handling dependencies within msvc solution

[Mathieu Champlon]

Hello,

I have noticed that the dependency mecanism built in msvc is not being used by mockpp.
The advantages it provides are :
. build cycle management : building a project automatically builds the projects it depends on
. automatic library link management : a project will automatically be provided the needed .lib from the projects it depends on

Not using this feature can cause the following problems (which I all encountered with mockpp at some point)
. an old / incorrect / unwanted .lib file gets linked against because for some reason it is being found before the proper one when resolving the "additional dependencies" list of .lib
. the list of "additional dependencies" must be maintained manually (including version number) which is cumbersome and error prone
. rebuilding the solution from scratch fails because the default randomly generated build order makes one library to not be built before another one which actually links against it
. modifying a file in a project does not automatically rebuild the .lib when building a project which depends on it
. etc..

I would recommend to configure the dependencies within the solutions and to remove all .lib from the "additional dependencies" text box.
Afterall the very term of "additional dependencies" seems to suggest that the 'regular' dependencies are supposed to be handled elsewhere :)

I can of course provide a patch if needed.

MAT.

[Ewald Arnold]

I was not even aware that there is a mechanism besides the *.lib files, so please do provide patches as suggested :-) I will commit them as well as the updated msvc 7.1 files.