Cross platfrom SFML + ImGUI project template

Project template for cross platform SFML-project using CMake. Includes VSCode configs to build & debug and ImGui for easy GUI.

Build easy OpenGL projects with GUI e.g. for algorithm visualisation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYzOSeK_qxM

Prerequisites

Mac OS

1. Install command line tools xcode-select --install

• Refer to https://osxdaily.com/2014/02/12/install-command-line-tools-mac-os-x/

2. Install brew /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

• Refer to https://brew.sh/

3. Install CMake brew install cmake

• Run cmake --version to confirm that CMake works from commmand line, if not:
• Make sure /usr/local/bin is in your PATH echo $PATH should contain /usr/local/bin
• Refer to https://stackoverflow.com/questions/32185079/installing-cmake-with-home-brew

5. Download and install VSCode

• https://code.visualstudio.com/
• Install the C/C++ extension for VS Code. You can install the C/C++ extension by searching for 'c++' in the Extensions view (⇧⌘X).
• (Optional) Install CMake language support https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=twxs.cmake

Linux

• This guide is based on Ubuntu distributions

1. sudo apt udpate

2. Install GCC, make and other tools: sudo apt install build-essential

3. Download and install VSCode

• https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/setup/linux
• Install the C/C++ extension for VS Code. You can install the C/C++ extension by searching for 'c++' in the Extensions view (⇧⌘X).
• (Optional) Install CMake language support https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=twxs.cmake

4. Install SFML dependencies:

• Note that this is only for linux, refer to https://www.sfml-dev.org/tutorials/2.5/compile-with-cmake.php
• sudo apt install libx11-dev xorg-dev freeglut3-dev libudev-dev
• Other dependencies might be required depending on your distribution, refer to the link above.

5. Install CMake

• sudo apt install cmake

Windows

• Guide based on: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/cpp/config-mingw, refer to link if you encounter any errors

1. Download and install VSCode

• https://code.visualstudio.com/
• Install the C/C++ extension for VS Code. You can install the C/C++ extension by searching for 'c++' in the Extensions view (⇧⌘X). https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-vscode.cpptools
• (Optional) Install CMake language support https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=twxs.cmake

2. Install the C/C++ extension for VS Code. You can install the C/C++ extension by searching for 'c++' in the Extensions view (⇧⌘X).

3. Download and install MSYS2

• https://www.msys2.org/

4. Install MinGW C++ compiler with MSYS2

• After installation MSYS2 command line tool will open
• Run pacman -Syu in MSYS2 to update databse and packages
• Open MSYS2 again from start menu
• update rest of the base packages pacman -Su
• Install compiler pacman -S --needed base-devel mingw-w64-x86_64-toolchain

5. Add MinGW to windows PATH environment variable

• In the Windows search bar, type 'settings' to open your Windows Settings.
• Search for Edit environment variables for your account.
• Choose the Path variable and then select Edit.
• Select New and add the Mingw-w64 destination folder path to the system path. The exact path depends on which version of Mingw-w64 you have installed and where you installed it. If you used the settings above to install Mingw-w64, then add this to the path: C:\msys64\mingw64\bin.
• Select OK to save the updated PATH. You will need to reopen any console windows for the new PATH location to be available.

6. Check your MinGW installation

• open CMD and run g++ --version and gdb --version

7. Download and install CMake

• Enable option to add CMake to PATH environment variable during installation.
• https://cmake.org/install/

How to build?

You need CMake. Install it for command line atleast. If you are not sure if you have it: cmake --version

After installing CMake follow steps 1-7

1. Clone project or download Zip-file and unzip it
2. Open terminal inside of the project
3. mkdir build - to make "build" directory inside of project folder
4. cd ./build - go inside of "build" folder
5. cmake .. - to link files (On windows use command cmake .. -G "MinGW Makefiles if you followed windows prerequisites guide)
6. make - to build project (On windows use command mingw32-make.exe if you followed windows prerequisites guide)
7. ./a - to display output

How to use?

If you are new to CMake don't worry so am I. I made this template for myself so it will be easy to copy this for new project and be ready to go without additional hassle.

• In project folder you will find "CMakeLists.txt". Don't rename it and don't move it if you don't know what you are doing.
• Add your ".cpp"-files here: set(SOURCES src/main.cpp 'here'). Don't forget "src/".
• Create your header files (".h/.hpp")-files inside of src folder. If you want to put them into different folder just modify this line: include_directories(your_include_folder_name)
• If your project uses additional files like images or fonts keep them in "res" folder. and add this line for each additional file configure_file(res/filename.extension filename.extension COPYONLY)

Not working?

If you have renamed your project folder after generating makefiles with CMake or run misconfigured CMake try this:

• Delete everything inside of "build" folder. Do steps 5-7 again inside of empty "build" folder.

3rd party libraries

SFML

• SFML: SFML is a simple, fast, cross-platform and object-oriented multimedia API
• https://github.com/SFML/SFML

Dear ImGui

• ImGui: Dear ImGui is a bloat-free graphical user interface library for C++.
• https://github.com/ocornut/imgui

ImGui-SFML binding

• ImGui-SFML: Library which allows you to use Dear ImGui with SFML binding
• https://github.com/eliasdaler/imgui-sfml

p.s.

• https://github.com/lutrarutra/SFML-Project-Template
• Creator: lutrarutra