INTERFACE_AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES

New in version 3.27.

A semicolon-separated list of macro names for AUTOMOC to be propagated to consumers.

When a target with AUTOMOC enabled links to a library that sets INTERFACE_AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES, the target inherits the listed macro names and merges them with those specified in its own AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES property. The target will then automatically generate MOC files for source files that contain the inherited macro names too, not just the macro names specified in its own AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES property.

By default INTERFACE_AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES is empty.

See the cmake-qt(7) manual for more information on using CMake with Qt.

Example 1

In this example, myapp inherits the macro names STATIC_LIB_1 and STATIC_LIB_2 from static_lib. The moc tool will then automatically be run on any of the myapp sources which contain STATIC_LIB_1 or STATIC_LIB_2.

set(AUTOMOC ON)
add_executable(myapp main.cpp)
target_link_libraries(myapp PRIVATE static_lib)

add_library(static_lib STATIC static.cpp)
set_property(TARGET static_lib PROPERTY
  INTERFACE_AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES "STATIC_LIB_1;STATIC_LIB_2"
)

Example 2

In this example, the INTERFACE_AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES target property of the various *_deep_lib libraries will propagate to shared_lib, static_lib and interface_lib. Because the linking relationships are specified as PUBLIC and INTERFACE, those macro names will also further propagate transitively up to app.

set(AUTOMOC ON)

add_library(shared_deep_lib SHARED deep_lib.cpp)
add_library(static_deep_lib STATIC deep_lib.cpp)
add_library(interface_deep_lib INTERFACE)

set_property(TARGET shared_deep_lib PROPERTY
  INTERFACE_AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES "SHARED_LINK_LIB"
)
set_property(TARGET static_deep_lib PROPERTY
  INTERFACE_AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES "STATIC_LINK_LIB"
)
set_property(TARGET interface_deep_lib PROPERTY
  INTERFACE_AUTOMOC_MACRO_NAMES "INTERFACE_LINK_LIB"
)

add_library(shared_lib SHARED lib.cpp)
add_library(static_lib STATIC lib.cpp)
add_library(interface_lib INTERFACE)

# PUBLIC and INTERFACE here ensure the macro names propagate to any
# consumers of shared_lib, static_lib or interface_lib too
target_link_libraries(shared_lib PUBLIC shared_deep_lib)
target_link_libraries(static_lib PUBLIC static_deep_lib)
target_link_libraries(interface_lib INTERFACE interface_deep_lib)

# This consumer will receive all three of the above custom macro names as
# transitive usage requirements
add_executable(app main.cpp)
target_link_libraries(app PRIVATE shared_lib static_lib interface_lib)

In the above:

  • shared_lib sources will be processed by moc if they contain SHARED_LINK_LIB.

  • static_lib sources will be processed by moc if they contain STATIC_LINK_LIB.

  • app sources will be processed by moc if they contain SHARED_LINK_LIB, STATIC_LINK_LIB or INTERFACE_LINK_LIB.