[Insight-users] Using ITK with visual studio and not cmake

[Michael Jackson]

Answers In line..


On Oct 19, 2009, at 12:56 PM, Mark Roden wrote:

> On Mon, Oct 19, 2009 at 9:35 AM, John Drescher  
> <drescherjm at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> I want to incorporate more libraries than just itk in my project,  
>>> and
>>> am having a pretty hard time of it.
>>>
>> I can tell you as a 12 year windows programmer before ever using
>> CMake, its much much easier to do this with cmake. And also cmake
>> actually a lot of benefit to visual studio. Out of source builds,
>> built in unit testing, built in install generator, ability to have  
>> one
>> project file for all versions of visual studio VC6+... Eventually I
>> will convert all my old projects to use cmake and drop the .vsproj  
>> and
>> .dsp files out of my cvs repository...
>
> I have a similar level of experience here, and I'm just not that into
> cmake.  I've learned quite a few tricks with sln files and the like,
> and figuring out yet another set of build rules and yet another set of
> unit testing paradigms and a different source control system (I use
> either git or perforce, cvs just gives me hives) is a real distraction
> from getting work done.

  You don't need CVS for ITK. Get the regular released version from  
the web site.
>
> Let me put it this way: the CMake paradigm adopted by itk, that of
> single files to accomplish a simple task, is fine for little command
> line applications, but not how I want to build an application.  If I
> wanted to incorporate other libraries (ie, QT for useful interfaces,
> etc), trying to mesh these libraries with those will be most likely
> excruciating.  That's why I'm looking for a simple build location,
> with dlls, libs, and headers, not to incorporate with an entire coding
> paradigm.
>
Actually incorporating other libraries with CMake and ITK is quite  
"easy" with CMake... but I'll leave that for another time..

> Maybe I don't understand CMake.  Frankly, I really don't want to.  I
> just want to use the libraries as libraries, not as a coding style or
> as a way to organize files.

See below..

>
>>
>>>
>>> I've built the libraries using the cmake options to build only  
>>> libraries.
>>>
>>> I then have a basic hello-world executable that links to the built
>>> libraries and includes the itk/code/common directory.
>>>
>>> I then #include "itkImage.h" at the top of my main file, and have  
>>> the
>>> body of the main function matching the example from HelloWorld.cxx  
>>> in
>>> examples/installation
>>>
>>> When I try to build, I get this error:
>>>
>>> 1>c:\users\mark\src\itktests\itktestproject\itk
>>> libraries\code\common\itkwin32header.h(23) : fatal error C1083:  
>>> Cannot
>>> open include file: 'itkConfigure.h': No such file or directory
>>>
>>> How do I fix this?  I can't find the itkConfigure.h file anywhere;
>>> does cmake not make it automatically?
>>>
>> Yes, that should be inside the build tree. I have my ITK source at
>>
>> X:\CMakeBase\Libraries\ITK-3.16
>>
>> and the build tree at
>>
>> X:\32Bit\VC.80\Libraries\ITK-3.16
>>
>> and I can see a itkConfigure.h in that folder.
>
> I've found it, and now I get:
>
> 1>c:\users\mark\src\itktests\itktestproject\itk
> libraries\code\common\itkmacro.h(42) : fatal error C1083: Cannot open
> include file: 'vnl/vnl_math.h': No such file or directory
>
> vnl_math is not found in this directory structure.
>
> More to the point, I really have no desire to chase down ten thousand
> header files to make this work; I strongly suspect that once the
> vnl_math.h problem gets fixed, then there's five others waiting in the
> wings.  It's not at all clear to me why it is necessary to include
> math libraries just to create a blank 3D image, but setting aside my
> own ignorance, is there an easy way to get what I want, ie, just
> linking to some monolithic directory that has all the itk libraries?
> If not, if I wrote such a thing, would it be considered at all useful
> by anyone else, or just the intransigence of one guy going against the
> CMake trend?
>
> And what about those warnings?
>
> Thanks,
> Mark

I _know_ you know what I am about to say, but I'll run down what you  
are faced with.

ITK uses the style of includes as "#include "itkImage.h" with out any  
indication of what subfolder itkImage.h resides in. This means that  
_every_ subfolder in the ITK installation/source needs to be  
"included" in the compile command. This looks something like the  
following (on OS X).

cd /Users/mjackson/Workspace/AIMBlades/Build/AIM/SymmetryFilter && / 
usr/bin/c++   -DDEBUG -DQT_DLL -DQT_GUI_LIB -DQT_CORE_LIB -DQT_DEBUG - 
ftemplate-depth-50 -Wall -Wno-deprecated -no-cpp-precomp -msse2 - 
fmessage-length=0 -g -I/Users/Shared/Toolkits/ITK-3.14.0_Rel/include/ 
InsightToolkit/Review -I/Users/Shared/Toolkits/ITK-3.14.0_Rel/include/ 
InsightToolkit/gdcm/src -I/Users/Shared/Toolkits/ITK-3.14.0_Rel/ 
include/InsightToolkit/gdcm -I/Users/Shared/Toolkits/ITK-3.14.0_Rel/ 
include/InsightToolkit/Utilities/vxl/core -I/Users/Shared/Toolkits/ 
ITK-3.14.0_Rel/include/InsightToolkit/Utilities/vxl/vcl -I/Users/ 
Shared/Toolkits/ITK-3.14.0_Rel/include/InsightToolkit/Utilities/vxl/ 
v3p/netlib -I/Users/Shared/Toolkits/ITK-3.14.0_Rel/include/ 
InsightToolkit/Utilities -I/Users/Shared/Toolkits/ITK-3.14.0_Rel/ 
include/InsightToolkit/Utilities/itkExtHdrs -I/Users/Shared/Toolkits/ 
ITK-3.14.0_Rel/include/InsightToolkit/Utilities/nifti/znzlib -I/Users/ 
Shared/Toolkits/ITK-3.14.0_Rel/include/InsightToolkit/Utilities/nifti/ 
niftilib -I/Users/Shared/Toolkits/ITK-3.14.0_Rel/include/ 
InsightToolkit/Utilities/expat -I/Users/Shared/Toolkits/ITK-3.14.0_Rel/ 
include/InsightToolkit/Utilities/DICOMParser -I/Users/Shared/Toolkits/ 
ITK-3.14.0_Rel/include/InsightToolkit/Utilities/NrrdIO -I/Users/Shared/ 
Toolkits/ITK-3.14.0_Rel/include/InsightToolkit/Utilities/MetaIO -I/ 
Users/Shared/Toolkits/ITK-3.14.0_Rel/include/InsightToolkit/ 
SpatialObject -I/Users/Shared/Toolkits/ITK-3.14.0_Rel/include/ 
InsightToolkit/Numerics/NeuralNetworks -I/Users/Shared/Toolkits/ 
ITK-3.14.0_Rel/include/InsightToolkit/Numerics/FEM -I/Users/Shared/ 
Toolkits/ITK-3.14.0_Rel/include/InsightToolkit/IO -I/Users/Shared/ 
Toolkits/ITK-3.14.0_Rel/include/InsightToolkit/Numerics -I/Users/ 
Shared/Toolkits/ITK-3.14.0_Rel/include/InsightToolkit/Common -I/Users/ 
Shared/Toolkits/ITK-3.14.0_Rel/include/InsightToolkit/BasicFilters -I/ 
Users/Shared/Toolkits/ITK-3.14.0_Rel/include/InsightToolkit/Algorithms  
-I/Users/Shared/Toolkits/ITK-3.14.0_Rel/include/InsightToolkit/ 
Numerics/Statistics -I/Users/Shared/Toolkits/ITK-3.14.0_Rel/include/ 
InsightToolkit -I/Users/Shared/Toolkits/tiff/include -I/Users/Shared/ 
Toolkits/boost-1_39/include/boost-1_39 -I/Users/mjackson/Workspace/ 
AIMBlades/Build -I/Users/mjackson/Workspace/AIMBlades/Source -I/Users/ 
Shared/Toolkits/Qt-4.5.3-UBFramework/include -I/Users/mjackson/ 
Workspace/AIMBlades/Source/AIM/SymmetryFilter/optimized -F/Users/ 
Shared/Toolkits/Qt-4.5.3-UBFramework/lib -I/Users/mjackson/Workspace/ 
AIMBlades/Source/AIM/SymmetryFilter/debug -I/Users/Shared/Toolkits/ 
Qt-4.5.3-UBFramework/include/QtGui -I/Users/Shared/Toolkits/Qt-4.5.3- 
UBFramework/include/QtCore   -Wall -o CMakeFiles/FourFoldSymmetry.dir/ 
main.cpp.o -c /Users/mjackson/Workspace/AIMBlades/Source/AIM/ 
SymmetryFilter/main.cpp

And then the link command looks something like this (OS X example)

cd /Users/mjackson/Workspace/AIMBlades/Build/AIM/SymmetryFilter && / 
Users/Shared/Toolkits/CMake-2.6.4/bin/cmake -E cmake_link_script  
CMakeFiles/FourFoldSymmetry.dir/link.txt --verbose=1
/usr/bin/c++     -ftemplate-depth-50 -Wall -Wno-deprecated -no-cpp- 
precomp -msse2 -fmessage-length=0 -g -Wl,-search_paths_first - 
headerpad_max_install_names -fPIC   CMakeFiles/FourFoldSymmetry.dir/ 
main.cpp.o  -o ../../Bin/FourFoldSymmetry_debug  -F/Users/Shared/ 
Toolkits/Qt-4.5.3-UBFramework/lib -L/Users/Shared/Toolkits/ 
ITK-3.14.0_Rel/lib/InsightToolkit -L/Users/Shared/Toolkits/boost-1_39/ 
lib ../../Bin/libMXALib_debug.a ../../Bin/ 
libFourFoldSymmetryLib_debug.a /Users/Shared/Toolkits/boost-1_39/lib/ 
libboost_program_options-xgcc42-mt-d-1_39.a ../../Bin/ 
libMXALib_debug.a /Users/Shared/Toolkits/tiff/lib/libtiff_debug.dylib - 
framework QtGui -framework Carbon -framework AppKit -framework QtCore / 
usr/lib/libz.dylib -framework ApplicationServices -lITKAlgorithms - 
lITKNumerics -lITKStatistics -litkNetlibSlatec -lITKFEM - 
lITKBasicFilters -lITKIO -lITKNrrdIO -litkgdcm -litkjpeg12 -litkjpeg16  
-litkopenjpeg -framework System -litkpng -litktiff -litkjpeg8 - 
lITKSpatialObject -lITKCommon -litkvnl_inst -litkvnl_algo - 
litkv3p_netlib -litkvnl -litkvcl -lm -lpthread -lITKMetaIO -litksys - 
lITKDICOMParser -lITKEXPAT -lITKniftiio -lITKznz -litkzlib -lm


So if you go _without_ CMake you will need to incorporate _all_ of  
those includes and libraries into your own VS project.

If you _do_ use CMake then all of that is done for you when cmake  
generates the Visual Studio project. Your Choice. And there is no  
"right" answer. You need to do what works for you.

Hope some of that helped.
_________________________________________________________
Mike Jackson                  mike.jackson at bluequartz.net
BlueQuartz Software                    www.bluequartz.net
Principal Software Engineer                  Dayton, Ohio