I am quite used to Linux development and Makefiles, and started using (Windows and) Visual Studio not so long ago.
What I want to do is (I think) quite simple, but I can't seem to find how to do it using Visual Studio.
I have to write an application, which I can divide into several independent sub-parts. I want to work incrementally, and create several projects that together with a main file will end up with my full project.
What I basically want is to be able to write a small project, have a main for it so that I can fully test it, and use it as a dependency for the next project. In this case, the smaller main would be deactivated (or I can comment it), and I would just change the startup project.
If I find a bug in a subset while writing my bigger software, I could just change the startup project and solve it at a smaller scale.
Well, that's what I do all day long in Python and Java.
I tried to create new projects into my project, but I always end up having linking problems, where my main projects knows about the files in the sub projects, but not the smaller ones, etc. . .
So, is there a guide somewhere I can find to work this way ?
Thank you
For individual projects:
Every individual project property sheet has a C++ options page. Here you can specify the 'Addional Include Directories' in a comma separated form.
Similarly, there should be a property sheet for Linker where you can specify the 'Addional Include Dependencies' and the names of the libraries it depends on.
For linker dependencies of the main executable:
Go to that main project, go to its properties, go to common properties and select 'Framework and References'. This should give you a list of all the projecs that are in your solution. Keep adding them and Visual Studio should add the right linker flags automatically for you.
Sorry, have no access to the computer now else would have provided exact steps. Visual Studio can get tricky sometimes but once you use it, you'll be amazed by what it can do for you. Personally, I love it.
Hope this helps.
Thanks to Vaibhav, I was able to find a solution:
I had to :
change subproject type to lib instead of exe
Add the subprojects as project dependencies in the main project (this just sets the build order)
Comment out the main of my subprojects, to keep only one active.
Add each subproject include directory in the include repos of the main project, so that the compiler can find the header files
Add the general directory as a dependency for the linker (in this case, it is not the debug/release folder of the subprojects, but the output directory of the complete project).
Add the names of the lib files of the subprojects in additional dependencies of the linker of the main project.
To make it simple, the project dependencies capability of VS2010 just changes the order in which the projects are built. . . I miss Eclipse.
If I find a bug and want to test on of the subprojects, I have to :
change the startup project to be the subproject I want to change.
uncomment the corresponding main
change the project type to be exe instead of lib to be able to compile it.
Debug, and do everything back again to continue working on my main project.
Quite boring, don't you think ?
Looks like you trying to do manual unit testing. Use something like Google.Test. You need to make test project for every lib.
We have directory with static libs projects. Another directory with tests projects. Every test solution contains one exe project and few existing lib projects. Every project have configured dependencies. You dont need to set additional dependencies of the linker manually (paths are evil, out dir for the lib file will be taken from project settings), open project properties with right mouse button, Common properties, Add new reference and select lib project. You only need to set additional include dirs.
When you find new bug - just open test project for the library with bug, add code which cause the bug, fix it, and be happy (and sometimes run all test). And even better - use TDD.
Related
I am refactored library, and now it few module projects and one main. Main references all modules, and modules references each other(as they need). And finaly, main project is empty, and 'Link Library Dependencies' flag is enabled.
(VS2013/VS2012, all projects .lib)
In library solution build success, and resulting library linked success, and all external projects that require this lib work fine.
But i want that library be part of many solutions(as git submodule), and here i get problem. In past, i just add MyLibrary.vcxproj to SomeProject.sln, end get awersome results. Now i get bundle of linking error (.lib is missing). Its happens because project reference require only resulting .lib file, and nowhere said "build some project to get that lib".
So here the complete question:
If i have some project, that require some other projects to be build before, and i want use that project results in many solutions, what i should do, to get project dependencies without add some other projects to that solution. Perfect result: if i dont need to change solution properties.
Custom build steps accepted.
Okay, i solved it. Here the MSDN.
You should add in that Main project file custom build step devenv FullPathToSolution/Main.sln /build
Note, that in express version devenv is missing. So my custom build look like this:
"$(VC_ExecutablePath_x86)\..\..\Common7\IDE\WDExpress.exe" "$(ProjectDir)/../AX.sln" /build
I'm working on a VS2012 solution. This solution has a C++ project as a main project. The main project references several external libraries, and I might add a couple of extra libraries as well in the future.
The solution also has a C++ unit test project to test the code. I have a reference in the unit test project to the main project.
However, unlike with C# or other CLR-type projects, this somehow doesn't mean that the references in that project are copied. (might be that in those projects a .dll reference is all that seems to be necessary to get the job done)
I'm currently unable to include files from the main project, nor are the libraries that the main project has included or which it is linking to included in the test project.
I'd like to know if there's a way to access all the main project's files, include search directories and library references without editing the unit test project's properties all the time. Is there a way to do that? I've tried setting Use Library Dependency Includes to true in the unit test project's settings, but it keeps getting reset to false.
Will enabling copy local or copy local sattelite assemblies help solve this?
Copying output of native project referred in other projects does not work like in .NET because the mechanisms are different. The one solution that comes to my mind now is adding a post-build event action to copy the output to the desired folder.
I have used visual studio 2010 express for a while and have played with some extensive projects for quite some time. Since i'm nearing 50-60 files and thousands of lines of code, i've decided to do some source control for everything so that the project is more easily updated and accessible between all my devices, while also being back up.
I have used git before and am comfortable with it, but now when i made the commit and pushed it to a remote repository on bitbucket.org, i found that the .vcxproj files, while still retaining their correct file structure, also retained the include and lib directories for the device it was pushed from, meaning that when pulled down to another computer, those include/lib directories would be looking in the wrong directories, meaning i have to revise all of them every time i pull/push.
My question, Is there anyway i can push files to the repository such that the solution keeps the folder setup, but not the include and lib directory settings?
Edit:
After some research, i went looking into these so called property sheets in visual studio which are files that can be added to your project. The settings you set their take precedence over the settings of the project, but then the snag there is, if you add the individual property file to the project and then push the the .sln file, and the various .vcxproj files without that .props file, and then someone else clones from the repository, it won't open because it apparently requires that props file.
What i would like along these lines is a default .props file in the remote repository that, when cloned over, is no longer tracked, and then that user can just edit it for themselves. I don't know enough about git thought to make this happen. Does anybody have an idea?
I'm not sure what your problem is exactly, but here's my understanding:
Your project files contain absolute paths (e.g. "C:\myproj\include"). Replace these with relative paths (e.g. ".\include"). The "$(SolutionDir)" variable helps: if your solution file is C:\myproj\myproj.sln, then "$(SolutionDir)include" is the same as "C:\myproj\include". You can change the include and library directories in Project Properties > Configuration Properties > C/C++ and Linker, respectively.
Your project requires third party libaries - such as boost - and these are outside your project, say C:\boost. Unfortunately Windows/VS doesn't have a standard location for third party libraries, so you can either:
Include the library in your project. This is perfectly fine for small libraries, but it's not something you'd want to do with something like boost, which is both big and tends to be used widely.
Mandate that all devices set up these libraries in the same location, e.g. C:\sdk
Use an environment variable, like $(SDK_DIR) in the project, and all devices must set this environment variable.
Let me know if this helps.
What you're after are git's smudge and clean filters. You'll have to write a script for the cleaning, but sed'll probably do the job just fine, you won't need real xml parsing.
With fear of being mocked due to the simplicity I venture out to ask you are question:
What do i have to download and what do i include in my project to get going with the cURL library?
I have tried different things but all resulting in unresolved externals meaning i am including it wrong, i guess.
An explanation of the install process in whole would be awesome! I'm not quite sure exactly what files to use and where to put them. Im using visual studio 2012.
Can anyone shed some light on this?
You need to link the library during link phase of the build. There is an option in the project properties for additional library dependencies - add the .lib file(s) that comes with curl there. Just including a file in your source is rarely enough to use a library.
Ok I am using visual studio (2008) for your work but I will answer to the best of my knowledge.I am assuming you have built libcurl using .sln file or are using a prebuilt set of binaries.
First of all build a solution in project wizard and get a project in it. Right click on project and select properties
In properties go the C++ general tab, add the include directories of curl. Now go to Linker general tab and put the lib directory(which contains the dlls and obj files of your build) in the additional library directories. Now go to input option and put libcurl_imp.lib or libcurldll.a(depending upon your version and compile method). These names can be different and depend upon your build, but the extensions will be of these two types. It is the linker step in which you are making a mistake.
After this compile and run.
say I have a sln which contains 10 projects(named proj1 to proj10), and proj1 is the default project which generate the EXE file.
My problem is: how to place the 'include' folder?
I mean if proj2 uses proj3(that is including its header file and linking its lib file), how to place the 'include' folder?
there are two approaches:
place all header files and lib files in a different root folder which is in the same level of the project
make every project self-close, and the other projects who want to use this project should take care of the include-path and link-path. Of cause we should give a rule to the layout of every project(e.x. every project MUST have a 'include' folder and 'lib' folder in the root folder)
any suggestion?
thanks
When it comes to Visual Studio, I don't like either of the two approaches you suggested, although mine is most closely related to your Option #2. The way I like to organise it is like this:
<SolutionRoot>
<Project1>
project1.vcxproj
someheader.h
somesource.cpp
<Project2>
<Project3>
<Project4>
<Project5>
application.sln
In case that's not obvious, that's a quasi-directory listing showing some project folders and the base solution file.
All new projects are just added to the solution using Visual Studio's default settings. Trying to go against this and making projects work like Linux projects (lib, include, src etc) just ends up causing you grief, so don't do it.
Now, I set my "additional includes" path on every project to $(SolutionDir). Then if I want to include something from Project1:
#include "Project1/someheader.h"
The advantage of this is you don't clutter up your 'additional includes', so it's easy to see at a glance what external includes a project has.
As for linking to lib files, why not take advantage of Visual Studio's project references feature. Honestly, your life will be easier. Simply hook it up so that Project2 references Project1, etc... Then you don't have to worry about libraries and linker paths. You only do that for toolkits that are outside your solution tree (eg distributions such as libpng or openssl).
Again, you free up that setting so it only shows linkages outside of the solution. The other advantage is that your build order is implicitly defined if you use references.
I would go with the 1st solution. it make the project settings simple. As the C++ projects we worked on, we always put the header files together.