QtCreator + Conan + CMake

Matte86

Hey guys,

What is the envisioned workflow for working with QtCreator and Qt consumed via conan? I cannot find information online.

I am able to build and execute via command line an application using Qt 6.3.1.
Initially, I stumbled upon this same issue but followed the suggestions there to get everything working.

I don't understand, however, what is the envisioned workflow to integrate all of this into QtCreator. I managed to import my test project from the existing build folder created via the command line. All the configurations seems to be properly imported, and the auto-detected kit also works. I am not able however to run the conan install step within the IDE (I get the error "Conan install: invalid command"). Also, I don't understand how could I enable the virtual env (source activate.sh) within QtCreator.

Does someone have experience on this? Thanks a lot in advance!

cristian-adam

Have a look at Qt Creator: CMake package-manager auto-setup.

Qt Creator will inject a piece of CMake code that will use cmake-conan to run the conan install step before configuring the CMake project.

Matte86

Thanks for the hint @cristian-adam !
I followed your suggestion and now the conan install step runs successfully and the conan dependencies of my project build correctly. In my conan recipe I have the following requirements:

def requirements(self):
        self.requires("qtbase/6.3.1@qt/everywhere")
        self.requires("qtdeclarative/6.3.1@qt/everywhere")
        self.requires("qtshadertools/6.3.1@qt/everywhere")

I get however some errors while building my test application. In particular, the compiler complains that it does not find some headers like QQmlApplicationEngine and QQuickTextDocument.

I checked and those files are available in my conan cache but from the compile command I see that QtQml.framework/Headers and QtQuick.framework/Headers are not passed as -isystem directories (only QtCore.framework/Headers and QtGui.framework/Headers are passed).

Am I missing something in my cmake files? I would not know for which package / target to look for to be honest.

cristian-adam

Documentation for QQmlApplicationEngine is stating that you need to have:

find_package(Qt6 REQUIRED COMPONENTS Qml)
target_link_libraries(mytarget PRIVATE Qt6::Qml)

And for QQuickTextDocument you need:

find_package(Qt6 REQUIRED COMPONENTS Quick)
target_link_libraries(mytarget PRIVATE Qt6::Quick)

Make sure you have the components mentioned in your find_package call.

Matte86

That was indeed the initial version of my cmake files. With that configuration I was able to build and run the application via command line.

The problem arises when I integrate everything into Qt Creator. Somehow the IDE cannot find those components so that call to find_package fails.

This is the error I get:

-- Could NOT find Qt6Qml (missing: Qt6Qml_DIR)
CMake Error at ui-qml/CMakeLists.txt:9 (find_package):
  Found package configuration file:

    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtbase/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/e82d3b03afbaff61d74c55b72301091c49f823e1/lib/cmake/Qt6/Qt6Config.cmake

  but it set Qt6_FOUND to FALSE so package "Qt6" is considered to be NOT
  FOUND.  Reason given by package:

  Failed to find Qt component "Qml".

  Expected Config file at
  "/Users/matt/.conan/data/qtbase/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/e82d3b03afbaff61d74c55b72301091c49f823e1/lib/cmake/Qt6Qml/Qt6QmlConfig.cmake"
  does NOT exist

The Qt6QmlConfig.cmake file is expected in the qtbase package but in my conan cache is avaialble at

/Users/matt/.conan/data/qtdeclarative/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/2dde3e9608192b6b5be2c3f127c052e58418d664/lib/cmake/Qt6Qml

cristian-adam

I think this is a Qt conan recipe bug. You should have in your <build-dir>/conan-dependencies/conan_paths.cmake something like:

set(CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH
"/Users/matt/.conan/data/qtbase/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/e82d3b03afbaff61d74c55b72301091c49f823e1/"
"/Users/matt/.conan/data/qtdeclarative/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/build/2dde3e9608192b6b5be2c3f127c052e58418d664" ${CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH} ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR})

so that CMake, when doing a find_package, will search in all directories.

Make sure you delete your <build-dir> and start from scratch, and if it doesn't help, then rung CMake wiht --debug-find so that it prints more details about the find_package calls.

Matte86

My bad, the location in my conan cache of Qt6QmlConfig.cmake file was:

"/Users/matt/.conan/data/qtdeclarative/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/**package**/2dde3e9608192b6b5be2c3f127c052e58418d664/lib/cmake/Qt6Qml"

and not:

"/Users/matt/.conan/data/qtdeclarative/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/**build**/2dde3e9608192b6b5be2c3f127c052e58418d664/lib/cmake/Qt6Qml"

I checked in my conan_paths.cmake and all the paths seem to be there.
By running CMake with additional debug info I get:

CMake Debug Log at ui-qml/CMakeLists.txt:9 (find_package):
  find_package considered the following paths for FindQt6.cmake:

    /Users/matt/.conan/data/ninja/1.11.0/_/_/package/dcee4cca2e436edf288d615e9a3f84542aab8e03/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtdeclarative/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/2dde3e9608192b6b5be2c3f127c052e58418d664/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtimageformats/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/66b09352dfc791c1f370be1e3bc4d82923afb37c/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtlanguageserver/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/66b09352dfc791c1f370be1e3bc4d82923afb37c/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtshadertools/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/66b09352dfc791c1f370be1e3bc4d82923afb37c/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtsvg/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/66b09352dfc791c1f370be1e3bc4d82923afb37c/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtbase/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/e82d3b03afbaff61d74c55b72301091c49f823e1/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/ninja/1.11.0/_/_/package/dcee4cca2e436edf288d615e9a3f84542aab8e03/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtdeclarative/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/2dde3e9608192b6b5be2c3f127c052e58418d664/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtimageformats/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/66b09352dfc791c1f370be1e3bc4d82923afb37c/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtlanguageserver/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/66b09352dfc791c1f370be1e3bc4d82923afb37c/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtshadertools/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/66b09352dfc791c1f370be1e3bc4d82923afb37c/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtsvg/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/66b09352dfc791c1f370be1e3bc4d82923afb37c/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtbase/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/e82d3b03afbaff61d74c55b72301091c49f823e1/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/ninja/1.11.0/_/_/package/dcee4cca2e436edf288d615e9a3f84542aab8e03/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtdeclarative/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/2dde3e9608192b6b5be2c3f127c052e58418d664/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtimageformats/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/66b09352dfc791c1f370be1e3bc4d82923afb37c/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtlanguageserver/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/66b09352dfc791c1f370be1e3bc4d82923afb37c/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtshadertools/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/66b09352dfc791c1f370be1e3bc4d82923afb37c/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtsvg/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/66b09352dfc791c1f370be1e3bc4d82923afb37c/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtbase/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/e82d3b03afbaff61d74c55b72301091c49f823e1/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/ninja/1.11.0/_/_/package/dcee4cca2e436edf288d615e9a3f84542aab8e03/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtdeclarative/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/2dde3e9608192b6b5be2c3f127c052e58418d664/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtimageformats/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/66b09352dfc791c1f370be1e3bc4d82923afb37c/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtlanguageserver/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/66b09352dfc791c1f370be1e3bc4d82923afb37c/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtshadertools/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/66b09352dfc791c1f370be1e3bc4d82923afb37c/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtsvg/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/66b09352dfc791c1f370be1e3bc4d82923afb37c/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtbase/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/e82d3b03afbaff61d74c55b72301091c49f823e1/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/ninja/1.11.0/_/_/package/dcee4cca2e436edf288d615e9a3f84542aab8e03/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtdeclarative/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/2dde3e9608192b6b5be2c3f127c052e58418d664/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtimageformats/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/66b09352dfc791c1f370be1e3bc4d82923afb37c/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtlanguageserver/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/66b09352dfc791c1f370be1e3bc4d82923afb37c/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtshadertools/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/66b09352dfc791c1f370be1e3bc4d82923afb37c/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtsvg/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/66b09352dfc791c1f370be1e3bc4d82923afb37c/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtbase/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/e82d3b03afbaff61d74c55b72301091c49f823e1/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/Desktop/Workspaces/qt6-qml-example/build_release_with_debug_info/conan-dependencies/FindQt6.cmake
    /Users/matt/Desktop/Workspaces/qt6-qml-example/build_release_with_debug_info/conan-dependencies/FindQt6.cmake
    /Applications/CMake.app/Contents/share/cmake-3.24/Modules/FindQt6.cmake

  The file was not found.

    /Users/matt/.conan/data/qtbase/6.3.1/qt/everywhere/package/e82d3b03afbaff61d74c55b72301091c49f823e1/lib/cmake/Qt6/Qt6Config.cmake

cristian-adam

The next CMake debugging level would be:

--trace-expand --trace-redirect=cmake-trace.log

Do this for:

command line build
Qt Creator build

Qt Creator should work in the same way as from command line.

Also worth pointing out this blog article https://www.qt.io/blog/conan-package-manager-pilot-to-end-in-december

Matte86

Oh, that's sad news! I was so excited when I read Qt was adopting conan, I think it has great potential. Thanks @cristian-adam for the hints, I'll keep playing around.