Module 4: Adding Connext to the Visual Studio Build Environment

Add Connext to the Unreal C++ build environment

Next, we need to add Connext to the Unreal Visual Studio project build properties. This is done by adding the Connext dependencies to the <Project_Name>.Build.cs file in the Source\Unreal_Shapes of the project. For this example, we modify the Source\Unreal_Shapes\Unreal_Shapes.Build.cs as follows:

For accessing environment variables and constructing oaths, we need to use System and System.IO

using System;

using System.IO;

Connext uses runtime types and exceptions and so do the boost libraries. We need to enable support for those features in the build configuration.

bUseRTTI = true;

bEnableExceptions = true;

All items in the Connext directory will be relative to the install directory, which is defined by the environment variable NDDSHOME. 

string nddshome = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("NDDSHOME");

Add the Connext additional include directories

PublicIncludePaths.Add(Path.Combine(nddshome, "include"));

PublicIncludePaths.Add(Path.Combine(nddshome, "include/ndds"));

PublicIncludePaths.Add(Path.Combine(nddshome, "include/ndds/hpp"));

Add Connext compile time options for Windows

PublicDefinitions.Add("RTI_WIN32");

PublicDefinitions.Add("RTI_STATIC");

PublicDefinitions.Add("WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN");

And finally, we need to add the libraries to link

PublicAdditionalLibraries.Add(Path.Combine(nddshome, "lib/x64Win64VS2017/nddscpp2z.lib"));

PublicAdditionalLibraries.Add(Path.Combine(nddshome, "lib/x64Win64VS2017/nddscz.lib"));

PublicAdditionalLibraries.Add(Path.Combine(nddshome, "lib/x64Win64VS2017/nddscorez.lib"));

If you are using a different operating system than Windows, the compile time options and library names will be different. Check the Platform Notes.

This video shows the steps for adding Connext to the Visual Studio build environment.

Next: Module 5: Creating your First C++ class Which Uses Connext