Mirror directory structure in IDE virtual folders ('filters')

[BlackxSnow]

I'm using VS2019 and finding that the included files aren't being put into filters based on the directory structure as mentioned at the top of this page. I'd like "proj/someModule/moduleMain.cpp" to be reflected by the IDE but I can't figure out how to do so (or why it's not doing so already as the default behaviour).

[KyrietS]

Let's say I have the following project structure:

MySolution/
├── MyModule
│   ├── include
│   │   └── someHeader.hpp
│   ├── src
│   │   └── main.cpp
│   └── vendor
│       └── someLibrary
│           └── someLibraryHeader.hpp
└── premake5.lua

Now I define my project in premake5.lua like this:

-- premake5.lua
workspace "MySolution"
    architecture "x86_64"

    configurations { 
        "Debug", 
        "Release"
    }
	
    project "MyModule"
        location "MyModule"
        kind "ConsoleApp"
        language "C++"
        cppdialect "C++17"

        files {
            "%{prj.name}/src/**.cpp",
            "%{prj.name}/include/**.hpp",
            "%{prj.name}/vendor/**.hpp"
        }

        includedirs {
            "%{prj.name}/include",
            "%{prj.name}/vendor"
        }

And when I generate a solution with vs2019 my whole directory structure is mirrored by default:

So what problem do you have exactly?
Can you show a simple example of what you tried to do?

[BlackxSnow]

It's now uh.. resolved itself. I'm not sure how, or if I was maybe somehow mistaken originally but it's correctly mirroring the file structure.

[nickclark2016]

My guess is that you were looking at the filters view instead of the file system view (visual studio has both). If all you need is the file system view, VS does that out of the box without any need for Premake to do anything.

[furkancaglayan]

Looks like this only works if project location is same as source location. So it doesn't work when I do this:

`workspace "MySolution"
architecture "x86_64"

configurations { 
    "Debug", 
    "Release"
}

project "MyModule"
    location "%{wks.location}/%{prj.name}"
    kind "ConsoleApp"
    language "C++"
    cppdialect "C++17"

    files {
        "%{prj.name}/../../src/**.cpp",
    }

    includedirs {
    }`

Is this intended?

[KyrietS]

I have a following structure this time:

project
├── MySolution
│   ├── MyModule
│   │   ├── include
│   │   │   └── someHeader.hpp
│   │   └── vendor
│   │       └── someLibrary
│   │           └── someLibraryHeader.hpp
│   └── premake5.lua
└── src
    └── main.cpp

And my configuration:

-- premake5.lua
workspace "MySolution"
    architecture "x86_64"

    configurations { 
        "Debug", 
        "Release"
    }
	
    project "MyModule"
        location "MyModule"
        kind "ConsoleApp"
        language "C++"
        cppdialect "C++17"

        files {
            "%{prj.name}/../../src/**.cpp",
            "%{prj.name}/include/**.hpp",
            "%{prj.name}/vendor/**.hpp"
        }

        includedirs {
            "%{prj.name}/include",
            "%{prj.name}/vendor"
        }

After running premake5 vs2022 I got the following result:

I can also see that the file MyModule.vcxproj.filters which is generated by Premake contains:

  <ItemGroup>
    <ClCompile Include="..\..\src\main.cpp">
      <Filter>src</Filter>
    </ClCompile>
  </ItemGroup>

It seems to be correct.
What kind of structure/filter do you expect to see when you include files from outside the entire solution?

[furkancaglayan]

Hi, thanks for the answer. Filters are fine, but can I also retain the folder structure in src?

[KyrietS]

Please use "Write a reply" under my latest answer instead of creating a new answer.

I have added 2 more folders:

project
├── MySolution
│   ├── MyModule
│   │   ├── include
│   │   │   └── someHeader.hpp
│   │   └── vendor
│   │       └── someLibrary
│   │           └── someLibraryHeader.hpp
│   └── premake5.lua
└── src
    ├── core
    │   └── myCore.cpp
    ├── editor
    │   └── editor.cpp
    └── main.cpp

I have made no changes to premake5.lua. I got the following result:

I use Premake 5.0.0-beta2. Also note that if you use vpaths then mirroring the filesystem may be overriden by your own config.