Use CMake to run a C++ program post-build - c++

Question

I have an application that is written in C++ that I use CMake to build and release binaries.
I'd like to have the CMakeLists.txt script compile and run a CPP file that is used to timestamp and encrypt a license file after it has built the binaries for the application. I've seen examples of running the execute_process command such as this:
execute_process(COMMAND "gcc -o foo foo.cpp"
WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
execute_process(COMMAND "./foo"
WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}
RESULT_VARIABLE MY_FOO_VAR)
I am using Visual Studio 2010 to do the build on Windows. The problem is that I'm not sure how to get CMake to run a program during VS's build process. I want the last thing in the build operation to be the license file timestamp, but I don't really know enough about VS or CMake to get this set up.

Answer 1

You say you want to run the file after your build. execute_process() runs at CMake-time, not at build time. What you're looking for would be add_custom_command():
add_executable(LicenseStamper stamper.cpp)
add_custom_command(
OUTPUT stamped_file.lic
COMMAND LicenseStamper any other arguments
DEPENDS any/dependency.file
COMMENT "Stamping the license"
VERBATIM
)
add_custom_target(
StampTheLicense ALL
DEPENDS stamped_file.lic
)
The custom command will run the executable (and build it first, if necessary). The custom target will drive the custom command - it depends on the command's output, so when the target is built, it will require its dependency to be built, causing the custom command to run.