Use CMake on Windows to compile GEARS

We can use CMake to generate a C++ project file, an XML file that has the .vcxproj extension, and a Visual Studio solution file (.sln). They will be used by Visual Studio to compile GEARS.

Please make sure that you select “Add CMake to the system PATH” during the installation of CMake:

After installation, launch CMake, set “Where is the source code” to where gears.cc is located, and “Where to build the binaries” to anywhere you like, but we prefer a new directory called build within the directory where gears.cc is located:

Press the Configure bottom, you will be prompt to “Specify the generator for this project”. CMake should be able to select Visual Studio automatically. You just need to press the Finish bottom to confirm it:

Now, you should be able to see the following window:

If your Geant4 is installed correctly, CMake should be able to find it and set Geant4_DIR correctly. If not, you can still manually modify it in this window.

Press Generate and then Open Project. Visual Studio will be open automatically. If this is the first time you call Visual Studio from within CMake, you may see the following window:

Press OK to confirm that you’d like to use Visual Studio to open the .sln file created by CMake.

Inside Visual Studio, press the bottom shown in the following screenshot:

Upon a successful compilation, Visual Studio will automatically run gears.exe for you:

You should also be able to run gears.exe anywhere you want since its containing directory has been added to the Windows %PATH% automatically by CMake.