3,977 questions
Tools for solving Linker errors
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plborgprograms
20
Reputation points
I've spent a lot of time lately modifying project files to solve linker errors involving additional dependencies. The issue I solved seems like a problem that could be solved via scripts using modern tools. Are there any plugins to help solve Linker errors? Thank you
Developer technologies | C++
Developer technologies | Visual Studio | Other
5,454 questions
{count} votes
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David Lowndes 2,640 Reputation points MVP2023-07-10T20:27:52.5766667+00:00 Can you give some examples of the problems you've had, perhaps then someone will have some suggestion?
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RLWA32 49,636 Reputation points2023-07-10T21:03:04.5066667+00:00 Importing a custom property sheet into a C++ project is a convenient and easily repeatable way to handle additional dependencies.
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plborgprograms 20 Reputation points
2023-07-10T21:27:02.8433333+00:00 Sure, I can do that. So I encountered a few issues in dealing with linking. I have a project that requires me to declare a class that inherits from a class called EWrapper from an external API called TWS API. I was integrating googletest (and google test adapter) into the project. I found that google recommends declaring a separate project within the solution and referencing the original project you want to test in the googletest project. After setting up the second project, the test project, I found I could still run the original project. I could also run the googletest project and it would run unless it finds code from EWrapper. Once code from the original project that uses EWrapper is referenced by the test project, the test discovery feature would fail because the DLL containing some of TWS API's code was not found. The original project's code had been found by the test project but the original project's dependencies such as EWrapper were not. I tried matching the test project's configuration file and the original project's configuration file. I was able to get past this issue but I found more issues after that one was solved. One of the later bugs was a LNK2038 due to a mismatch in my test project's Runtime Library (MD_DynamicRelease) and my original project RuntimeLibrary (MD_dDynamicDebug). I ended up setting the unit tests in the original project using a different coding blog's setup. Part of the challenge of solving this was that after finding the cause of the issue, I still had to find where that was configured in the project file. I'm able to test my original project now but I thought there might be a tool that could have solved this sooner. It seems like a tool or plugin could have found the DLL my other project was using and also the Runtime Library settings and modified my project file to solve the issue automatically. If there's not a plugin that already does that, making a product that could do that seems possible with modern technology. Is there a tool or plugin that can do that?
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David Lowndes 2,640 Reputation points MVP
2023-07-10T21:45:36.37+00:00 gtest is available via vcpkg, so that may (or may not) make consuming it more palatable. It's not something I've any experience of to offer any real world advice on.
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RLWA32 49,636 Reputation points
2023-07-10T21:46:51.27+00:00 I've never felt the need for an automated tool to properly configure project properties. Does such a tool exist? I don't know, I've never looked.
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plborgprograms 20 Reputation points
2023-07-10T23:12:04.2233333+00:00 Thanks David. It looks like vcpkg is what I was looking for. https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg I'll try this the next time integrating additional tools. I found this tutorial as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h1lC3QHLHU I hope this helps someone else.
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David Lowndes 2,640 Reputation points MVP
2023-07-10T23:31:07.15+00:00 vcpkg is supplied with the latest VS, and the recommended mode of usage is now "manifest mode" - which is different than that video demo. Manifest mode uses a vcpkg.json file in your project directory to specify the dependencies and automates their installation/build.
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