Building displace with CMake

What is CMake?

"CMake is an open-source, cross-platform family of tools designed to build, test and package software"

Building

To build, simply create an out-of-tree folder, and launch cmake spacifying the path of the main CMakeLists.txt file:

Linux

$ cd displace
$ mkdir build
$ cd build
$ cmake ..

Windows

You can use the cmake GUI to select the building directory and the root of the project.

Building with Out-of-system-tree libraries

If the dependent libraries are installed out of the system tree (for example, because your distribution don't provide a proper package, or you want to compile with a different version, or in Windows), you may instruct CMake to search for the library in the correct directory.

For GeographicLib, use -DGeographicLib_DIR=

cmake 
    -DGeographicLib_DIR=/opt/GeographicLib-1.49/install/usr/local/lib/cmake/GeographicLib 

Specifying QT paths

If cmake can't find the right path to a package, or you want to select a different version of the package, you can pass some variable on the command line.

This happens with Qt when they are installed in a non-system path, on Windows and on linux when you install a non packaged version of the library.

For Qt, pass the CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH variable with the path to the lib/cmake folder of your installation. If Qt has been installed in /opt/Qt/5.10.1, for example, specify:

$ cmake -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/opt/Qt/5.10.1/gcc_64/lib/cmake/

In Windows, from the GUI, create a variable in the cache and put the path (see next section).

Windows compilation: inform the IDE for where to find CMake and the DISPLACE SDK

First install Qt 5.15.5 https://www.qt.io/download and QtCreator that comes with.

Alternatively, install JetBrains CLion, but the smooth edition of ui files will require QtCreator anyway.

But remember to set et up CLion in Menu>File> settings For amd64 architecture because we are working in 64bits.

Install CMake on your computer.

Unzip the Displace sdk e.g. vcpkg-export-20181211-212458.7z (build with https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/vcpkg?view=vs-2017, see Building.md, you will found the sdk on the DISPLACE_release\WindowsSupport on google drive https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B7xTkBu0-QI5bnIxS3c4dy0tSUU ) imperatively in C:\ and rename the folder for "vcpkg"

Open the DISPLACE project e.g. in QtCreator or CLion with the CMakeList.txt file

Configure CMake by adding a arg variable, for example:

CMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=C:/vcpkg/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake

Also erase in the Release output folder or the cmake CMakeCache.txt and the subfolder CMakeFiles in the Release folder if something goes wrong.

In QtCreator:

In CLion:

Clear or reset cache and re-run CMake

Compile DISPLACE_GUI

Set the Run on displacegui and run!

(If CLion, Run displace first to Build it with CMake)

on Windows, possibly check PATH for e.g. C:\Qt\5.12.0\msvc2017_64\bin that should be in PATH