Cannot build with cmake, qtcreator and MSVC 2019

Kiruahxh · wrote on 25 Oct 2020, 20:57

Hello,

I just wanted to try the new QtCreator cmake support; I have Visual Studio 2019 installed with its C++ compiler.
I am testing with the latest tools (Windows 10, Qt 5.15.1, VS 2019 16.7.6, Qt creator 4.13.2).
However, I am not able to build a freshly created "Qt widgets application" project.

CMake is well detected (initially QtCreator wanted to use by default an old version of CMake installed on my system and crashed: but why ??).
My Qt kit seems to be okay, but I don't manage to find a working CMake generator.
I chose Visual Studio 16 2019 and build the project, I have the following error message :
MSBUILD : error MSB1009: Le fichier projet n'existe pas. (the project file doesn't exists)
Commutateur : all.vcxproj

If I just execute CMake, a build directory is created with "ALL_BUILD.vcxproj" and "untitled5.vcxproj" files, but no "all.vcxproj" file...

I don't know which generator should work on my system (none work for now), and why the "visual studio 2019" generator doesn't work...
Please help!

JohanSolo · wrote on 26 Oct 2020, 16:03

You should show us your CMakeLists.txt file... is there a top-level project defined?

Kiruahxh · wrote on 28 Oct 2020, 20:20

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.5)

project(test_c_make LANGUAGES CXX)

set(CMAKE_INCLUDE_CURRENT_DIR ON)

set(CMAKE_AUTOUIC ON)
set(CMAKE_AUTOMOC ON)
set(CMAKE_AUTORCC ON)

set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 11)
set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)

# QtCreator supports the following variables for Android, which are identical to qmake Android variables.
# Check http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/deployment-android.html for more information.
# They need to be set before the find_package(Qt5 ...) call.

#if(ANDROID)
#    set(ANDROID_PACKAGE_SOURCE_DIR "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/android")
#    if (ANDROID_ABI STREQUAL "armeabi-v7a")
#        set(ANDROID_EXTRA_LIBS
#            ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/path/to/libcrypto.so
#            ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/path/to/libssl.so)
#    endif()
#endif()

find_package(QT NAMES Qt6 Qt5 COMPONENTS Widgets REQUIRED)
find_package(Qt${QT_VERSION_MAJOR} COMPONENTS Widgets REQUIRED)

if(ANDROID)
  add_library(test_c_make SHARED
    main.cpp
    mainwindow.cpp
    mainwindow.h
    mainwindow.ui
  )
else()
  add_executable(test_c_make
    main.cpp
    mainwindow.cpp
    mainwindow.h
    mainwindow.ui
  )
endif()

target_link_libraries(test_c_make PRIVATE Qt${QT_VERSION_MAJOR}::Widgets)

SGaist · wrote on 28 Oct 2020, 20:23

Hi,

How old were these versions of CMake ?
Do they appear in your PATH ?

Kiruahxh · wrote on 28 Oct 2020, 20:26

I still have another CMake installation in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\Common7\IDE\CommonExtensions\Microsoft\CMake\CMake\bin
It is 32 bits version 3.17 (very close to the 34bits, 3.18 version shipped with QtCreator).
In fact I don't have this entry in the PATH environment variable window of Windows. But I have it in QtCreator in the project view...
This CMake installation is not even listed in tools > options > kits > CMake.

Kiruahxh · 11 Jan 2020, 08:53

The microsoft CMake doesn't seem to be called.
If I run CMake manually from the Qt console, I have the same error:

"C:\Qt\Tools\CMake_64\bin\cmake.exe" --build . --target all
MSBUILD : error MSB1009: Project file does not exist
Commutateur : all.vcxproj

However, if I change the target it succeeds:

"C:\Qt\Tools\CMake_64\bin\cmake.exe" --build . --target ALL_BUILD

So, if I go to project tab > build > ALL_BUILD, it compiles fine.
I also managed to make Ninja build work. Fine!

I don't know CMake enough: is ALL_BUILD a standard target ?
I am using a QtCreator generated CMakeLists.txt.

JohanSolo · wrote on 29 Oct 2020, 08:14

IIRC ALL_BUILD is a standard target when you create a solution from cmake. Now, did you produced NMake makefiles ? Because I don't see any Release/Debug switch (default is Debug IIRC).
Since the --target comes after the . in the call, it is directly forwarded to the actual build engine, and therefore must be a target, hence the search for all.vcxproj. From the command-line, if you want to build everything, just call cmake --build ., the default behaviour is to build everything.

Kiruahxh · wrote on 29 Oct 2020, 14:44

With "Visual Studio 16 2019" generator, QtCreator tries to use the all target by default (which doesn't exists) instead of ALL_BUILD.
With "Ninja" generator, QtCreator uses the all target by default which is OK.
When in debug mode, QtCreator doesn't use a Release/Debug switch (but doesn't need to...).

In my opinion, QtCreator shouldn't propose the all target with "Visual Studio 16 2019" generator, since it doesn't exists

Kiruahxh · wrote on 29 Oct 2020, 23:47

I installed other Visual C++ extensions from Visual Studio installer (MFC & memory sanitizer), and I cannot build with CMake again.


Running C:\Qt\Tools\CMake_64\bin\cmake.exe -S C:/dev/untitled3 -B C:/Users/Nicolas/AppData/Local/Temp/QtCreator-VjKhJz/qtc-cmake-hherMDxz in C:\Users\Nicolas\AppData\Local\Temp\QtCreator-VjKhJz\qtc-cmake-hherMDxz.
-- Selecting Windows SDK version 10.0.17763.0 to target Windows 10.0.18363.
CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:3 (project):
  Failed to run MSBuild command:

    C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio/2019/Community/MSBuild/Current/Bin/MSBuild.exe

  to get the value of VCTargetsPath:

    Microsoft (R) Build Engine version 16.7.0+b89cb5fde pour .NET Framework
    Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. Tous droits rÃ©servÃ©s.
    
    La gÃ©nÃ©ration a dÃ©marrÃ© 30/10/2020 00:41:15.
    Projet "C:\Users\Nicolas\AppData\Local\Temp\QtCreator-VjKhJz\qtc-cmake-hherMDxz\CMakeFiles\3.18.3\VCTargetsPath.vcxproj" sur le noud 1 (cibles par dÃ©faut).
    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\MSBuild\Current\Bin\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(3293,5): error MSB4184: impossible d'Ã©valuer l'expression "[System.IO.Path]::Combine(obj\<unsupported>\Debug\, .NETFramework,Version=v4.0.AssemblyAttributes.cpp)". CaractÃ¨res non conformes dans le chemin d'accÃ¨s. [C:\Users\Nicolas\AppData\Local\Temp\QtCreator-VjKhJz\qtc-cmake-hherMDxz\CMakeFiles\3.18.3\VCTargetsPath.vcxproj]
    GÃ©nÃ©ration du projet "C:\Users\Nicolas\AppData\Local\Temp\QtCreator-VjKhJz\qtc-cmake-hherMDxz\CMakeFiles\3.18.3\VCTargetsPath.vcxproj" terminÃ©e (cibles par dÃ©faut) -- Ã‰CHEC.
    
    Ã‰CHEC de la build.
    
    "C:\Users\Nicolas\AppData\Local\Temp\QtCreator-VjKhJz\qtc-cmake-hherMDxz\CMakeFiles\3.18.3\VCTargetsPath.vcxproj" (cible par dÃ©faut) (1) ->
      C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\MSBuild\Current\Bin\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(3293,5): error MSB4184: impossible d'Ã©valuer l'expression "[System.IO.Path]::Combine(obj\<unsupported>\Debug\, .NETFramework,Version=v4.0.AssemblyAttributes.cpp)". CaractÃ¨res non conformes dans le chemin d'accÃ¨s. [C:\Users\Nicolas\AppData\Local\Temp\QtCreator-VjKhJz\qtc-cmake-hherMDxz\CMakeFiles\3.18.3\VCTargetsPath.vcxproj]
    
        0 Avertissement(s)
        1 Erreur(s)
    Temps Ã©coulÃ© 00:00:00.08
    
  Exit code: 1

-- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!
See also "C:/Users/Nicolas/AppData/Local/Temp/QtCreator-VjKhJz/qtc-cmake-hherMDxz/CMakeFiles/CMakeOutput.log".
CMake process exited with exit code 1.
Elapsed time: 00:00.

impossible d'Ã©valuer l'expression "[System.IO.Path]::Combine(obj<unsupported>\Debug, .NETFramework,Version=v4.0.AssemblyAttributes.cpp)". CaractÃ¨res non conformes dans le chemin d'accÃ¨s.
= cannot evaluate expression XXX. Invalid caracters in the access path.

It seems that command line encoding errors prevents the build to succeed.
I see no difference wether I check "Force UTF-8 MSVC compiler output".

Kiruahxh · 11 Jan 2020, 08:58

Okay, found it.

The error is with the "<unsupported>" keyword that should not be here.
In tools > options > Kits > Desktop Qt XXX > CMake Generator > Platform & Toolset, the string "<unsupported>" has appeared.
These fields should be cleared.
These fields content has been automatically copied to : project tab > CMake > Initial CMake parameters ; fields -A<unsupported> and -T<unsupported> that should be removed.
Once the fields are cleared, I have to do :

Compile > Clear CMake configuration
Compile > Execute CMake
Build All Projects
If a build error happens (non existing project file or target) : project tab > build steps > build > targets > choose the right target
Build All Projects

Then it works, with encoding errors but it builds normally! (enjoy)

I opened new tickets in the Qt bug tracker :