Template for C++ Project Setup

Ready-to-use setup for a new C++ project.

The final setup will have the following structure:

└─cpp/
    ├─ CMakeLists.txt
    ├─ main.cpp
    ├─ src/
    |    └─ CMakeLists.txt
    └─ test/
         ├─ CMakeLists.txt
         └─ googletest/

Files can then be added in the src folder, with the corresponding tests added in test folder.
Once the files are added, nothing needs to be modified in the CMakeLists.txt files (only an updated build is needed).

Pre-requisites:

• A compiler for C++ is already installed, this repo uses clang 14.0.3
• CMake is already installed, this repo uses version 3.27.6

Setup (downloading this repo)

1. Start with a clean directory, say ../cpp.

2. Download this repository:

curl -L https://github.com/paulinamoskwa/cpp_project_template/archive/refs/heads/main.zip -o main.zip
unzip main.zip -d tmp && rsync -av tmp/cpp_project_template-main/ . && rm -rf tmp && rm main.zip

3. Enter the test folder from terminal and clone googletest:

git clone https://github.com/google/googletest.git

The setup is now done. ✨

Test the setup

• To build, run from terminal (cd to main folder):

rm -rf build/ 
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
make 

• Run tests:

test/MyProjectTests

which outputs:

➜  build test/MyProjectTests
Running main() from /../cpp/template/test/googletest/googletest/src/gtest_main.cc
[==========] Running 1 test from 1 test suite.
[----------] Global test environment set-up.
[----------] 1 test from MyMathTest
[ RUN      ] MyMathTest.Add
[       OK ] MyMathTest.Add (0 ms)
[----------] 1 test from MyMathTest (0 ms total)

[----------] Global test environment tear-down
[==========] 1 test from 1 test suite ran. (0 ms total)
[  PASSED  ] 1 test.

• Run main:

./MyProjectMain

which outputs:

➜  build ./MyProjectMain
Add: 8

---

Setup - alternative version (from scratch)

1. Start with a clean directory, say ../cpp.

2. Create two empty folders, src and test, following the structure:

└─cpp/
    ├─ src/
    └─ test/

3. Enter the test folder from terminal and clone googletest:

git clone https://github.com/google/googletest.git

The structure at this point has to be:

└─cpp/
    ├─ src/
    └─ test/
         └─ googletest/

4. Create three CMakeLists.txt, as follow:

└─cpp/
    ├─ CMakeLists.txt
    ├─ src/
    |    └─ CMakeLists.txt
    └─ test/
         ├─ CMakeLists.txt
         └─ googletest/

with the following content:

• root CMakeLists.txt

# Minimum CMake version required
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)

# Project name and version
project(MyProject VERSION 1.0 LANGUAGES CXX)

# Set C++ standard
set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 20)
set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED True)

# Add subdirectories
add_subdirectory(src)
add_subdirectory(test)

# Add directories for includes
include_directories(src)

# Add the main executable
add_executable(MyProjectMain main.cpp)

# Link the main executable with the project library
target_link_libraries(MyProjectMain PRIVATE MyProjectLib)

• src/CMakeLists.txt

# Get all the source files
file(GLOB_RECURSE SOURCES "*.cpp")

# Add library target (if there are libraries in src)
add_library(MyProjectLib ${SOURCES})

• test/CMakeLists.txt

# Enable testing
enable_testing()

# Add subdirectory
add_subdirectory(googletest)

# Add include directories for GoogleTest
include_directories(googletest/include)

# Get all the test source files from the test directory and its subdirectories
file(GLOB_RECURSE TEST_SOURCES "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/*.cpp")

# Add the test executable
add_executable(MyProjectTests ${TEST_SOURCES})

# Link the test executable with the GoogleTest libraries and the project library
target_link_libraries(MyProjectTests PRIVATE GTest::gtest GTest::gtest_main MyProjectLib)
target_include_directories(MyProjectTests PRIVATE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR} ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/src)

# Discover and add tests
include(GoogleTest)
gtest_discover_tests(MyProjectTests)

5. Finally, create an empty main.cpp inside the src folder.

└─cpp/
    ├─ CMakeLists.txt
    ├─ main.cpp
    ├─ src/
    |    └─ CMakeLists.txt
    └─ test/
         ├─ CMakeLists.txt
         └─ googletest/

The setup is now done. ✨

Test the setup

• Create two files inside src: SimpleFile.h, SimpleFile.cpp.

// SimpleFile.h

#ifndef SIMPLEFILE_H
#define SIMPLEFILE_H

int add(int a, int b);

#endif // SIMPLEFILE_H

// SimpleFile.cpp

#include "SimpleFile.h"

int add(int a, int b) {
    return a + b;
}

• Create the test for this new file; create TestSimpleFile.cpp in the test folder.

#include <gtest/gtest.h>
#include "SimpleFile.h"

TEST(MyMathTest, Add) {
    ASSERT_EQ(add(1, 1), 2);
    ASSERT_EQ(add(-1, 1), 0);
    ASSERT_EQ(add(-1, -1), -2);
}

• Update main.cpp.

#include <iostream>
#include "SimpleFile.h"

int main() {
    int a = 5, b = 3;
    std::cout << "Add: " << add(a, b) << std::endl;
    return 0;
}

• Build; run from terminal (cd to main folder):

rm -rf build/ 
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
make 

• Run tests:

test/MyProjectTests

which outputs:

➜  build test/MyProjectTests
Running main() from /../cpp/template/test/googletest/googletest/src/gtest_main.cc
[==========] Running 1 test from 1 test suite.
[----------] Global test environment set-up.
[----------] 1 test from MyMathTest
[ RUN      ] MyMathTest.Add
[       OK ] MyMathTest.Add (0 ms)
[----------] 1 test from MyMathTest (0 ms total)

[----------] Global test environment tear-down
[==========] 1 test from 1 test suite ran. (0 ms total)
[  PASSED  ] 1 test.

• Run main:

./MyProjectMain

which outputs:

➜  build ./MyProjectMain
Add: 8