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c++pathrelative-path

How to set a relative path/How to use $(SolutionDir)

I'm trying to make a project compile no matter where it is cloned, but I don't know how to write the relative path in relation to the solution location, for now this is how it looks

enter image description here

I tried something with $(SolutionDir) but i don't know how to go one step back from it and into the libraries folder as shown in the current absolute paths. Can someone explain what should i do or show an example ?

Solution

  • To go one step back from a $(SolutionDir) you can write $(SolutionDir)\..\.

    You also can go deeper and create a property sheet for your library, so that if you need to use this library in another project, you would need to include only one .prop-file into your .vcxproj.

    Assuming the library name is cereal and property sheet is located in libraries, the .prop-file would look like this:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <ItemDefinitionGroup>
    <ClCompile>
      <AdditionalIncludeDirectories>$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)\cereal\include;%(AdditionalIncludeDirectories)</AdditionalIncludeDirectories>
    </ClCompile>
    <Link>
      <AdditionalLibraryDirectories>$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)\cereal\$(Platform)\lib;%(AdditionalLibraryDirectories)</AdditionalLibraryDirectories>
      <AdditionalDependencies>cereal.lib;%(AdditionalDependencies)</AdditionalDependencies>
    </Link>
  </ItemDefinitionGroup>
</Project>

    Then to use it in a project, you add this in your .vcxproj (you can also use gui for this):

    <ImportGroup Condition="..." Label="PropertySheets">
  ...
  <Import Project="..\..\..\libraries\cereal.props" />
</ImportGroup>

    You can also greatly ease your life by using some package manager, namely vcpkg because of it integration with Visual Studio.