How to moc in VS 2017

[enekow]

Hi,

I am trying to compile a project in VS2017 which uses the QtCore library. So the project is already created and it has been created using NetBeans, not using the Qt IDE.

This is what I did so far:


Downloaded the last Qt release
Unpacked everything in C:\Qt
In VS properties > VC++ Directories > Include directories - I added C:\Qt\Qt5.9.2\5.9.2\msvc2017_64\include and C:\Qt\Qt5.9.2\5.9.2\msvc2017_64\include\QtCore
In VS properties > VC++ Directories > Library directories - I added C:\Qt\Qt5.9.2\5.9.2\msvc2017_64\lib


As far as I know, I need to "moc" the headers which contains Q_OBJECTs. I read that is possible to automatize this process with Qt VS Tools, but I don't know how.

Anyone? Thank you ;)

[d_stranz]

It is easiest to start a new project explicitly as a Qt project in Visual Studio. The wizards that the Qt VS tool adds in to VS insert compilation rules into the project files (as well as into common, shared rules files) that cause moc and uic to run at build time. For example, here is the vcxproj entry to run uic on my MainWindow.ui file:



<ItemGroup>
<CustomBuild Include="MainWindow.ui">
<AdditionalInputs Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|x64'">$(QTDIR)\bin\uic.exe;%(AdditionalInputs)</AdditionalInputs>
<Message Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|x64'">Uic%27ing %(Identity)...</Message>
<Outputs Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|x64'">.\GeneratedFiles\ui_%(Filename).h;%(Outputs)</Outputs>
<Command Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|x64'">"$(QTDIR)\bin\uic.exe" -o ".\GeneratedFiles\ui_%(Filename).h" "%(FullPath)"</Command>
<AdditionalInputs Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|x64'">$(QTDIR)\bin\uic.exe;%(AdditionalInputs)</AdditionalInputs>
<Message Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|x64'">Uic%27ing %(Identity)...</Message>
<Outputs Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|x64'">.\GeneratedFiles\ui_%(Filename).h;%(Outputs)</Outputs>
<Command Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|x64'">"$(QTDIR)\bin\uic.exe" -o ".\GeneratedFiles\ui_%(Filename).h" "%(FullPath)"</Command>
</CustomBuild>
</ItemGroup>


and the entry which runs moc on the MainWindow.h header file:



<ItemGroup>
<CustomBuild Include="MainWindow.h">
<AdditionalInputs Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|x64'">$(QTDIR)\bin\moc.exe;%(FullPath);$(QTDIR)\bin\moc. exe;%(FullPath)</AdditionalInputs>
<Message Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|x64'">Moc%27ing MainWindow.h...</Message>
<Outputs Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|x64'">.\GeneratedFiles\$(ConfigurationName)\moc_%(Filena me).cpp</Outputs>
<Command Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|x64'">"$(QTDIR)\bin\moc.exe" "%(FullPath)" -o ".\GeneratedFiles\$(ConfigurationName)\moc_%(Filena me).cpp" -DUNICODE -DWIN32 -DWIN64 -DQT_DLL -DQT_CORE_LIB -DQT_GUI_LIB -DQT_SQL_LIB -DQT_OPENGL_LIB -DQT_PRINTSUPPORT_LIB -DQT_SVG_LIB -DQT_WIDGETS_LIB -DQT_XML_LIB "-I.\GeneratedFiles" "-I." "-I$(QTDIR)\include" "-I.\GeneratedFiles\$(ConfigurationName)\." "-I$(QTDIR)\include\QtCore" "-I$(QTDIR)\include\QtGui" "-I$(QTDIR)\include\QtSql" "-I$(QTDIR)\include\QtOpenGL" "-I$(QTDIR)\include\QtPrintSupport" "-I$(QTDIR)\include\QtSvg" "-I$(QTDIR)\include\QtWidgets" "-I$(QTDIR)\include\QtXml"</Command>
<AdditionalInputs Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|x64'">$(QTDIR)\bin\moc.exe;%(FullPath);$(QTDIR)\bin\moc. exe;%(FullPath)</AdditionalInputs>
<Message Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|x64'">Moc%27ing MainWindow.h...</Message>
<Outputs Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|x64'">.\GeneratedFiles\$(ConfigurationName)\moc_%(Filena me).cpp</Outputs>
<Command Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|x64'">"$(QTDIR)\bin\moc.exe" "%(FullPath)" -o ".\GeneratedFiles\$(ConfigurationName)\moc_%(Filena me).cpp" -DUNICODE -DWIN32 -DWIN64 -DQT_DLL -DQT_NO_DEBUG -DNDEBUG -DQT_CORE_LIB -DQT_GUI_LIB -DQT_SQL_LIB -DQT_OPENGL_LIB -DQT_PRINTSUPPORT_LIB -DQT_SVG_LIB -DQT_WIDGETS_LIB -DQT_XML_LIB "-I.\GeneratedFiles" "-I." "-I$(QTDIR)\include" "-I.\GeneratedFiles\$(ConfigurationName)\." "-I$(QTDIR)\include\QtCore" "-I$(QTDIR)\include\QtGui" "-I$(QTDIR)\include\QtSql" "-I$(QTDIR)\include\QtOpenGL" "-I$(QTDIR)\include\QtPrintSupport" "-I$(QTDIR)\include\QtSvg" "-I$(QTDIR)\include\QtWidgets" "-I$(QTDIR)\include\QtXml"</Command>
</CustomBuild>
</ItemGroup>


If you understand how VS vcxproj files work, you can add these entries manually. There are more entries, too: to control compilation of the moc_*.cpp files, to compile the qrc file, and so on.

A good way to see what is needed is to compare a plain MSVC C++ project file with an MSVC Qt C++ application project file. Just create a default project of each type and compare the vcxproj files in a text editor.

I think you will find it is easiest to start over with a new Qt VS project and add your source files back into it.