I want to copy a data file from a directory in my source tree to the directory of the linked app so it's available at runtime, on Windows only. There appear to be two suggested techniques: use a post target dependency to issue a DOS copy command (Including resource files in Qt Creator build directory) or use an install step (Copy a file to the build directory after compiling project with Qt), but I cannot make either work in the way I would like.
The former requires me to use qmake path variables to generate my source and destination paths, but they contain backslash path separators, which the DOS copy command cannot handle.
The install solution forces other users of my project to set up a post build step in Qt Creator before it will work (one per configuration, in fact) and I would like to avoid this, as I want to make my project work with a default Qt Creator installation.
Is there any way to do this apparently simple task that can be wholly defined in the .pro file for the project? For example, is there a way to expand qmake path variables in a platform specific way?
Though these commands run ONLY after the executable is ACTUALLY linked, this solution doesn't require an external batch file. Note: this a Windows-only solution:
From our .pri file:
win32 {
...
# Copy the appropriate dll files into the target destination directory.
QMAKE_TBB_LIBDIR = $$quote($$PWD/MySource/MyLibs/$${PLATFORM_NAME}/vc9)
QMAKE_POST_LINK = copy /y $${replace(QMAKE_TBB_LIBDIR, /, \\)}\\*.dll > $${replace($$quote(DESTDIR), /, \\)}
...
}
This places a command in the Makefile that copies all the .dll files in MyLibs/x64 or MyLibs/Win32 into the destination directory.
However, if the executable did not need to be linked, then the .dlls are NOT copied. The post build batch file would not have this limitation.