%(AdditionalIncludeDirectories) meaning

Question

Think this will be rather simple but somehow I could not find a reference saying about this.

In the MSVC Include directories, there is an Additional Include Directories setting. The setting reads like this

..\Project1; %(AdditionalIncludeDirectories)

Understand the first part is the path for the program to search for additional program header includes. What about " %(AdditionalIncludeDirectories) " ? what does it mean?

It does not seem to be a macro which I understand is headed by "$" eg $MACRO

Thanks

Answer 1

Answer

In the documentation for Working with Project Properties there is a section on "item macros":

Item macros

Has the syntax %(name). For a file, an item macro applies only to that file—for example, you can use %(AdditionalIncludeDirectories) to specify include directories that apply only to a particular file. This kind of item macro corresponds to an ItemGroup metadata in MSBuild. When it's used in the context of a project configuration, an item macro applies to all files of a certain type. For example, the C/C++ Preprocessor Definitions configuration property can take a %(PreprocessorDefinitions) item macro that applies to all .cpp files in the project. This kind of item macro corresponds to an ItemDefinitionGroup metadata in MSBuild. For more information, see Item Definitions.

Discussion

I had exactly the same problem in a project I am taking over from a former developer : his Additional Include Directories are C:\Users\t-tshmit\Downloads\DirectXTK;$(ProjectDir);$(IntermediateOutputPath);%(AdditionalIncludeDirectories)

And oddly the %(AdditionalIncludeDirectories) element is not included in the edit box

Looking around the web I could not find much on this, but it is clearly a pattern in use, for example the screenshot used in http://www.steptools.com/support/stdev_docs/help/settings_vc10.html may contain the %(AdditionalIncludeDirectories) element.

The documentation for both the Additional Include Directories compiler options and the AdditionalIncludeDirectories VCCL Compiler Tool property contain no mention of this %(NAME) pattern.