Add an existing library to a VTK module

Development
1

In a project I am generating a VTK module with vtk_module_add_module(), to be built from a number of source files, and also to be linked with other modules with vtk_module_link(): one other self-built module, plus some Qt5 components (Qt5::Widgets etc.). So far so good.

But then I also need to link in a library of which I have just a header (.h) and library (.lib) file (yes, this is just for Windows).

If I try to achieve this using target_link_directories() and target_link_libraries(), I get an error message from both: “…can not be used on ALIAS target”.

Well, nice - I would need to call these with the “real” targets - but which are these? I am using a name with some prefix, like NNN::xyz.

So how do I get the “real name” for which NNN::xyz is only an alias?

Or else: Is there another way to add this lib file to the module? The code is actually used internally only, so any interface to other modules goes through my own functions.

2

Just found a solution that at least cmake accepts:

if(MSVC)
  add_library(ext_lib STATIC IMPORTED)
  if(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE STREQUAL "Debug")
    set_property(TARGET ext_lib PROPERTY IMPORTED_LOCATION ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/lib/extD.lib)
  else()
    set_property(TARGET ext_lib PROPERTY IMPORTED_LOCATION ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/lib/ext.lib)
  endif()
  vtk_module_link(NNN::xyz
    PRIVATE
	  ext_lib)
endif()

Let’s see if it finally works!

1 Like
3

That looks like what I’d suggest :slight_smile: . You’ll need _vtk_module_install(ext_lib) there as well so that it gets added to the export set.

You can also do IMPORTED_LOCATION and IMPORTED_LOCATION_DEBUG instead of the if/else. An INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES would also save you a vtk_module_include call.