I am unable to change my PATH environment variable from Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Express using a project relative path.
Relevant paths:
Solution path: D:\School\dva303\project\Woods\
Project path: D:\School\dva303\project\Woods\Woods\
Absolute path to needed DLL directory: D:\School\dva303\project\Woods\Woods\allegro-5.0.10-msvc-11.0\bin
When I use the absolute path:
Project Properties / Debugging / Environment: PATH=D:\School\dva303\project\Woods\Woods\allegro-5.0.10-msvc-11.0\bin
It works! But if I change it to a project relative one using $(ProjectDir):
Project Properties / Debugging / Environment: PATH=$(ProjectDir)\allegro-5.0.10-msvc-11.0\bin
It fails and I get a message that the DLL can not be found on my computer. It does not matter if I use a \ after $(ProjectDir) or not.
Questions:
How do I get it to work?
How do you debug situations like this one when a Visual Studio environment variable is not behaving as you expect it to? Is there a way to print it out or by some other method see what it will be evaluated to?
You can simply add a post build task to echo out $(var), and you'll see it in the output window.
I think your actual problem is that your environment variables don't propagate to the application you run/debug. You can use SysInternals' Process Explorer to check this. If so, just add another post build task to copy the required DLL files to the same directory as your output.
If you just want to see the values of $(ProjectDir) then if you go in to your vcxproj properties, then anything then lets you get to the "macros" view. Such as adding a new include path will list these out and their values. But you'll still need the echo trick for anything "dynamic" or to check nothing is overriding it.
Related
VS2017, SDK/WDK, C++ project
we have a c++ solution (driver) that is shared across developers via Team Foundation Services - visualstudio.com (now called azure devops?).
When I perform a get latest source code, and want to rebuild the solution I get two MSB3030 errors:
"Could not copy the file "C:\path of my colleague his file" because it was not found."
I found it strange that I saw on one of the two errors a path of my colleague his pc. He works on C:\ I'm working on E:\
Unloading the project, I saw he path being set here:
<ItemGroup>
<FilesToPackage Include="C:\path of my colleague\foo.xml" Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|x64'">
<PackageRelativeDirectory>
</PackageRelativeDirectory>
</FilesToPackage>
We cannot get this solution to build because of the MSB3030. First we have to clean the specific projects individually, rebuild it, then build another project etc.. a few steps to perform manually in the correct order , trial and error, drinking coffee, throwing bananas to the pc and praying that a monkey outputs the code correctly.
Has anyone seen somehting similar regarding MSB3030 errors?
On my pc I see the path of my colleague, but he doesn't see my path (strange!).
C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows
Kits\10\build\WindowsDriver.common.targets(1699,5): error MSB3030:
Could not copy the file 'C:...' because it was not found.
I've set the Any CPU to x64 because it doesn't make any sense for c++.
C++ Windows Driver MSB3030 could not copy the file '' because it was not found
The reason for this issue is that the path of the ItemGroup is an absolute path in the project file:
<ItemGroup>
<FilesToPackage Include="C:\path of my colleague\foo.xml" ...>
...
</FilesToPackage>
</ItemGroup>
Regardless of whether your colleague has added this file to source control, when you pull the code from the TFS server to your local and put the code in a different local folder, the absolute path will bring you a lot of trouble, you need to manually check the code on the TFS server for this file and you need to modify the absolute path of this file in your project. But this problem will reappear after your colleague updates after you submit your code. Because an absolute path cannot be assigned to two different paths C:\ and E:\.
To resolve this issue, you need to change the absolute path to a relative path in the source code. Generally, we prefer to add this file to the Solution/Project folder, then use the MSBuild Macros $(SolutionDir)/$(ProjectDir) to specify it.
Check Common macros for build commands and properties for some more details.
Hope this helps.
I have written a C application that depends on a few DLLs and am having some trouble when using the local debugger. It's this well documented error message:
"This program can't start because xxx.dll is missing from your
computer."
Right now it's portaudio_x86.dll but the DLL is arbitrary as I'm getting the same behaviour for a bunch of others (libfftw3-3.dll, libsamplerate-0.dll, libsndfile-1.dll...)
I have been to Configuration Properties\Debugging and changed the Environment to:
PATH =
C:\portaudioASIO\portaudio\lib;%PATH%
(where the portaudio dll is)
and Merge Environment is 'Yes' (I've tried every combination and permutation of the PATH with appending, prepending, having $(ProjectDir) in the mix - all to no avail)
but this doesn't resolve it and I still get the error message "dll not found" when I debug.
I'm currently working around it by including the DLLs in the debug folder but this seems like a bit of a hack to me and from reading all the other posts [ 1, 2, 3 ] about setting the Environment PATH variable I can't see why it doesn't work.
Any tips on how to get the PATH variable to behave properly ? Cheers!
This is using MSVS Community 2015, the app is in C but the same thing happens with a C++ version.
So I am running into an issue when I go to build my projects using tfs build controller using the Output location "AsConfigred" it will not detect my unit tests. Let me give a little info on my setup.
TFS 2013 Update 2, Default Process Template
Here is a few screenshots that can hopefully help fill in what I can't in typing. I am copying my build out to a file share on our network so that we can use other utilities use the output. I don't want to use "PerProject" or "SingleFolder" because they mess up the file structure we have configured (These both will run the tests). So i have the files copy to folder names "SingleOutputFolder" which is a child of the DropLocation. I would like to be able to run from the drop folder or run from the bin folder for each of my tests (I don't care which). However it doesn't seem to detect/run ANY of the tests. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Please let me know if you need any additional information.
I have tried using ***test*.dll, Install\SingleFolderOutput**.test.dll, and $(TF_BUILD_DROPLOCATION)\Install\SingleFolderOutput*test*.dll
But I am not sure what variables are available and understand where the scope of its execution is.
Given that you're using Build Output location set to AsConfigured you have to change the default values of the Test sources spec setting to allow build to find the test libraries in the bin folders. Here's an example.
If the full path to the unit test libraries is:
E:\Builds\7\<TFS Team Project>\<Build Definition>\src\<Unit Test Project>\bin\Release\*test*.dll
use
..\src\*UnitTest*\bin\*\*test*.dll;
This question was asked on MSDN forums here.
MSDN Forums Suggested Workaround
The suggested workaround in the accepted answer (as of 8 a.m. on June 20) is to specify the full path to the test projects' binary folders: For example:
C:\Builds\{agentId}\{teamProjectName}\{buildDefinitionName}\src\{solutionName}\{testProjectName}\bin*\Debug\*test*.dll*
which really should have been shown as
{agentWorkingFolder}\src\{relativePathToTestProjectBinariesFolder}\*test*.dll
However this approach is very brittle, for the following reasons:
Any new test projects you add to the solution will not be executed until you add them to the build definition's list of test sources:
It will break under any of the following circumstances:
the build definition is renamed
the working folder in build agent properties is modified
you have multiple build agents, and a different agent than the one you specified in {id} runs the build
Improved Workaround
My workaround mitigates the issues listed in #2 (can't do anything about #1).
In the path specified above, replace the initial part:
{agentWorkingFolder}
with
..
so you have
..\src\{relativePathToTestProjectBinariesFolder}\*test*.dll
This works because the internal working directory is apparently the \binaries\ folder that is a sibling of the \src\ folder. Navigating up to the parent folder (whatever it is named, we don't care) and back in to \src\ before specifying the path to the test projects binaries does the trick.
Note: If you have multiple test projects, you add additional entries, separated with semicolons:
..\src\{relativePathToTestProjectONEBinariesFolder}\*test*.dll;..\src\{relativePathToTestProjectTWOBinariesFolder}\*test*.dll;..\src\{relativePathToTestProjectTHREEBinariesFolder}\*test*.dll;
What I ended up doing was adding a post build event to copy all of the test.dll into the staging location folder in the specific build that is basically equivalent to where it would go on a SingleFolder build and do that on each test project.
if "$(TeamBuildOutDir)" == "" (
echo "Building Interactively not in TFS"
) else (
echo "Building in TFS"
xcopy "$(TargetDir)*.*" "$(TeamBuildBinaries)\" /Y /E /S
)
MSBUILD parameter in the build def that told it to basically drop in the folder that TFS looks for them.
/p:TeamBuildBinaries="$(TF_BUILD_BINARIESDIRECTORY)"
Kept the default Test assembly file specification:
**\*test*.dll
View this link for the information on the variable that I used and what relative path it exists at.
Another solution is to do the reverse.
Leave all of the files in the root so that all of the built in functionality works. There is more than just test execution in there. What about static code analysis, impact analysis..among others. You would have to do something custom for them all.
Instead use a pre-drop powershell script to create your Install arrangement from the root files.
If it is an application then you can use the _ApplicationFolder Nuget package to create an _PublishApplications folder same as you get for web applications.
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'm making a program in visual c++. The program relies on some dll files, which I don't want to place in system32. Now the dll files is in the same folder as my .exe, but i would like to move them to a sub folder. The problem is, if I move the files, my application fails to start and comes with this error message:
MyProgram.exe - Unable to Locate Component
This application has failed to start because myDll.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix the problem.
I have had the same problem before, where if found a solution, which included adding something to the registry, but i forgot how it worked, and now I can't find the guide again.
Can someone please help me?
There is more than one way to solve this problem. As other mentioned you can modify search path for your application in registry. Sometimes, you don't have rights to write to the registry, or you cannot do it for other reasons, then you can set dll path explicitly, the WinAPI function for that is SetDllDirectory, see MSDN.
Sounds like you're after the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths key. See here for complete information. In short, a string called Path points to a DLL search path. For example if your application was called "MyApp" a .reg file like this would do the trick:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AppPaths\MyApp.exe]
#="C:\\Program Files\\MyCompany\\MyApp\\MyApp.exe"
"Path"="C:\\Program Files\\MyCompany\\MyApp\\DLLs"
I believe this is the article you are looking for:
http://www.codeguru.com/Cpp/W-P/dll/article.php/c99
Each application can now store it own path the registry under the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths
The use the application path, set a key for your application, using ONE.EXE from the example above:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE...\CurrentVersion\App Paths\ONE.exe
Set the (Default) value to the full path of your executable, for example:
C:\Program Files\ONE\ONE.exe
Add a sub-key named Path