Think this will be rather simple but somehow I could not find a reference saying about this.
In the MSVC Include directories, there is an Additional Include Directories setting. The setting reads like this
..\Project1; %(AdditionalIncludeDirectories)
Understand the first part is the path for the program to search for additional program header includes. What about " %(AdditionalIncludeDirectories) " ? what does it mean?
It does not seem to be a macro which I understand is headed by "$" eg $MACRO
Thanks
Answer
In the documentation for Working with Project Properties there is a section on "item macros":
Item macros
Has the syntax %(name). For a file, an item macro applies only to that file—for example, you can use %(AdditionalIncludeDirectories) to specify include directories that apply only to a particular file. This kind of item macro corresponds to an ItemGroup metadata in MSBuild. When it's used in the context of a project configuration, an item macro applies to all files of a certain type. For example, the C/C++ Preprocessor Definitions configuration property can take a %(PreprocessorDefinitions) item macro that applies to all .cpp files in the project. This kind of item macro corresponds to an ItemDefinitionGroup metadata in MSBuild. For more information, see Item Definitions.
Discussion
I had exactly the same problem in a project I am taking over from a former developer : his Additional Include Directories are C:\Users\t-tshmit\Downloads\DirectXTK;$(ProjectDir);$(IntermediateOutputPath);%(AdditionalIncludeDirectories)
And oddly the %(AdditionalIncludeDirectories) element is not included in the edit box
Looking around the web I could not find much on this, but it is clearly a pattern in use, for example the screenshot used in http://www.steptools.com/support/stdev_docs/help/settings_vc10.html may contain the %(AdditionalIncludeDirectories) element.
The documentation for both the Additional Include Directories compiler options and the AdditionalIncludeDirectories VCCL Compiler Tool property contain no mention of this %(NAME) pattern.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/build/reference/common-macros-for-build-commands-and-properties?view=vs-2019
They are called "item metadata macros."
The build system for C++ was significantly changed between Visual
Studio 2008 and Visual Studio 2010. Many macros used in earlier
project types have been changed to new ones. These macros are no
longer used or have been replaced by one or more equivalent properties
or item metadata macro (%(name)) values. Macros that are marked
"migrated" can be updated by the project migration tool. If the
project that contains the macro is migrated from Visual Studio 2008 or
earlier to Visual Studio 2010, Visual Studio converts the macro to the
equivalent current macro. Later versions of Visual Studio can't
convert projects from Visual Studio 2008 and earlier to the new
project type. You must convert these projects in two steps; first
convert them to Visual Studio 2010, and then convert the result to
your newer version of Visual Studio. For more information, see
Overview of potential upgrade issues.
Related
InstallShield must be the crappiest "industry standard" application in existence, for reasons too numerous to enumerate here. However, one of those deficiencies is something I'd like to be able to fix, and with my first foray into writing an extension for Visual Studio (currently using 2015 version).
InstallShield has created a .isproj type, to allow integration with Visual Studio. This allows a developer to create an installer that references the output of a project as the files to include in the installer (rather than having to manually select individual files to include). This works well enough as long as the .isproj is being built in Visual Studio, and in a solution that references the project for which you need the output.
However, I also have an automated build for my installer projects, that we run on a build server using MSBuild. When attempting to build this way, we were getting completely opaque error messages indicating that the project output references above couldn't be resolved.
As with all InstallShield errors, Googling for answers turned up nothing except for multitudes of other people having the same problem. So I decided to dig into the plain text of the .isproj to see what I could find.
As it turns out, the .isproj type is a just a regular MSBuild script, and it even has lines commented out that explain options that can be added to the project; one of those things that can be added is an ItemGroup containing ProjectReference nodes. Manually adding the nodes helped solve the problem. Command-line build now works.
However, I am dissatisfied with a) having to manually type this stuff in, b) having no visual representation of what projects are being referenced, and c) not finding out about a problem until the build fails. So, I would like to be able to extend Visual Studio to help me with this. Here's what I'd like to do:
1) Add a "References" node to the project in Solution Explorer that acts like the References node for any normal .csproj.
2) Restrict the available References to other projects in the the current solution.
3) Visually represent a project with missing references (e.g. by underlining the project name with a colored squiggly, as with errors/warnings), and potentially failing the build if missing (depending on whether I want to treat it as an error or a warning; TBD).
To these ends, I've downloaded MPF for Projects - Visual Studio 2013, which provides an SDK for creating a new project type.
However, before digging too deeply, I need to know if it's even possible to EXTEND an existing project type, as described above, as I obviously don't have InstallShield source code. Also, any links or guidance as to a starting point for doing so would be greatly appreciated.
I have put XML comments in a C++ source file that IntelliSense appears to pick up and use. It creates a project xml file, and IntelliSense works when I edit the original source file (showing me comments when I'm selecting a member function or entering parameters).
But, when I go to the Class Wizard in Visual Studio 2012 Express, the entered descriptions don't appear anywhere (on the methods, for example, down at the bottom of the dialog, where description remains sadly empty). For that matter, IntelliSense only works in the original file(s), so when using a call in a separate file, none of my XML comments get picked up. Why does it only work in the original source file? What have I neglected to do?
I don't think you've neglected to do anything, unfortunately.
The Class Wizard was built long before Visual Studio supported XML doc comments, so it's more likely that no one remembered/cared to go back add support for them to the Class Wizard dialog.
In my experience, although it sounds like you've had slightly better luck, XML doc comments are not particularly well supported when using C++. For example, VS 2012 was the first version to support them in IntelliSense (and even that is incomplete). You get nothing in VS 2010 and earlier versions, despite the fact that they'll happily output a project XML file. That pathetic lack of support, combined with the angle bracket tax, drove me to switch to Doxygen when writing C++ code.
Is it possible to specify include paths individually for each soucre *.cpp file?
Eclipse uses this method for code assistance, see Discovery Options properties
In Visual Studio 2010, all I can see is that one can only define the include paths project-wide.
It would be nice if this individual information could then be used for the IntelliSense compiler to parse only the current active source file.
As far as I know IntelliSense parses all files at once, which I think is not appropriate for verly large projects.
After a lot of editing of my build templates (I recreated them in 2012 to avoid any issues.. but then I suppose I got sloppy and simply copy/pasted whole blocks from the old workflow, and I suppose that must have completely destroyed my versioning) I now have problems with just one build definition based on the build template I edited. (All other ones seem to be working fine.. so I suppose that one got a problem during all the editing. (I was mostly adding and removing Version=11.0.0.0 to the assemblies in the build template))
The exact error is:
Parameter Items to Build: cannot convert value
'Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.Workflow.Activities.BuildSettings' of
type Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.Workflow.Activities.BuildSettings
to type
Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.Workflow.Activities.Buildsettings,
reset to default.
It is displayed when editing the build definition and wanting to select the project/solution and configuration to build. Actually, with this now I cannot save (without error) any more and the value gets deleted again.
(I am using VS 2012 (VS 2010 still installed) against TFS 2012.)
How to fix?
Open up your XAML and look at the xmlns's on the Activity root node:
Here's a snipped version of mine:
<Activity mc:Ignorable="sads sap sap2010" <!--Removed-->
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/netfx/2009/xaml/activities"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:mt="clr-namespace:Microsoft.TeamFoundation;assembly=Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Common"
xmlns:mtbc="clr-namespace:Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.Client;assembly=Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.Client"
xmlns:mtbw="clr-namespace:Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.Workflow;assembly=Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.Workflow"
xmlns:mtbwa="clr-namespace:Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.Workflow.Activities;assembly=Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.Workflow"
xmlns:mtbwt="clr-namespace:Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.Workflow.Tracking;assembly=Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.Workflow"
xmlns:mttbb="clr-namespace:Microsoft.TeamFoundation.TestImpact.BuildIntegration.BuildActivities;assembly=Microsoft.TeamFoundation.TestImpact.BuildIntegration"
xmlns:mtvc="clr-namespace:Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl.Client;assembly=Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl.Client"
xmlns:mtvc1="clr-namespace:Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl.Common;assembly=Microsoft.TeamFoundation.VersionControl.Common"
Look for Version Specific references (usually "10.0" or "11.0") and remove them so they look like the ones I have above.
Also, check you project references and ensure that they are not Version Specific.
Here is HOW to change the assemblies in your TFS Template:
In Source Control Explorer, browse to the BuildprocessTemplates and
open (double-click or choose "View" from the Right Click menu) the
template that your build is based on (the one giving you the above
error)
You should see a visual diagram of the workflow. At the bottom are
three tabs: Variables, Arguments, and Imports. Click on Arguments.
Select the BuildSettings Argument
Find the Properties box. The properties for an arguement are:
ArgumentType, Direction,IsRequired, Name, and Value.
Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.Workflow.Activities.BuildSettings
should be the selected Type but the problem is (typical) you can't
tell which version of this assembly is selected. Click the drop
down.
At the bottom of the list choose "Browse for Types..."
NOW you can see all of the available assemblies and their versions. Choose the one you want, most likely upgrade to the latest. Be sure to go through all of the various arguements and make sure their types are all are set to the same version to ensure compatibility.
You may encounter issues now saving the file. All may appear to be ok. TFS indicates it knows the file has changed, checkin seems to go smoothly, but when the file is opened the assemblies still reflect v 10. If you open the same file from the file system you may find that the assemblies in the file really are v 11. What give? No idea. Some sort of glitch in VS.
But here is a work around:
Uninstall VS 2010 Team Foundation Server Power Tools from your
development machine
Open VS 2012 and make sure the template has no pending changes (undo) and get latest version
CHECK OUT FOR EDIT (important) but do not make any changes in VS (it
won't open anyway since the 10 assemblies were uninstalled in a
previous step)
Close VS 2012 (important because if it is open it will appear that your change didn't take)
Open the template from the file system (I used notepad to eliminate any interference from VS) and perform a find/replace on "Version=10.0.0.0" with "Version=11.0.0.0" and save the file
open VS 2012 and now you should be able to see the workflow designer
Of course, check in the file
I'm a long time Eclipse user trying to learn to Visual Studio. I know that Eclipse had Code Templates that would allow you to build classes with certain comments and formatting already added for a class.
For example:
Auto placing the copyright for the code at the top of the file
Who created the file
Predefined Comments,
etc...
Does Visual Studio 2005 have any functionality like this?
It depends. Visual Studio has a built-in code snippets manager that lets you do things like this to at least a degree (i.e., if you insert a code snippet, it'll be formatted as the snippet specifies, but if you write the same code manually, it won't). Also note that there are limitations on the languages with which you can use code snippets.
Outside of that, most of the major add-ins for VS (e.g., Visual Assist-X) provide their own ability to store and insert bits of code, formatted as you specify. Most of these provide at least some features missing from the built-in snippets manager such as working with other languages or being easier to access (along with quite a few other things -- IMO, VS borders on completely unusable without VA-X).
I would recommend looking at item and project templates in Visual Studio, which sound like what you're looking for. But, in your particular case (C++ development), it doesn't look like this is available to you.
The following MSDN article refers to VS templates, and mentions that for Visual C++ projects, that the template architecture isn't supported. Instead, there's information on creating custom wizards for your project and classes, which may give you the flexibility that you need. Sounds like it'll do what you want it to do, but it's much more work than it would be if you could use an item template for including basic comment structure for a default class file.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/6db0hwky%28VS.80%29.aspx