cmake project file for application using Fast-DDS as dependency

[aldas]

It would be nice if there would be somewhere example for cmake project file for C++ application using Fast-DDS as depencency with does not rely on system wide depencies (installed by apt). This is not only my problem - for example here https://discourse.cmake.org/t/find-package-for-non-installer-third-party-module-library-package/8954 is discussion about similar/same thing.

I am developing DDS application. I do not use ROS2. I would like not to install depencies with apt as https://fast-dds.docs.eprosima.com/en/latest/installation/sources/sources_linux.html#dependencies describes sudo apt install libasio-dev libtinyxml2-dev + foonathanmemory.

I have almost zero experience with Cmake and I managed to get something to build and compile, but I do not know if this a adequate solution

Project files structure:

CMakeLists.txt
main.cpp

CMakeLists.txt:

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.20)
project(MyAppExample VERSION 1 LANGUAGES CXX)

set(EXECUTABLE_NAME "MyFastDDSDemo")

# versions for Fast-DDS and dependencies
set(FASTDDS_VERSION "v3.0.1")
set(FOONATHAN_MEMORY_VERSION "v1.3.1")


set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 20)
set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)

# Define the installation directory
set(INSTALL_DIR "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/install")

include(ExternalProject)
ExternalProject_Add(
        foonathanMemoryVendor
        GIT_REPOSITORY "https://github.com/eProsima/foonathan_memory_vendor.git"
        GIT_TAG ${FOONATHAN_MEMORY_VERSION}
        INSTALL_DIR ${INSTALL_DIR}/foonathan_memory_vendor
        CMAKE_ARGS
        -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<INSTALL_DIR>
        -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON
)

ExternalProject_Add(FastDDS
        GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/eProsima/Fast-DDS.git
        GIT_TAG ${FASTDDS_VERSION}
        INSTALL_DIR ${INSTALL_DIR}/fastdds
        CMAKE_CACHE_ARGS
        -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX:PATH=<INSTALL_DIR>
        -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH:PATH=${CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH};${INSTALL_DIR}
        -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS:BOOL=ON
        -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE:STRING=${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE}
        -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE:PATH=${CMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE}
        -DTHIRDPARTY:BOOL=ON  # install asio, tinyxml2 from Git
        -DSECURITY:BOOL=OFF
)

include_directories(
        ${INSTALL_DIR}/fastdds/include
        ${INSTALL_DIR}/foonathan_memory_vendor/include
)

add_executable(${EXECUTABLE_NAME} main.cpp)

add_dependencies(FastDDS foonathanMemoryVendor)
add_dependencies(${EXECUTABLE_NAME} FastDDS)

target_link_libraries(${EXECUTABLE_NAME}
        ${INSTALL_DIR}/fastdds/lib/libfastcdr.so
        ${INSTALL_DIR}/fastdds/lib/libfastdds.so
        ${INSTALL_DIR}/foonathan_memory_vendor/lib/libfoonathan_memory-0.7.3.so
)

main.cpp:

#include <iostream>
#include <fastdds/dds/domain/DomainParticipant.hpp>
#include <fastdds/dds/domain/DomainParticipantFactory.hpp>

using namespace eprosima::fastdds::dds;


int main() {
    DomainParticipantFactory *factory = DomainParticipantFactory::get_instance();
    DomainParticipant *participant = factory->create_participant(0, PARTICIPANT_QOS_DEFAULT);

    if (participant == nullptr) {
        std::cerr << "Failed to create Domain Participant." << std::endl;
        return 1;
    }

    std::cout << "Domain Participant created successfully!" << std::endl;

    // Clean up
    factory->delete_participant(participant);
    return 0;
}

---

p.s. why foonathan_memory_vendor needs to be added separately and not build like other thirdparty libs?

TLDR: It would be nice if there would be some official bare minimum skeleton c++ project that you take and try to hack your things in it.

[aldas]

Dear reader, if you see potential improvements with that CMakeLists.txt please discuss it here.

[JesusPoderoso]

Hi @aldas, thanks for using Fast DDS.

why foonathan_memory_vendor needs to be added separately and not build like other thirdparty libs?

Including the foonathan dependency as a thridparty is not part of our roadmap.

TLDR: It would be nice if there would be some official bare minimum skeleton c++ project that you take and try to hack your things in it.

Have you tried the Fast DDS examples?
There is also the example generation tool based on an idl with Fast DDS-Gen:

fastddsgen -example CMake custom_data_type.idl
cmake . && cmake --build .
./custom_data_type publisher