CMake for OpenFrameworks [Vers. 0.1]

Quick Start Guide

1. Clone into of/addons/ofxCMake
2. In ofxCMake/project/CMakeLists.txt change the path of your OF folder.
3. Copy ofxCMake/project/CMakeLists.txt into your project folder
4. Open with CLion or compile via terminal

Discription

CMake is a meta build system, so it can generate different build systems like Visual Studio Projects, xCode, make etc. It can also create installers like DEB, RPM and MSI.

CMake Intro:

CMake is a universal, plattform independent build system. It tells which source files and libraries of OpenFrameworks, your project and addOns have to be compiled together so you have your application. CMake is supported e.g. by the IDEs: CLion, QTCreator, KDevelop.

Note

This is not an ofxAddOn in the normal way. So do not just copy it into the of/addons/ folder and expect it to work.

Installation

1. Clone the git files in your openframeworks addon folder

    $ cd of/addons
    $ git clone https://github.com/BildPeter/ofxCMake.git

Alternative: Extract in of/addons and rename into ofxCMake 2. In the file ofxCMake/project/CMakeLists.txt change the path of your OF folder.

Usage

Preperation

• Copy the file ofxCMake/project/CMakeLists.txt into the folder of your openframeworks project

• Optional:

  • [If not done before] In this CMakeLists.txt: adjust the path of your OF folder.
  • If you have more source files than the standard main.cpp, ofApp.cpp – be sure to include them in the section "Source Files"
  • Change name of your application APP_NAME

Command Line Compilation

• Create a new directory in your project folder – e.g.: mkdir build

• Go into that folder

• type cmake ..

• Compile: make (optional -j4 to compile with 4 cores)

   $ cd of/apps/myApps/newApp
   $ mkdir build
   $ cd build
   $ cmake ..
   $ make -j4

• Generate IDE files: e.g. for xCode cmake -G Xcode ..

CLion IDE

1. Prepare your project as explained above
2. Choose via CLion in the 'Open File or Project' the CMakeLists.txt

• A promt might ask, if you want to change the 'project root'. Ignore this
• In git, the CLion project files will be saved in a '.idea' folder. If you want, you can ignore that in GIT.

Addons

Internal Addons – Usage

• Uncomment the internal addOn, you want to use in the CMakeLists.txt of your project

External Addons – Creation

• Create an addon-file ofxNAME.cmake from the templates in ofxCMake/addOns
• Copy the file into ofxCMake/addOns/external
• Add the path to the file ofxCMake/modules/addOnsExternal.cmake – like e.g. include( ${OF_CMAKE_ADDONS}/external/ofxNAME.cmake )
• Add the name of your addOn into your projects CMakeLists.txt in the section AddOns

Note: This approach is static and centralised. It is not a perfect solution, but it lets your openFramework file structure untouched, if you want to update OpenFrameworks or remove CMake. Future approach might include a configuration file in each new AddOn

Development Philosophy

• The project file CMakeLists.txt is simplified for readability.
• A modular file approach (each OS has it's own .cmake files), so understanding of the code and version control is easier
• Having all ofxCMake files in one folder (including addOns) has the advantage:
  • Can easily be installed
  • OpenFrameworks can be updated, without having to do changes in the openframeworks and the CMake folders
• Down sides:
  • The addOn files are not placed in the addOns itself (but in of/addons/). It would be better, if each addOn has it's .cmake file already included. But this would mean, that the developer deliver it in their source code.

Compatibility

At the moment (Feb 2017) only Mac OS is fully tested.

The infrastructure for other OS (Linux, Windows) is already set up.

Tested on MacOS 10.12.2 with cMake 3.2.1 and of 0.9.8

Special Thanks

Avilleret