When I select console project to start with, it lets you to select C or C++. But once its created, I can't figure out how to change it. Plus, when you create a Win32 GUI application, it doesn't give you the option at all and its default is C++.
Where can I change to C? I have been looking in all the project settings for ages. Renaming my file from .cpp to .c doesn't seem to do anything, it compiles the file as C++. I know that without the IDE, you just change your executable from g++ to gcc, but how do I set this for the current project in CodeBlocks?
The only tangible difference between selecting C vs C++ when you create a project is which compiler is invoked for the translation units during a build. Code::Blocks currently does not provide a way to directly change this after project creation. That is to say you would have to change each source file one at a time to get what you want.
Here's what you can do to change it:
Open the properties window for a source you want to change. You can get to it by right-click source file->properties.
Goto the Advanced tab.
Find the Compiler variable field and change it from CPP to CC.
Click Ok.
Repeat this for each source file that needs to be changed.
Now if your existing project contains a lot of source files you can do this quicker by manually editing the Code::Blocks .cbp project file (it's just an XML file). The nodes you want to search for and replace will look something like this:
<CodeBlocks_project_file>
<!-- ... -->
<Project>
<!-- ... -->
<Unit filename="source1.cpp">
<Option compilerVar="CPP" /> <!-- Change CPP to CC here -->
</Unit>
<Unit filename="source2.cpp">
<Option compilerVar="CPP" /> <!-- And here -->
</Unit>
<Unit filename="source3.cpp">
<Option compilerVar="CPP" /> <!-- And here then save. -->
</Unit>
<!-- ... -->
</Project>
</CodeBlocks_project_file>
After the changes, open your project in Code::Blocks and confirm it's being compiled as a C source file. You should see the build log invoking gcc now instead of g++.
Related
If I start a new web api project, the appsettings files are grouped together. However, I'm creating a working project from the console app template and when I create the appsettings files manually, the do not group together. I think back in older versions, there was something I'd put in the csproj file, but I don't know how to do it in .net core and I'm not seeing anything in properties or configurations
In the project file of your solution you can edit or add an <ItemGroup> element within the <Project> element. This worked for me:
<ItemGroup>
<Content Include="appsettings.json">
<CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
</Content>
<Content Include="appsettings.*.json">
<CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
<DependentUpon>appsettings.json</DependentUpon>
</Content>
</ItemGroup>
Please Note that my console project targets .Net Core 2.0 and is running in Visual Studio Pro 2017 Version 15.7.5.
Also, if your Solution Explorer doesn't immediately refresh try unloading and reloading the project.
Using an <ItemGroup> with <Content> as suggested gave me an error (in Visual Studio 2019) about "Duplicate 'Content' items included". It turns out the .NET SDK includes 'Content' items from your project directory by default. Setting the EnableDefaultContentItems property to false seems a bit rigid, so now I include the items as <None>.
<ItemGroup>
<!-- Group AppSettings in Console project. Use None to prevent "Duplicate 'Content' items were included" when using (default) EnableDefaultContentItems=true -->
<None Include="appsettings.*.json">
<DependentUpon>appsettings.json</DependentUpon>
</None>
</ItemGroup>
This does show the files grouped, but shows their properties with Build Action 'None' and 'Do Not Copy' in the Solution-explorer, so I guess that's the price for wanting them to group?
FWIW: a file-nesting rule as suggested in appsettings-json-not-in-hierarchy
will not show the files as grouped/nested, but it will make it collapse if the solution-explorer collapse-button is pressed.
You just need to click the File Nesting icon, and choose "Web"
I'm tyring to refactor my code using include-what-you-use, but I need to figure out exactly which directories VS is looking in.
How do I get a listing of all include paths visible to files in my project?
If I add an incorrect include, something like "#include " I get the listing I want, but I can't copy and paste the damn thing! (and OCR doesn't seem to work).
How do I get this list?
Copy/pasting from the dialog is ok if you want to do this once manually but doesn't scale well. Since you tagged this msbuild, here's a solution using it. Create a file names showincludes.targets and paste this msbuild code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
<Target Name="ShowIncludes">
<Message Text="$(Include);%(ClCompile.AdditionalIncludeDirectories)"/>
</Target>
</Project>
Now to get the list of includes for any project file use
msbuild \path\to\vcxproj /p:ForceImportAfterCppTargets=\path\to\showincludes.targets /t:ShowIncludes
This will import said file into the project give, so it has access to all properties, and print out the value of the INCLUDE environment variable which is by default used by the compiler, and also the value of AdditionalIncludeDirectories which is passed to the compiler by msbuild.
I would like to use web deploy to publish a Visual Studio "Console" application to a folder on the target system.
I have had some luck, and have been able to produce something similar to what I need, but not quite.
I've added the following to the console .csproj:
added the following projectName.wpp.targets file
<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" />
and I've added the following projectName.wpp.targets:
<Project DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" ToolsVersion="4.0">
<PropertyGroup>
<DeployAsIisApp>false</DeployAsIisApp>
<IncludeSetAclProviderOnDestination>false</IncludeSetAclProviderOnDestination>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<FilesForPackagingFromProject Include="$(IntermediateOutputPath)$(TargetFileName).config">
<DestinationRelativePath>bin\%(RecursiveDir)%(FileName)%(Extension)</DestinationRelativePath>
<FromTarget>projectName.wpp.targets</FromTarget>
</FilesForPackagingFromProject>
</ItemGroup>
</Project>
I then edit the .SetParameters.xml file as follows:
<parameters>
<setParameter name="IIS Web Application Name" value="c:\company\project" />
</parameters>
When I then deploy using the generated .cmd file, I get all the files deployed to C:\company\project\bin.
That's not bad, but I'd like to do better. In particular, I'd like to omit the "bin" folder and put all files in the "C:\company\project" folder, and I'd like to be able to specify the ACLs
Has anybody been able to work around these problems?
Ok, so here's the way how to omit the 'bin' folder.
First of all, I'd like to emphasize that all this msdeploy-related stuff is for web apps deployment, and 'bin' folder seems for me to be almost hardcoded deeply inside. So if you want to get rid of it - you have to do some dirty things. Which I did.
We'll have to change $(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets project a little bit, so it's better to change not it, but it's copy.
Steps:
1.Backup $(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets(alternatively, you could install MSBuild.Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.targets package, redirect your csproj file to Microsoft.WebApplication.targets file obtained from package and work with it).
2. In the $(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplicaton.targets find the xml node which looks like <CopyPipelineFiles PipelineItems="#(FilesForPackagingFromProject)"(there are several ones of them, take the one from the line ~2570).
3. Comment the node out, replace with the custom one, so eventually it will look like:
<!--
<CopyPipelineFiles PipelineItems="#(FilesForPackagingFromProject)"
SourceDirectory="$(WebPublishPipelineProjectDirectory)"
TargetDirectory="$(WPPAllFilesInSingleFolder)"
SkipMetadataExcludeTrueItems="True"
UpdateItemSpec="True"
DeleteItemsMarkAsExcludeTrue ="True"
Condition="'#(FilesForPackagingFromProject)' != ''">
<Output TaskParameter="ResultPipelineItems" ItemName="_FilesForPackagingFromProjectTempory"/>
</CopyPipelineFiles>-->
<!-- Copying files to package folder in 'custom'(dirty) way -->
<CreateItem Include="$(OutputPath)\**\*.*">
<Output TaskParameter="Include" ItemName="YourFilesToCopy" />
</CreateItem>
<Copy SourceFiles="#(YourFilesToCopy)"
DestinationFiles="#(YourFilesToCopy->'$(WPPAllFilesInSingleFolder)\%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)')" />
Then
4. Your projectName.wpp.targets don't have to have FilesForPackagingFromProject, so it will look like:
<!-- targets -->
<PropertyGroup>
<DeployAsIisApp>false</DeployAsIisApp>
<IncludeSetAclProviderOnDestination>false</IncludeSetAclProviderOnDestination>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<!-- intentionally left blank -->
</ItemGroup>
</Project>
That's it. Worked for me(tm), tested. Let me be honest, I don't like this approach, but that was the only way I made it working in the needed way. It's up to you whether you'll use it in your project or not.
My opinion is not to use msdeploy here - it was not for you task.
Better to write msbuild-scripts from scratch or accept the 'bin' folder, and fight against the framework again once next customization is required.
There is Copy to Output Directory property for files in C# projects. But in VC++ projects it is absent. I know, that I can use Build events in VC++ and write there something like
xcopy /y /d %(FullPath) $(OutDir)
Is there a way to avoid the use of CMD (and other scripting methods)? Can msbuild do something to help in this case?
Can MSBuild do something to help in this case?
Using MSVC 2012, this worked for me:
Assumed you have a file "Data/ThisIsData.txt" in your c++ Project.
Unload the project (right click --> Unload Project).
Edit project XML (right click --> Edit .vcxproj)
Now you see the projects MSBuild file as XML in your editor.
Find "ThisIsData.txt". It should look something like:
<ItemGroup>
<None Include="Data\ThisIsData.txt" />
...
</ItemGroup>
Now add an other item group like this:
<ItemGroup>
<Content Include="Data\ThisIsData.txt">
<CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
</Content>
...
</ItemGroup>
Reload the project and build.
Your file "ThisIsData.txt" should get copied to $(OutDir)\Data\ThisIsData.txt.
Why duplicating the ItemGroup?
Well if you simply change the None include to a content include, the IDE does not seem to like it any more, and will not display it. So to keep a quick edit option for my data files, I decided to keep the duplicated entries.
In VS 2015 it is possible to give C projects the functionality that is in C#.
(Idea from building off of jochen's answer.)
Instead of adding another ItemGroup, modify the given itemgroup adding a CopyTo element. I.E, using his example, simply enhance the original entry to:
<ItemGroup>
<None Include="Data\ThisIsData.txt" />
<DeploymentContent>true</DeploymentContent>
<CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
...
</ItemGroup>
No other ItemGroup required. By adding the CopyTo element, you add an "Included In Project" property.
In Visual Studio 2017 you can do this in the IDE. I am not sure about earlier versions.
Simply add the file as an included project file so it shows in the Solution Explorer. Then right click on the file and select the Properties menu.
Change the Content to "Yes" and change the Item Type to "Copy file"
If you look at the changes it made to the project file you can see it added this:
<ItemGroup>
<CopyFileToFolders Include="Filename.txt">
<DeploymentContent>true</DeploymentContent>
<FileType>Document</FileType>
</CopyFileToFolders>
</ItemGroup>
It depends on what version of Visual Studio you are using. Format of VC++ project file in Visual Studio 2008 is not MSBuild and so using xcopy in PostBuildStep is a good choice.
VC++ project in Visual Studio 2010 has MSBuild format. Thus, there is functionality of MSBuild Copy task.
Below is a sample:
<Copy
SourceFiles="%(FullPath)"
DestinationFolder="$(OutDir)"
/>
If the destination directory does not exist, it is created automatically
An MSDN Copy task reference is here
Following henri-socha's answer about VS2015 (and probably VS2013 and VS2012, or anything using MSBuild style projects), the ItemGroup item type is important.
Specifically <Text> items do not seem to be copied, whereas <Content> items do.
So, for a project directory Data containing a text file ThisIsData.txt, this will create a subdirectory Data under the $(OutDir) directory and copy the file ThisIsData.txt from the project into it if it's newer:
<ItemGroup>
<Content Include="Data\ThisIsData.txt">
<CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
</Content>
</ItemGroup>
This won't, although it is what the Visual Studio IDE will insert if you add the text file to your project, and set the Content property to True.
<ItemGroup>
<Text Include="Data\ThisIsData.txt">
<DeploymentContent>true</DeploymentContent>
</Text>
</ItemGroup>
So in other words you need to add the file via the IDE to make it realise the file is included in the project (which adds <Text> tag ItemGroup), and then open the project in a text editor and add the <Content> tag ItemGroup to get it to do what you want.
I'm not sure what the <DeploymentContent> tag actually does. It may be a remnant since the only MSDN reference I could find considers it archived: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa712517.aspx
In visual studio 2019 after setting the file as "Include in project" you can edit the properties an select as Item Type "Copy file" (as shown in https://i.stack.imgur.com/vac2b.png)
This avoids the manual vcxproj file edition.
You can specify copying in the project file as Jeff G answered in another question:
In the *.vcxproj file, change:
<Text Include="Filename.txt" />
to:
<Content Include="Filename.txt">
<CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
</Content>
Then in the *.vcxproj.filters file, change:
<Text Include="Filename.txt">
<Filter>Resource Files</Filter>
</Text>
to:
<Content Include="Filename.txt">
<Filter>Resource Files</Filter>
</Content>
where the <Text ...> tag is for specified text files (it'll be <Image ...> for image files etc.)
If it's a COM dll, you can add it to the root of your project, mark it as 'Content' and set copy to output directory to 'Always'. I had to do this for signature capture COM assembly.
There are plenty of guides out there which help you mimic VS2008's "Custom Build Step" in VS2010 with MSBuild. However, I'd like my build to be smarter and make use of MSBuild. I've written a little MSBuild task which invokes the ANTLR parser generator. That build task works flawlessly when I run it in a simple test MSBuild file. However, when I try to add my task to a C++ project, I run into problems. Essentially I've added this to the top of my project file (Right after the <project> element):
<UsingTask TaskName="ANTLR.MSBuild.AntlrGrammar"
AssemblyName = "ANTLR.MSBuild, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=d50cc80512acc876" />
<Target Name="BeforeBuild"
Inputs="ConfigurationParser.g"
Outputs="ConfigurationParserParser.h;ConfigurationParserParser.cpp;ConfigurationParserLexer.h;ConfigurationParserLexer.cpp">
<AntlrGrammar
AntlrLocation="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)Antlr.jar"
Grammar="ConfigurationParser.g"
RenameToCpp="true" />
</Target>
However, my target is not being called before build.
How can I add my task to a C++ build?
Before reading this answer, you'll probably want to see:
General .vcxproj File Reference
The New Way of doing Build Extensibility in .NET 4
The old way of extending MSBuild, and the one mentioned by the reference book I have, essentially is based on overriding default-empty targets supplied by Microsoft. The new way, as specified in the second link above, is to define your own arbitrary target, and use the "BeforeTargets" and "AfterTargets" properties to force your target to run before or after your intended target.
In my specific case, I needed the ANTLR Grammars task to run before the CLCompile target, which actually builds the C++ files, because the ANTLR Grammars task builds .cpp files. Therefore, the XML looks like this:
<Project ...
<!-- Other things put in by VS2010 ... this is the bottom of the file -->
<UsingTask TaskName="ANTLR.MSBuild.AntlrGrammar"
AssemblyName = "ANTLR.MSBuild, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=d50cc80512acc876" />
<Target Name="AntlrGrammars"
Inputs="Configuration.g"
Outputs="ConfigurationParser.h;ConfigurationParser.cpp;ConfigurationLexer.h;ConfigurationLexer.cpp"
BeforeTargets="ClCompile">
<AntlrGrammar
AntlrLocation="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)\Antlr.jar"
Grammar="Configuration.g"
RenameToCpp="true" />
</Target>
<ImportGroup Label="ExtensionTargets">
</ImportGroup>
<Import Project="$(VCTargetsPath)\Microsoft.Cpp.targets" />
</Project>
As for why this is superior to a PreBuildEvent and/or PostBuildEvent; this is smart enough to not rebuild the .cpps when the grammar itself is not updated. You'll get something like:
1>AntlrGrammars:
1>Skipping target "AntlrGrammars" because all output files are up-to-date with respect to the input files.
1>ClCompile:
1> All outputs are up-to-date.
1> All outputs are up-to-date.
This also silences Visual Studio's incessant complaining every time you run the program that it needs to rebuild things, like it does with plain pre- and post- build steps.
Hope this helps someone -- took me frickin forever to figure out.