[QUESTION] using xtd in a pre-written CMake project

[ethindp]

Your question

I'm trying to incorporate xtd into a project via the cpm.cmake package manager. However, this doesn't work because I have to first execute find_package and then when I try to do target_xxx CMake either: (1) claims that target_link_libraries(...) has already been used, or (2) the library tries to generate assembly information, but it does it in a weird way (it does something like ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/{generated_code_here}). Obviously, this doesn't work. What am I doing wrong?

[gammasoft71]

Hi,

First of all, thank you for your interest in xtd.

xtd does not yet have package management, see #221. This may explain your problem.
I don't know cpm.cmake. Maybe adding find_package can be a solution. But I think the best way to do this is to start with a minimal project and for example not to use the xtd.cmake specific commands but the standard cmake commands.

Creates a project too simple like this and try it with cpm.cmake.

• my_app.cpp

#include <xtd/xtd>

auto main()->int {
  xtd::forms::application::run(xtd::forms::form::create("My app"));
}

• CMakeLists.txt :

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.20)

project(my_app)
find_package(xtd REQUIRED)
add_executable(${PROJECT_NAME} WIN32 MACOSX_BUNDLE my_app.cpp)
target_link_libraries(${PROJECT_NAME} xtd)

After that, if it works, add specific commands to xtd.cmake like add_sources, add_resources, target_type...
and see what happens.

I hope this helps.

[ethindp]

@gammasoft71 cpm.cmake is pretty neat. I'll give your suggestion a try though - thanks!

[ethindp]

@gammasoft71 Update: I tried it and it didn't work. It still complained about CMake trying to override my project (saying that, e.g., target_xxx_xxx() (like target_link_libraries) was already called on my CMake project). Essentially what I'm trying to do is download and build xtd alongside my project instead of forcing people to install it separately.

[gammasoft71]

Sorry this is not working. I don't have enough information to help you.
I think the problem may be that xtd doesn't have package management #221 yet.

Apart from that, I really don't see how xtd's cmake management could be blocking.
The cmake commands added by xtd only set variables to prepare the work of the target_type command.
And it's only when target_type is called that it has specific processing for xtd (such as managing resources, languages and settings).
And if you use standard cmake commands, xtd does nothing...

Stupid question: have you ever tried the same operation with a library as complex as xtd, such as fltk, wxwidgets, or other ?