Setting the Default Startup Project in CMake for Visual Studio: No Longer ALL_BUILD

The default startup project generated by cmake is ALL_BUILD. We want to specify the default startup project so that we don’t have to set it every time we open the .sln file.

This was not possible before cmake 3.6. After cmake 3.6, it can be accomplished by setting the VS_STARTUP_PROJECT property.

1. Core Setting Statement

The following statement sets HelloWorld as the startup project instead of the default ALL_BUILD project.

set_property(DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR} PROPERTY VS_STARTUP_PROJECT HelloWorld)

This line is best added in the top-level CMakeLists.txt. Here, we use ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}. If there are multiple CMakeLists.txt files, you can replace ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR} with ${YourProjectName_SOURCE_DIR}.

VS_STARTUP_PROJECT official documentation: https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/prop_dir/VS_STARTUP_PROJECT.html

2. A Complete Example

2.1 File Directory

├── CMakeLists.txt
├── generate_sln.bat
└── main.cpp

2.2 CMakeLists.txt

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.6) 
project(HelloWorld)

add_executable(${PROJECT_NAME} main.cpp) 
target_link_libraries(${PROJECT_NAME} ${ORB_SLAM2_LIBS})

set_property(DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR} PROPERTY VS_STARTUP_PROJECT ${PROJECT_NAME})

2.3 main.cpp

#include <iostream>

int main()
{
    std::cout << "Hello World!" << std::endl;
    getchar();
    return 0;
}

2.4 generate_sln.bat Script

Execute cmake to generate the vs project, below is an example for generating a vs 2015 project.

If it is another vs version, modify the following cmake -G "Visual Studio 14 Win64" to your own vs version.

@echo off
setlocal

REM This script is used to generate vs2015 solution files

REM determine if cmake exists
where cmake
if %errorlevel%==0 (
    echo cmake found
) else (
    echo cmake not found
    goto exit_build
)


REM create build directory
set dir_name=build
if exist %dir_name% (
    echo delete %dir_name%
    rd /s/q %dir_name%
)
md %dir_name%
echo create %dir_name%
cd %dir_name%


REM cmake
cmake -G "Visual Studio 14 Win64" ..

if %errorlevel%==0 (
    echo.
    echo.
    echo solution is generated in the %dir_name%
    echo.
    echo.
) else (
    echo.
    echo.
    echo solution generating is failed!!! Please fix the problem before cmake.
    echo.
    echo.

    goto exit_build
)


:build_success
pause
exit /b 0


:exit_build
pause
exit /b 1

2.5 Effect After Generating the Project and Opening It

Double-click generate_sln.bat, and it will generate HelloWorld.sln in the build folder.

After opening, the default startup project is as follows, with the default startup project being HelloWorld, no longer the ALL_BUILD project: