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FindIDL

CMake module for building IDL files with MIDL and generating CLR DLL using Tlbimp.

• Introduction
  • Requirements
• Usage
  • find_package()
  • add_idl()
  • add_idl() with tlbimp
  • MIDL flags
  • TLBIMP flags
• Samples
• License
• Version History

Introduction

IDL is used for creating COM servers. Unfortunately CMake has a limited support for IDL, so this module comes to rescue. The Type Library Importer (Tlbimp) converts the type definitions found within a COM type library (TLB) into equivalent definitions in a common language runtime assembly. The output of Tlbimp.exe is a binary file (an assembly) that contains runtime metadata for the types defined within the original type library.

Requirements

• CMake 3.0 or higher
• MIDL compiler
• Tlbimp.exe (optional)

Usage

find_package()

Add FindIDL to the module search path and call find_package:

list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/../cmake")
find_package(IDL REQUIRED)

FindIDL will search for midl.exe and tlbimp.exe

add_idl()

Takes two arguments: the name of the target project and idl file.

add_idl(<name> source)

Where:

• <name> - name of the target project
• source - full path to idl file

Example:

add_idl(GreeterIDL Greeter.idl)

The function does the same work as MIDL, specifically generates files:

• Greeter_i.h
• Greeter_i.c
• Greeter_p.c
• Greeter.tlb

To use the generated files the idl project should be linked as following

target_link_libraries(Main GreeterIDL)

add_idl() with tlbimp

Takes four arguments: the name of the target project, idl file, TLBIMP flag and the name of the tlbimp target.

add_idl(<name> source TLBIMP <tlbimp name>)

Where:

• <name> - name of the target project
• source - full path to idl file
• TLBIMP - flag to indicate to run tlbimp
• <tlbimp name> - name of the tlbimp target

Example:

add_idl(GreeterIDLWithTLBIMP Greeter.idl TLBIMP GreeterInterop)

The function does the same work as MIDL and tlbimp.exe, specifically generates files:

• Greeter_i.h
• Greeter_i.c
• Greeter_p.c
• Greeter.tlb
• GreeterInterop.dll

To use the generated files the idl project should be linked as following

target_link_libraries(MainCpp GreeterIDL)

Or if you want to use the file generated by tlbimp:

target_link_libraries(MainCsharp GreeterInterop)

MIDL flags

To specify additional command-line options for midl set MIDL_FLAGS variabe.

set(MIDL_FLAGS /target NT60) # avoid MIDL2455 error

TLBIMP flags

To specify additional command-line options for tlbimp set TLBIMP_FLAGS variabe.

set(TLBIMP_FLAGS /silence:3002) # importing a type library into a platform agnostic assembly

Samples

Take a look at the samples folder to see how to use FindIDL.

License

Apriorit released FindIDL under the OSI-approved 3-clause BSD license. You can freely use it in your commercial or opensource software.

Version History

Version 1.0.2 (15 Aug 2019)

• New: Add TLBIMP_FLAGS

Version 1.0.1 (08 Aug 2019)

• New: Add tlbimp

Version 1.0.0 (26 Oct 2018)

• Initial public release