Question

Is it possible to set up a TEMPLATE = subdirs .pro file such that qmake -tp vc will set up project dependencies in the generated Visual Studio Solution?

I have tried using CONFIG += ordered followed by the SUBDIRS += <libdir> entries in the correct order but this seems to have no effect on the “Project Dependencies” setting in the solution properties dialog.

Thanks!

Answer 1

I am answering my own question since no one seems to have found a solution yet. As far as I can tell, there is still no way to set up Visual Studio Project Dependencies using a QT .pro file. We are using an executable that we developed (also using Qt) to do this manually after the project build is complete. The code used to build the executable works for Visual Studio 2010 solutions and appears below. It is fairly simple and updates your solution such that all included projects will depend on all projects input at the command line. ie. vcSlnDependencies filename.sln dependency1 dependency2 dependency3 will set all projects in filename.sln to depend on dependency1, dependency2, and dependency3. Obviously a project is never set to depend on itself. This code should be easily modifiable to allow for more complex dependency structures.

#include <QFile>
#include <QDir>
#include <QFileInfo>
#include <QStringList>
#include <QUuid>
#include <QTextStream>

#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <map>

std::map<QString, QString> dependencyGuids;
std::vector<QString> dependencies;

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    if(argc<3)
    {
        std::cout << "Usage:" << std::endl << std::endl << "vcSlnDependencies filename.sln dependency1 dependency2 dependency3 ..." << std::endl;

        return -1;
    }
    else
    {
        for(int i = 2; i < argc; i++)
        {
            dependencies.push_back(argv[i]);
        }
    }

    QFile file(argv[1]);
    if(!file.open(QIODevice::ReadOnly | QIODevice::Text))
    {
        std::cout << "Could not open sln file: " << argv[1] << "." << std::endl;
        return -1;
    }

    QFileInfo fileInfo(file);

    std::cout << "Processing " << fileInfo.fileName().toStdString() << std::endl;

    QByteArray fileData;
    fileData = file.readAll();
    file.close();

    QFile outFile(argv[1]);
    if(!outFile.open(QIODevice::WriteOnly | QIODevice::Text))
    {
        std::cout << "Could not open sln file: " << argv[1] << "." << std::endl;
        return -1;
    }

    QTextStream reader(fileData);
    QTextStream writer(&outFile);

    //first populate the dependency guids
    while(!reader.atEnd())
    {
        QString currentLine = reader.readLine();

        for(unsigned int i = 0; i < dependencies.size(); i++)
        {
            if(currentLine.contains(dependencies[i]) && currentLine.contains(".vcxproj") && currentLine.contains("Project(\"{"))
            {
                dependencyGuids[dependencies[i]] = currentLine.right(39).left(38);
                std::cout << "Setting dependency GUID for " << dependencies[i].toLatin1().data() << " to " << currentLine.right(39).left(38).toLatin1().data() << "\n";
            }
        }               
    }
    reader.seek(0);

    //now update other projects with those dependencies
    while(!reader.atEnd())
    {
        QString currentLine = reader.readLine();

        writer << currentLine << "\n";

        if(currentLine.contains(".vcxproj") && currentLine.contains("Project(\"{"))
        {
            QString currentGuid = currentLine.mid(9,38);

            std::vector<QString> currentDependencies;

            for(std::map<QString, QString>::const_iterator iter = dependencyGuids.begin(); iter != dependencyGuids.end(); ++iter)
            {
                if(iter->second != currentGuid)
                {
                    currentDependencies.push_back(iter->second);
                }
            }

            if(currentDependencies.size() > 0)
            {
                writer << "\tProjectSection(ProjectDependencies) = postProject\n";

                for(unsigned int i = 0; i < currentDependencies.size(); i++)
                {
                    writer << "\t\t" << currentDependencies[i] << " = " << currentDependencies[i] << "\n";                  
                }

                writer << "\tEndProjectSection\n";
            }
        }       
    }

    writer.flush();
    outFile.close();

    return 0;
}