Set working directory for Visual Studio 2022 CMake projects with Ninja generator

Question

I need a way to set debugger working directory for my Visual Studio 2022 CMake project with Ninja generator. Setting VS_DEBUGGER_WORKING_DIRECTORY target property doesn't work: only launch.vs.json editing works. I obviously need to set it from CMake side, because in case of editing launch file, I cannot save this setting for my GitHub repo.

Also I would like to say that setting that property does work only in case where I set Visual Studio 17 2022 generator and open my projects with .sln file instead of CMake Project in Visual Studio, but it is not what I want.

Answer 1

Generally there are 2 reasons why developers want to set the working directory.

1.) Loading files.

If that is your situation take a look at this question: From Visual Studio to CMake, how to set current working directory?

I describe an approach that works with both the Visual Studio / Ninja generator.

2.) Loading dlls.

CMake 3.21 added functionality for this exact situation.

$<TARGET_RUNTIME_DLLS:tgt> New in version 3.21.

This generator expression can be used to copy all of the DLLs that a target depends on into its output directory in a POST_BUILD custom command using the cmake -E copy -t command. For example:

find_package(foo CONFIG REQUIRED) # package generated by install(EXPORT)

add_executable(exe main.c)
target_link_libraries(exe PRIVATE foo::foo foo::bar)
add_custom_command(TARGET exe POST_BUILD
    COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy -t $<TARGET_FILE_DIR:exe> $<TARGET_RUNTIME_DLLS:exe>
    COMMAND_EXPAND_LISTS
)

Link to official documentation:

https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/manual/cmake-generator-expressions.7.html#genex:TARGET_RUNTIME_DLLS

Let me know if neither approach works for you.