Just an update. It took a bit, but I have it worked out, and I found some issues.
First, the documentation should show an example of setting QT_TARGETS_FOLDER and when it should be set. Primarily because of lunkheads like myself who assumed it was a variable and not a property. Even though the documentation clearly says it is a property. That’s on me, but I bet I'm not the only one. Second, setting it without calling qt_standard_project_setup, only changes the locations for some projects. The designer plugin autogen projects do NOT follow the property Third, setting it after the call qt_standard_project_setup, has the effect as above. Except now the plugin autogens do follow the property, but in the default location (not the one I explicitly set) To get the desired behavior, I set the property before the call to qt_standard_project_setup and I get the results I want. Thanks for the help. Scott -----Original Message----- From: Scott Bloom Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2026 10:43 To: 'Joerg Bornemann' <[email protected]>; [email protected] Subject: RE: [Development] Visual Studio generator "autogen" Qt version 6.11.0 in C:/Qt/install/6.11.0/li cmake version 4.2.3-msvc3 VS 2026 My projects in general, are not "Qt only" and I have been using CMake and Qt for about 15 years now. So I have tons of my own scripts/modules for working with them. (Note I forget which Qt Dev Days it was but I presented a "Using CMake with Qt" about 12 years or so ago.) For the most part I do not use the "qt_standard_project_setup()" I don’t usually use the auto functionality, for a host of reasons. However, I have recently been developing a number of Qt Designer Plugins for a project I am working on. Mostly for intellectual curiosity, as in the past I mostly just promoted to the custom widget. Unfortunately, I have not been able to reproduce the steps that automoc creates for the plugins, so I am using it only in those projects. This is when I have been hitting the random folders propagating. Ill play with the QT_TARGETS_FOLDER and see if things clean up. Thanks Scott -----Original Message----- From: Joerg Bornemann <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2026 07:10 To: Scott Bloom <[email protected]>; [email protected] Subject: Re: [Development] Visual Studio generator "autogen" On 4/9/26 12:44 AM, Scott Bloom wrote: > When I use AUTO functionality for qt and cmake, it generates > additional targets, that tend to clutter the IDE solution. > > I always run with > > set_property( GLOBAL PROPERTY USE_FOLDERS ON ) [...] > First, doesn’t anyone know how to set the folder property on the > autogen targets? > > Second, what do people think about adding a > “QT_GENERATED_TARGETS_FOLDER” into the Qt cmake flow, so this is done > automatically? With a recent enough Qt and using qt_standard_project_setup() [1] I don't see the target clutter. Which versions of - Qt - CMake - Visual Studio are you using? Also, there is QT_TARGETS_FOLDER [2] which seems to serve the purpose of your proposed QT_GENERATED_TARGETS_FOLDER. I have mentioned this also the last time you brought this up: https://lists.qt-project.org/pipermail/development/2025-October/046663.html Cheers, Joerg [1] https://doc.qt.io/qt-6/qt-standard-project-setup.html [2] https://doc.qt.io/qt-6/cmake-global-property-qt-targets-folder.html -- Development mailing list [email protected] https://lists.qt-project.org/listinfo/development
