How to generate moc_*.cpp files using CMake

Question

Suppose I have a C++ file named animals.cpp. How can I generate a moc file (moc_animals.cpp) using CMake?

Answer 1

There are multiple ways. if you are using CMAKE version grater than 2.8.6 then you can use AUTOMOC which should do everything automatically for you.

Here there is a nice tutorial.

As pointed out by @spectras this assumes respecting their naming convention. If you want to use your specific naming you can of course use the manual mechanism by simple calling qt4_wrap_cpp or qt5_wrap_cpp. This is also what you should do in case you are bound to older CMAKE versions.

Answer 2

In the bin directory of your Qt installation there is the moc command.

/Users/name/Qt 5.7/...../bin

If you add it with execute_process() or add_custom_command() you should be able to do what you intend to do. You can use AUTOMOC too