visual c include files from other projects in the same solution

Question

I am working on a game using Visual C    I have some components in separate projects  and have set the project dependencies  How do I  include a header file from a different project  I have no idea how to use classes from one project in another

User · Answer

Try to avoid complete path references in the  include directive  whether they are absolute or relative  Instead  add the location of the other project s include folder in your project settings  Use only subfolders in path references when necessary  That way  it is easier to move things around without having to update your code

User · Answer

Since both projects are under the same solution  there s a simpler way for the include files and linker as described in https   docs microsoft com en-us cpp build adding-references-in-visual-cpp-projects view vs-2019     The include can be written in a relative path  E g   include     libProject libHeader h    For the linker  right click on  References   Click on Add Reference  and choose the other project

User · Answer

Settings for compiler  In the project where you want to  include the header file from another project  you will need to add the path of the header file into the Additional Include Directories section in the project configuration   To access the project configuration    Right-click on the project  and select Properties  Select Configuration Properties- C C  - General  Set the path under Additional Include Directories    How to include  To include the header file  simply write the following in your code    include  filename h    Note that you don t need to specify the path here  because you include the directory in the Additional Include Directories already  so Visual Studio will know where to look for it   If you don t want to add every header file location in the project settings  you could just include a directory up to a point  and then  include relative to that point      In project settings Additional Include Directories          libroot     In code  include  lib1 lib1 h        path is relative to libroot  include  lib2 lib2 h        path is relative to libroot   Setting for linker  If using static libraries  i e   lib file   you will also need to add the library to the linker input  so that at linkage time the symbols can be linked against  otherwise you ll get an unresolved symbol     Right-click on the project  and select Properties  Select Configuration Properties- Linker- Input Enter the library under Additional Dependencies

User · Answer

Expanding on  Benav s answer  my preferred approach is to    Add the solution directory to your include paths    right click on your project in the Solution Explorer select Properties select All Configurations and All Platforms from the drop-downs select C C     General add   SolutionDir  to the Additional Include Directories  Add references to each project you want to use    right click on your project s References in the Solution Explorer select Add Reference    select the project s  you want to refer to    Now you can include headers from your referenced projects like so    include  OtherProject Header h    Notes    This assumes that your solution file is stored one folder up from each of your projects  which is the default organization when creating projects with Visual Studio  You could now include any file from a path relative to the solution folder  which may not be desirable but for the simplicity of the approach I m ok with this  Step 2 isn t necessary for  includes  but it sets the correct build dependencies  which you probably want

User · Answer

include has nothing to do with projects - it just tells the preprocessor  put the contents of the header file here   If you give it a path that points to the correct location  can be a relative path  like    your file h  it will be included correctly   You will  however  have to learn about libraries  static dynamic libraries  in order to make such projects link properly - but that s another question

User · Answer

You need to set the path to the headers in the project properties so the compiler looks there when trying to find the header file s   I can t remember the exact location  but look though the Project properties and you should see it

[c++] visual c++: #include files from other projects in the same solution

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