Generate C# project using CMake

user_193297 0
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I'm trying to generate a C# project within an existing C++ CMake code base on Windows. After some research, I could find only two projects that built their own CSharp compilers for CMake: gdcm and kde.

I tried both of them. Unfortunately, the first one failed to generate a C# project. Instead it created a VS C++ project with cs files in it, and because of C++ flags set for linker, the build always failed with errors. After experimenting with the sample project they provided, I wonder whether this could be due to a limitation of the "Visual Studio 8 2005" code generator?

The second project was primarily aimed at Mono, so I wasn't successful with it either.

Has anyone had a positive experience with building C# projects using one of those CMake modules or something else?

build-automation cmake visual-studio build c#
7 Answers

To piggy-back on the answer provided by @the_storyteller, CMake v3.8 and greater indeed supports C# as a first-class language. Because a WPF example was already provided, here is a complete CMake example for a simple Windows Forms application. I've provided the optional commands for linking in other libraries built locally in the source tree, and linking 3rd party library dependencies.

Note that Windows Forms applications require the use of the csharp_set_windows_forms_properties CMake command, whereas WPF projects use csharp_set_designer_cs_properties and csharp_set_xaml_cs_properties.

CMakeLists.txt

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.8)

project(MyWinFormApp LANGUAGES CSharp)

# Include CMake utilities for CSharp, for WinForm and WPF application support.
include(CSharpUtilities)

# Define the executable, including any .cs files. 
# The .resx and other Properties files are optional here, but including them makes them visible in the VS solution for easy editing. 
add_executable(MyWinFormApp
    App.config
    Form1.cs
    Form1.Designer.cs
    Form1.resx
    Program.cs
    Properties/AssemblyInfo.cs
    Properties/Resources.Designer.cs
    Properties/Resources.resx
    Properties/Settings.Designer.cs
    Properties/Settings.settings
)

# Set the .NET Framework version for the executable.
set_property(TARGET MyWinFormApp PROPERTY VS_DOTNET_TARGET_FRAMEWORK_VERSION "v4.6.1")
# Set the executable to be 32-bit.
set_property(TARGET MyWinFormApp PROPERTY WIN32_EXECUTABLE TRUE)
# Set the C# language version (defaults to 3.0).
set(CMAKE_CSharp_FLAGS "/langversion:latest")

# Set the source file properties for Windows Forms use.
csharp_set_windows_forms_properties(
    Form1.cs
    Form1.Designer.cs
    Form1.resx
    Program.cs
    Properties/AssemblyInfo.cs
    Properties/Resources.Designer.cs
    Properties/Resources.resx
    Properties/Settings.Designer.cs
    Properties/Settings.settings
)

# If necessary, link in other library dependencies that were built locally in this source tree.
target_link_libraries(MyWinFormApp MyLocalLib)

# If necessary, link in other library/DLL references, such as 3rd party libraries.
set_property(TARGET MyWinFormApp PROPERTY 
    VS_DOTNET_REFERENCE_MyThirdPartyLib /path/to/libs/MyThirdPartyLib.dll)

# Add in the .NET reference libraries.
set_property(TARGET MyWinFormApp PROPERTY VS_DOTNET_REFERENCES
    "Microsoft.CSharp"
    "System"
    "System.Core"
    "System.Data"
    "System.Drawing"
    "System.Windows.Forms"
)
user_39878540

I was finally able to generate a valid solution using the second c# module - kde. Although, cmake created a number of .vcproj files while I expected to get .csproj, but I guess that is the only form "Visual Studio 8 2005" generator can offer.

Nevertheless I was able to successfully build this solution and produce executables and dll libraries.

user_1932970

I wanted to point out that it is now possible to generate C# Projects using the SDK-Style project XML format using CMake 3.23.

Although it is still a release candidate version, it works pretty well with CMake 3.23 rc2. To create C# SDK-style projects use DOTNET_SDK target property.

For example one could use C# SDK-style project with this line

set_target_properties(myTarget PROPERTIES DOTNET_SDK "Microsoft.NET.Sdk")

Also remember that you don't need a project() command when creating C# Projects with CMake. The project() command always creates a new solution which could be useful but not necessary. One can use enable_language(CSharp) to declare a Target being a C# Project.

To test C# SDK-style projects I used Visual Studio 2019 with Visual Studio 16 Generator on Windows.

user_137857290
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