Specify project contents

A project can have files that should be:

• Compiled or otherwise handled by the build
• Installed
• Not installed, but included in a source package created with make dist
• Not installed, nor be part of a source package, but still be known to Qt Creator

The Projects view shows all files that you declare to be part of the project in the project files. It sorts the files into categories by file type (.cpp, .h, .qrc, and so on). To display additional files, edit the project file. Alternatively, you can see all the files in a project directory in the File System view.

Declaring files as a part of the project also makes them visible to the locator and project-wide search.

CMake Projects

When using CMake, you can specify additional files for a project by either adding them as sources or installing them.

In the CMakeLists.txt file, define the files as values of the target_sources command using the PRIVATE property, for example.

You can prevent CMake from handling some files, such as a .cpp file that should not be compiled. Use the set_property command and the HEADER_FILE_ONLY property to specify such files. For example:

set_property(SOURCE "${files}" PROPERTY HEADER_FILE_ONLY ON)

Alternatively, to install the files, use the install command with the FILES or DIRECTORY property.

qmake Projects

Use the following variables in the .pro file:

• SOURCES and HEADERS for files to compile
• INSTALLS for files to install
• DISTFILES for files to include in a source package
• OTHER_FILES for files to manage with Qt Creator without installing them or including them in source packages

For example, the following value includes text files in the source package:

DISTFILES += *.txt