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DESCRIPTION

This is a template that I created to simplify the development of cross-platform tools written in Qt/C++. It uses CMake, and forms a nice, solid base on which to get started with a project, so that you don't need to worry about setting up the build system, installers, etc...

Suggestions for improvement are very welcome. The licence for the template itself is ISC. Essentially, do what you like with it. I hope you find it useful.

  • A basic example application is included.

  • Just tweak your project name and version number in the top-level CMakeLists file and you're good to go.

  • A defines.h file is generated, containing your application name and version. You can easily add to this.

  • By default, no need to add each of your source files to a CMakeLists file, even if you organise them into subdirectories. The price you pay for this is needing to invoke cmake whenever you add a new source file. This may become a pain in teams, but it's trivial to change.

  • A Qt resources file is ready and waiting for you to add images or other resources to your project. It's already compiled-in by default.

  • The test directory is set up for you to make it easy for you to start writing unit tests right from the start.

  • An application icon file is added to your project in Windows, and you can easily overwrite the default one.

  • For Windows, supports both WinGW and Visual Studio compilers.

  • For Windows, there is a choice between NSIS and WiX-based installers. Both are automatically configured with your choice of project name from the top-level CMakeLists file. When you have chosen which you will use, it is straight-forward to remove everything relating to the other one: just edit win/CMakeLists.txt.

BUILDING IN LINUX

As with any CMake project, create a build folder, enter the directory, and invoke cmake and make:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make -j <num-jobs>

Where <num-jobs> is the number of jobs to run in parallel (usually the number of cores plus one).

BUILDING IN WINDOWS

Dependencies

The Qt Libraries

http://qt-project.org/downloads

You can use either the MinGW version, or one of the Visual Studio versions.

CMake

http://www.cmake.org/cmake/resources/software.html

NSIS or WiX

http://nsis.sourceforge.net http://wixtoolset.org

Targets

In Windows, there are two additional "targets" defined in CMake configuration:

  • install: This target installs the application and the DLLs it depends on into the dist directory. This is to simplify testing and packaging the application. The list of files to install is in win/CMakeLists.txt.
  • installer: This target compiles the WiX installer, but will only be available if WiX was found in the PATH, or the WIX_PATH CMake variable is defined.

Building

Using QtCreator (Visual Studio or MinGW)

  • Open QtCreator.
  • File -> Open File or Project
  • Open the top-level CMakeLists.txt file in the project folder.
  • Choose a build location.
  • Click "Run CMake".
  • Click "Finish".
  • If you want to enable the WiX installer:
    • On the left bar, click "Projects".
    • Next to "Edit build configuration", click "Add" -> "Clone Selected".
    • Name the configuration "installer".
    • Under "Build Steps", expand Details, and check "install" and "installer".
  • Click the Build button in the bottom-left-hand corner, shaped like a hammer.

Using the command-line

Visual Studio 2010

  • Create a build directory in the source directory.
  • Open a VS 2010 Command Prompt, and change into the build directory.
  • Ensure that the following are on the PATH:
    • CMake's cmake.exe
    • Qt's qmake.exe
    • WiX's candle.exe (if you want the WiX installer)
  • Enter the following commands:
cmake -G "NMake Makefiles" ..
nmake install
  • To build the WiX installer, also run:
nmake installer

MinGW

  • Create a build directory in the source directory.
  • Open a Qt MinGW Command Prompt, and change into the build directory.
  • Ensure that the following are on the PATH:
    • CMake's cmake.exe
    • Qt's qmake.exe
    • WiX's candle.exe (if you want the WiX installer)
  • Enter the following commands:
cmake -G "MinGW Makefiles" ..
mingw32-make install
  • To build the WiX installer, also run:
mingw32-make installer

WiX Installer

The WiX Installer is more advanced, and better integrated into Windows. It is also more complex, and gaining a thorough understanding of how it works requires time and patience. It may be worth your while reading up on WiX and the Windows Installer framework in order to reach a deeper understanding. However, I've done the hard work for you, and unless you have very complex requirements, you should be able to simply modify this script without any ill effects.

Before the installer will compile successfully, you must generate a fresh UUID (e.g. using uuidgen in Linux), and place this in the win/installer.cmake.wxs file in place of the YOUR-GENERATED-UUID-HERE placeholder.

Note that the WiX source file by default expects that your project was built with Visual Studio 2010, and will attempt to package the Visual Studio 2010 runtime DLLs. You'll need to modify it by hand if you use a different version of Visual Studio, or MinGW. This is very straight-forward.

IMPORTANT: The installer.cmake.wxs file is processed by CMake before it is passed to WiX, and the processed file is placed in the build directory. If you wish to make any modifications to the installer, make sure that you edit installer.cmake.wxs in the source directory, and not installer.wxs in the build directory, which will be overwritten!

NSIS Installer

The NSIS installer is quite simple, and it's relatively easy to understand exactly what it's doing. However, you need to take greater care in ensuring that whatever is installed is also correctly uninstalled. Also, MSI installers (such as WiX) are increasingly becoming the norm, especially in corporate environments, because of their thorough integration with Windows.

In the build directory, you will find an installer.nsi file. This is an NSIS script. Right-click, and click "Compile NSIS Script". By default, the script expects that your project was compiled with MinGW, and will attempt to package the MinGW runtime DLLs. It is straight-forward to change this.

IMPORTANT: Never modify the installer.nsi file found in the build directory, because it will be overwritten whenever CMake is run. Always modify the installer.nsi.cmake file in the win directory instead.