Is this a good practice for positioning the header declarations?

Question

Is it good practice to include ONLY the header file for a class in the .cpp file and then put your list of includes in the class header file? For example:

// In file AddParms.cpp:

#include "AddParms.h"

AddParms::AddParms()

{

}

...

// In file AddParms.h:

#ifndef _ADDPARMSH

#define _ADDPARMSH

#include "pch.h"

#include <afxtempl.h> //For CList

#include <atlstr.h> //For CString

class AddParms

...

Is that a good placement for pch.h?

To setup pre-compiled headers, do you set all projects to /Yc for creating pre-compiled headers and build all projects? Then set all projects to /Yu for using pre-compiled headers then leave it that way?

(With certain constraints, which I have read about)

Answer 1

You can see the MSDN sample to declare a class at

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/cpp/header-files-cpp?view=msvc-170#example

Answer 2

Hi, @Michael Tadyshak

You need to add #include"pch.h" in source file(.cpp) instead of header file. Or you will get error C1010.

And as the document says,

set only one file in your project to be compiled by using the /Yc option, and set all other files to compile by using the /Yu option.

Set your project properties to /Yu , then set one specific file pch.cpp to /Yc.

Right Click pch.cpp > properties -> C/C++ -> Precomplied Headers

Best regards,

Minxin Yu

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Answer 3

In addition to the guidance previously provided I suggest that the #include statements for framework headers like afxtempl.h and atlstr.h be made part of the precompiled header since they are unchanging and it is less efficient to compile them with every build.

Answer 4

I would say it's not a good practice. I put #include for only required header files in .cpp files, and header files in .h files as less as possible. And I avoid using pre-compiled headers. If not obeying these rules, one day, a change to any header file can result in compiling the whole project.