Tutorial: Compile and Link SFML with Qt Creator
This tutorial will first show you, how to build SFML with Qt creator and after that how to link your application against SFML.
This guide will first cover compiling for Windows and then compiling for Linux, Ubuntu-esque.
Visit https://github.com/LaurentGomila/SFML
And press "Download this repository as a zip file" button.
Unzip the downloaded file.
Download and Install the appropriate version of CMake for your operating system (e.g. win32). Visit: http://www.cmake.org/cmake/resources/software.html
Open Qt Creator (tested on Qt Creator version provided with the Qt SDK)
Go to: Tools->Options->Build & Run->CMake
Search for the CMake executable NOT the GUI executable but rather the command line one (e.g. cmake.exe)
Click the "Open Project..." button and look for the CMakelists.txt file in the SFML source folder that you have just downloaded.
Click on the Projects icon on the left hand side of the IDE. Choose Build Settings from the top of the menu.
Expand the Build Environment roll-out and look for the PATH variable. Click Edit and insert the following text making sure not to delete anything that is already there.
C:\QtSDK\mingw\bin;C:\qtsdk\qt\bin;
Click on the Projects icon on the left hand side of the IDE. Choose Build Settings from the top of the menu. Click the Run CMake button from the Reconfigure Project option.
On the CMake wizard choose the compiler you would normally use with your Qt Creator projects. And click the Run CMake button. When done click finish.
Click on the hammer icon on the bottom left of the editor to build the project.
This process will build SFML - RELEASE VERSION on the directory specified.
In order to build the debug version of the libraries: Click on the Projects icon on the left hand side of the IDE. Choose Build Settings from the top of the menu. Click the Run CMake button from the Reconfigure Project option. (Similar to step 8) But pass as an argument
-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
Click Finish And rebuild the project.
Because the default compiler produces .a files instead of .lib we have to manually edit the project in order to include the libraries.
After creating a new project in Qt edit the .pro file in the and paste the following lines:
LIBS += -LC:/SFML/qtcreator-build/lib
LIBS += -LC:/SFML/extlibs/libs-mingw/x86 #If using 64-bit MinGW, replace x86 with x64
#Release Configuration
CONFIG(release, debug|release):
{
#Audio Related Libs
LIBS += -lsfml-audio-s #SFML Static Module
LIBS += -lopenal32 #Dependency
LIBS += -lFLAC #Dependency
LIBS += -lvorbisenc #Dependency
LIBS += -lvorbisfile #Dependency
LIBS += -lvorbis #Dependency
LIBS += -logg #Dependency
#SFML-Graphics Libs
LIBS += -lsfml-graphics-s #SFML Static Module
LIBS += -lfreetype #Dependency
LIBS += -ljpeg #Dependency
#SFML-Network Libs
LIBS += -lsfml-network-s #SFML Static Module
LIBS += -lws2_32 #Dependency
#SFML-Window Libs
LIBS += -lsfml-window-s #SFML Static Module
LIBS += -lopengl32 #Dependency
LIBS += -lgdi32 #Dependency
#SFML-System Libs
LIBS += -lsfml-system-s #SFML Static Module
LIBS += -lwinmm #Dependency
}
#Debug Configuration
CONFIG(debug, debug|release):
{
#Audio Related Libs
LIBS += -lsfml-audio-s-d #SFML Static Module
LIBS += -lopenal32 #Dependency
LIBS += -lFLAC #Dependency
LIBS += -lvorbisenc #Dependency
LIBS += -lvorbisfile #Dependency
LIBS += -lvorbis #Dependency
LIBS += -logg #Dependency
#SFML-Graphics Libs
LIBS += -lsfml-graphics-s-d #SFML Static Module
LIBS += -lfreetype #Dependency
LIBS += -ljpeg #Dependency
#SFML-Network Libs
LIBS += -lsfml-network-s-d #SFML Static Module
LIBS += -lws2_32 #Dependency
#SFML-Window Libs
LIBS += -lsfml-window-s-d #SFML Static Module
LIBS += -lopengl32 #Dependency
LIBS += -lgdi32 #Dependency
#SFML-System Libs
LIBS += -lsfml-system-s-d #SFML Static Module
LIBS += -lwinmm #Dependency
}
If you are using Dynamic Linking, remove any "-s" from the SFML Modules.
The above system path applies to a windows OS and you have to change the C:\SFML\qtcreator-build\lib\ with the path where you created the SFML libraries.
Mac users can follow a similar process which I have not tested but should work the same way.
The last two lines you should include in the .pro file are:
INCLUDEPATH += C:/SFML/include
DEPENDPATH += C:/SFML/include
Which are self explanatory...
Gotchas:
- If you want your executables in the same folder as your project you have to turn off Shadow Build from the build options.
- If the executable runs but does not show anything it's not an error...Copy the SFML dlls in the same directory as the executable plus
libgcc_s_dw2-1.dllandmingwm10.dllwhich are located in theC:\QtSDK\mingw\binfolder. - If you are using Static Linking, there is a third last line for the .pro file:
DEFINES += SFML_STATIC
Visit https://qt-project.org/downloads and download the latest version of Qt Creator for your linux installation, 32-bit or 64-bit. You may have to run the following commands to install Qt Creator.
chmod u+x qt_creator_download.file
sudo ./qt_creator_download.file
Visit https://github.com/LaurentGomila/SFML
And press "Download this repository as a zip file" button.
Unzip the downloaded file.
On an Ubuntu-esque system you need to prepare your system by running the following commands:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential g++ cmake libjpeg-dev libfreetype6-dev libglew-dev libxrandr-dev libopenal-dev libsndfile-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libxcb-image0-dev libudev-dev
This is what I had to install on my system. The build process may have additional requirements depending on your system.
Open Qt Creator (tested on Qt Creator version 2.7.2 with Qt 5.1.0 64-Bit)
Go to: Tools->Options->Build & Run->CMake
In a terminal run: which cmake. Copy the path to CMake into Qt Creator.
Click the "Open Project..." button and look for the CMakelists.txt file in the SFML source folder that you downloaded.
In the CMake Wizard I used the default build directory which was "SFML-build". Click "Next."
If you want to build the debug version of the libraries, in "Arguments:" put:
-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
Click "Run CMake" and check for any missing dependencies. Qt Creator will let you know. If you don't get any errors click "Finish."
To remove the Debug option and build a release version. Click on the Projects icon on the left hand side of the IDE. Choose Build Settings from the top of the menu. Click the "Run CMake" button from the Reconfigure Project option. Clear the "Arguments:" text box.
Click on the hammer icon on the bottom left of the editor to build the project.
I then moved the lib folder from the build folder into the original SFML source folder. You need the following folders.
SFML
|- include
|- lib
After creating a new Non-Qt Plain C++ project in Qt edit the .pro file in the and paste the following lines, with /home/user/Projects/SFML being the path to SFML on your system.
LIBS += -L"/home/user/Projects/SFML/lib"
CONFIG(release, debug|release): LIBS += -lsfml-audio -lsfml-graphics -lsfml-network -lsfml-window -lsfml-system
CONFIG(debug, debug|release): LIBS += -lsfml-audio-d -lsfml-graphics-d -lsfml-network-d -lsfml-window-d -lsfml-system-d
INCLUDEPATH += "/home/user/Projects/SFML/include"
DEPENDPATH += "/home/user/Projects/SFML/include"
After completing the above procedure you should have successfully created an SFML application up and running in the Qt Creator IDE using its native compilers!
