specific settings overriding global settings, namely Linker's "output" setting. This happens often as a result of conversion from earlier Visual Studio.
What you need is to go through every setting, paying attention to those whose values are written in bold, and reset to default (select it from dropdown) every setting with 'debug' or 'release', and others as necessary.
There could also be specific settings on files. I usually resolve this by opening project in notepad and removing any excessive settings. Just be careful. Using multiline replace in Notepad++ or any other capable editor helps.
I think I had a similar problem.
What I ended up doing was editing the vcxproj file directly. Find this section and edit it like this for each of your configurations:
<PropertyGroup>
<OutDir Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|Win32'">$(SolutionDir)$(Configuration)\</OutDir>
<OutDir Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|Win32'">$(SolutionDir)$(Configuration)\</OutDir>
</PropertyGroup>
I had a similar problem with the Intermediate Directory setting in one of my VS2010 projects. No matter what I set it to, it would always use the default value of $(SolutionDir)$Configuration. Oddly, other projects in the same solution with the same settings worked just fine.
After playing around, I stumbled upon a solution.
Click on the setting in the propery page dialog.
Click on the down arrow button in the right-hand side of the edit box.
Select "inherit from parent or project defaults".
Click "Apply".
Click on the setting and change it to your desired value.
I don't know why this works, but it does. It seems like the macros were not being properly evaluated for whatever reason. Then, after you apply the inherited values, it seems to reset itself and start evaluating the macros properly.
I have a two projects, AI and Core, which used to hold a circular dependency. I have a CoreUtilities file that I have broken up to remove this dependency, and added the functions I have removed to a new file called AIUtilities(.cpp/.h).
I then went to the piece in my AI project that uses these functions and added #include "AI/AIUtilities.h" and changed the function call from CoreUtilities::Functionname to AIUtilities::Functionname. Upon compile, I recieved the error given in the title.
Why! How can I fix it?
Did you update your project settings with the path to the direcory containing AI/AIUtilities?
Update:
From the solution explorer window, right click on your project and choose "properties" then a new windows "your_project_name property page" will pop up.
In this window on the left pane you'll see a tree. Click on 'Configuration properties' which expands to multiple choices. Continue clicking on 'C/C++' then on General. On the right pane appears multiple properties that affect your project.
Choose the "Additional include directories" property and add the path to your new directory. For instance if your path is : "C:\AI\AIUtilities.h" add the following: "C:\" in the property.
Click on "Aplpy button". Done.
As mentioned in other post, you must consider that moving your project around will break your project settings. Don't forget to update them. Or use either environnement variable to set the root of your project or use the "../../" trick. But personnaly I prefer the former.
You need to ensure that the parent directory of AI is on your header include path. Assuming that your code is laid out like this:
blah/source/
AI/
AIUtilities.h
AIUtilities.cpp
Core/
CoreUtilities.h
CoreUtilities.cpp
So either you need to have the header search path to '/blah/Source' or '..' depending on how your directories are structured.
Note that if you have sub-directories inside each project then this can cause problems with resolving the header search path. In that case set the header search path to $(ProjectDir)\.. .
I have been through every option to try to find a way to get the IDE to let me create a new win32pject without precompiled headers. I have read every thread on this forum with the words "precpmpiled headers" in it and the closest I got was:
Precompiled Headers
Using 2008 pro (not express, althought the behaviour seems to be similar) I go to:
File -> New -> Project
This opens the New Project dialog in which I select Visual C++ Win32 Project, enter a name and hit OK.
THen I get the "Win32 Application Wizard". With the Application Type set to "Windows Application", the application settings pane will not allow me to uncheck the pre-compiled headers. THe check box is greyed out. IF I choose "Console Application" I can uncheck it, but I am creating a GUI app.
WHen I click Finish I get 6 yards of code in xxx.cpp, four header files and the obligatory stdafx.cpp.
Perhaps I could remove and delete all this stuff and the go into the properties and turn off PCH, but thats a hasssel for the many small project examples I want to write.
I just want an empty project that will compile to a win32 app, so how do i change the PCH default to NONE?
You could make your own template to do this, or you could edit the default one. The relevant wizard can be found here:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\VCWizards\AppWiz\Generic\Application
Obviously if you're gonna edit the default template, backup the folder first.
I'll show you how to get started on editing it.
First of all you need to tell the wizard script that you don't want precompiled headers. Edit this file in your favourite text editor:
\scripts\1033\default.js
Find this line:
var Pch = wizard.FindSymbol("PRE_COMPILED_HEADER");
and comment out some of the lines below it like this:
// if ((strAppType == "LIB" || ((strAppType == "CONSOLE") &&
// !wizard.FindSymbol("SUPPORT_MFC") && !wizard.FindSymbol("SUPPORT_ATL"))) && !Pch)
{
AddFilesToProjectWithInfFile(selProj, strProjectName);
SetNoPchSettings(selProj);
}
// else
// {
// AddFilesToProjectWithInfFile(selProj, strProjectName);
// SetCommonPchSettings(selProj);
// }
Now open this file:
\templates\1033\Templates.inf
and find the first occurrence of [!else] and delete these 3 lines below it:
stdafx.h
targetver.h
stdafx.cpp
This will give you a project without stdafx.cpp/.h or targetver.h, and the CPP file will not try to use a PCH. However it won't build because we haven't added any #includes to the appropriate header files. I'll leave that for you to figure out :)
(you can edit the files that get generated automatically by modifying the files in \templates\1033)
either choose an empty project, or create your own wizard in which you use a template. Since you say you don't want to change properties the whole time, I'd also strongly suggest using property sheets (vsprops). This way, you create an empty project, add the property sheets you want, and you'r ready to go. No more fiddling with properties, and each project uses the same set.
Mark the "Empty Project" check box in the "additional options", in the Application Settings dialog.
The "Empty Project" option will create a project without precompiled headers. At least, this is what I get on Visual Studio 2008 SP1.
It's true that the "Use precompiled headers" remain checked, but the project will have the property UsePrecompiledHeader="0" and the wizard won't create the files.
I'm jumping way late on this bandwagon, as I'm having the same issues for VS2010.
I'm not sure if this solution would apply for VS2008.
Since there are no settings or options under tools which would enable me to default to an empty project, I searched around and found the following:
in the folder
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\VC\VCWizards\AppWiz\Generic\Application\html\1033
there is a file named default.htm
in the </HEAD> section, there are two lines:
<SYMBOL NAME="EMPTY_PROJECT" TYPE=checkbox VALUE=false></SYMBOL>
<SYMBOL NAME="PRE_COMPILED_HEADER" TYPE=checkbox VALUE=true></SYMBOL>
which I replaced with
<SYMBOL NAME="EMPTY_PROJECT" TYPE=checkbox VALUE=true></SYMBOL>
<SYMBOL NAME="PRE_COMPILED_HEADER" TYPE=checkbox VALUE=false></SYMBOL>
(in other words, I just switched true and false on those lines)
and now I have an empty project by default when I create a console app.
I don't know the repercussions as to what it will affect when I do something other than console apps, but since I saved the original file, I can just revert to the old M$ settings.
You can just select 'empty project' under 'additional options'. Then you get a project with no precompiled headers, and no autogenerated files.
I don't know what it is with Microsoft's obsession with forcing precompiled headers even in the smallest test project. Presumably it's based in the same philosphy that gave us the macro hell that is windows.h, or the way even an empty project overrides two dozen project settings, making property sheets almost useless.
I suspect there's simply a strong mafia inside Microsoft's developer division, who's doing everything they can to prevent Visual Studio from becoming a useful tool for C++ developers. So far, they're doing a very good job of it.