How to include header AND source files folder in Visual Studio - c

I am using Visual Studio (2017) and I need the following.
I have a folder where a code generator puts the .h and .c files obtained from a formal model. This folder is not controlled by me, e.g. I cannot write in it, but it is updated by another team member.
By using the /I compiler options (or Additional include directories in the project properties) I managed to import all the generated header files in my VS project. What I am supposed to do is to integrate this generated code into a specific platform, this means that I have to compile both the generated code and the integration code on the target platform. The problem is, the compiler is not able to resolve the generated function definitions of the generated code as it only sees the .h files. What I got is a linking error (external symbol not resolved)
To solve the problem, I added the existing .c files manually, one by one. The obvious problems that comes with this solution are
manual boring work
when new files are generated, I need to manually import the new files
Question is: is there an option that can be set in order to specify the path of the source files without passing them one by one?
note: just copying and pasting the generated code in the VS project folder is not an acceptable solution.
Thanks

If you look at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/ide/working-with-project-properties?view=vs-2017 then you see there is a Source Directories property that has $(VC_SourcePath) as a default but (I think) to which you can add additional paths. The documentation is unclear whether that means all source files in such a path will be included for compilation.
At the bottom of the documentation it explains how to override certain project properties by providing an external properties file. It seems you can override the targets/sources using such a file. You can generate the file using a small tool that reads the filenames in those directories and adds them to the file.
You could also analyze the .vcproj file and build a small tool that wil re-write the part with your generated source directories, reading the filenames in those directories and adding them to the section in the .vcproj file.

Related

How to cut (azure_iot_sdk_c) to facilitate porting to embedded Linux platform

I have successfully compiled (azure_iot_sdk_c) on Linux and successfully run this demo (iothub_ll_c2d_sample). Now, I want to extract the source code related to this demo to facilitate the migration to the embedded Linux platform. What should I do? The source code provided by Microsoft contains a lot of code unrelated to the Linux platform in order to be compatible with more platforms.
I tried to take out the source code in the sdk, delete the code of other platforms, and judge whether the platform is related by the file name, but it could not be compiled. I want to know what files are required for this demo (iothub_ll_c2d_sample) to run normally. I want to take them out and compile them separately, so that they can be ported to the embedded Linux platform.
You can extract the code sample file and compile it independently by importing the required header files for the code in iothub_ll_c2d_sample.c
Even though the code lists only six external reference files, some of the header files have internal dependencies. By back tracing, I found eighteen header files that are referenced by them. You would have to provide a local reference to all these files to make the code compile successfully. Please find the below image referring all the header files the program needs to compile.
You can get the header files from the below URLs
https://github.com/Azure/azure-c-shared-utility/blob/master/inc/azure_c_shared_utility/map.h
https://github.com/Azure/azure-iot-arduino-utility/blob/master/src/azure_c_shared_utility/azure_macro_utils/macro_utils.h
https://github.com/Azure/azure-iot-sdk-c/blob/main/iothub_client/inc/iothub_device_client_ll.h
https://github.com/Azure/azure-iot-arduino-utility/blob/master/src/azure_c_shared_utility/azure_macro_utils/macro_utils_generated.h
https://github.com/Azure/azure-iot-sdk-c/blob/main/iothub_client/inc/iothub.h
https://github.com/Azure/azure-iot-sdk-c/blob/main/iothub_client/inc/iothub_transport_ll.h
https://github.com/Azure/azure-iot-sdk-c/blob/main/iothub_client/inc/iothub_client_core_ll.h
https://github.com/Azure/azure-iot-sdk-c/blob/main/iothub_client/inc/iothub_client_core_common.h
https://github.com/Azure/azure-iot-sdk-c/blob/main/iothub_client/inc/iothub_message.h
https://github.com/Azure/azure-c-shared-utility/blob/master/inc/azure_c_shared_utility/strings.h
https://github.com/Azure/azure-c-shared-utility/blob/master/inc/azure_c_shared_utility/const_defines.h
https://github.com/Azure/azure-c-shared-utility/blob/master/inc/azure_c_shared_utility/strings_types.h
https://github.com/Azure/azure-iot-sdk-c/blob/main/iothub_client/inc/iothubtransportmqtt.h
https://github.com/Azure/azure-c-shared-utility/blob/master/inc/azure_c_shared_utility/shared_util_options.h
https://github.com/Azure/azure-c-shared-utility/blob/master/inc/azure_c_shared_utility/crt_abstractions.h
https://github.com/Azure/azure-c-shared-utility/blob/master/inc/azure_c_shared_utility/threadapi.h
https://github.com/Azure/umock-c/blob/master/inc/umock_c/umock_c_prod.h
https://github.com/Azure/azure-iot-sdk-c/blob/main/iothub_client/inc/iothub_client_options.h
Note that since I have the files under the same directory, I will no longer need to provide a relative path while referencing the header files in the program. I can directly access them as below
The same goes with the header files. I can directly refer the dependent header files without providing any relative path. Please find the below image of the iothub.h header file which refernces umock_c_prod.h file and notice there is no relative path.
If you decide to place the header files under a different directory, make sure to provide a relative path for the code to compile.

MSBuild conditional to dynamically add resource files

I've been attempting to modify my project's .csproj file, that will include one of two different resource(resx) files that will depend on what the build configuration is at the current time.
I've tried to use conditionals to differentiate the inclusion, something like:
Then proceeded to add the files that were located in different directories. However, when building I've either gotten errors or the build just ignored the conditionals and added the default resx files.
I was hoping someone might know how to conditionally add resx files depending on the current build configuration?
Thank you!

Questions about Visual Studio project files

What is the minimal set of files after creating a project in Visual Studio (2010) that You have to send to somebody who uses a different compiler ? (for example the Debug folder isn't necessary, but what about .vcxproj.user file or other ?)
What are .obj files?
What kind of information is displayed in "watch" and "call stack" windows during debugging ?
The only files you absolutely need to send someone are the source files and the project file. The source files will usually be *.c or *.h files, but could include others, like resources.
As far as the other files go, each of them does something slightly different. The full list, as of VS2013, is found here. Most of them are generated by compiling and linking, or by opening the project in the IDE. A quick way to tell them apart is to do a Clean Solution, which should delete and intermediate files.
The obj files are intermediate files use during linking, and don't need to be packaged. In fact, nothing in the build or output folders needs to be included, as they'll all get rebuilt. The information that's used at debugging is mostly pulled from the obj and pdb files, which are both created each time you build.

Usual place for custom library

I'm writing simple C program using Eclipse. I have several system includes. But now I have downloaded source code of library that contains one *.c and one *.h file. What is good manier to place these files? Should I place them to workspace, or create directory Include near src or place in /usr/local/include?
I you want to make the headers available to other users on the machine /usr/local/include would be the place to put them. Otherwise keep them somehwere in your $HOME.
Another alternative would be to put the sources to /usr/local/lib/<tool>/src/include and link /usr/local/lib/<tools>/src/include to /usr/local/include/<tool>. With <tool> being the name of the tool.

Can source server (Debugging Tools for Windows) be used with static library projects?

I can't find a way to use the source server tools from the Debugging Tools for Windows on a static library project,
which is built separately from the solutions actually using that library:
The output of "ssindex.cmd" always displays "zero source files found" for the PDB file generated for the library
(using compiler options /ZI and /Fd).
Running "srctool.exe -r" on this PDB displays nothing, which probably means that the PDB file does not contain any source file information.
Running the same command on the PDB file of a test application which is also build as part of the the same solution
yields a list of all expected source files.
Is there a way to use source indexing for a static library project when it should be built seperately from the solutions using it?
Thanks for any suggestions!
You can use the "/Save" and "/Load" options to store and load source information for a static library, respectively. Using these options allows you to store information for your library and then later import it when indexing a project that links against your library.
When indexing your library solution, you specify the "/Save" flag with a directory in which to store index information about the library's source files. For example (assuming you are using Subversion for source control),
ssindex.cmd /System=SVN /Save=c:\source\libproj\srcinfo /Source=c:\source\libproj /Symbols=c:\source\libproj\Release\*.pdb
When later indexing your project that includes your library, you specify the "/Load" flag with the directory containing the library's source file information. For example,
ssindex.cmd /System=SVN /Load=c:\source\libproj\srcinfo /Source=c:\source\binproj /Symbols=c:\source\binproj\Release\*.pdb
There are two potential issues that may affect your ability to use this technique. First, it appears that some source control providers may not support saving and loading source control information. I know that the Subversion provider does and it looks like the SourceSafe provider does, but I haven't checked any others.
Second, this technique appears to only work for one external static library out-of-the-box. There does not seem to be a way to load information from multiple directories and the scripts currently overwrite the contents of the directory each time you use the "/Save" option. You could probably edit the source control provider module to append to the files in the save directory rather than overwrite them, but I have not tried it.
Also, note as you mentioned above that you only need to do this if your library is being built as part of a separate solution. If the static library is part of the solution you are indexing, its source files will be included if they are in the path specified by the "/Source" option.
It probably means you haven't inputed the correct directories when running "ssindex" so for ssindex you need to have: /source=C:/SourceCode/ /symbols=C:/SourceCode/bin/Debug I'm not sure if the "source" has an upper case S or not but that should be it!
when run svnindex.cmd, it always tell you "zero source files found"
after a painful diggin into svn.pm (the perl module to deal with svn), i found that:
first, svn.pm invokes "svn info -R $SourceRoot" to get all version info of files in $SourceRoot (passed by /source option),
then svn.pm stores all files in a dictionary which using the local file path as key
svnindex.cmd call srctool -r to get all source files info in *.pdb, and use the source file name as a key to query info saved in step2
the problem is:
svn.pm uses relative path, but *.pdb uses absolute path, so you will never find a svn log info for any file, then "zero source files found"
fixup:
change svn.pm line 162:
$LocalFile = lc $1;
to   
$LocalFile = $SourceRoot . "\" . lc $1; #make path absolute

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