Creating Windows Desktop Icon in CMake + CPack + NSIS

Question

I'm using NSIS package generator in CMake 2.8.1 to distribute a Qt application. Everything is working fine... except the use of CPACK_CREATE_DESKTOP_LINKS to create a desktop link to the application.

I've looked through the CMake source (including it's own "bootstrap" installation definition for windows), and as far as I can tell I'm doing the same thing.

Here's the relevant section of my CMakeLists.txt file.

set(CPACK_GENERATOR NSIS)
set(CPACK_NSIS_PACKAGE_NAME "${EWS_APP_NAME}")
set(CPACK_NSIS_DISPLAY_NAME "${EWS_APP_NAME}")
set(CPACK_NSIS_CONTACT "${EWS_EMAIL}")
set(CPACK_PACKAGE_EXECUTABLES "${EXE_TARGET_NAME}" "${EWS_APP_NAME}")
set(CPACK_PACKAGE_INSTALL_REGISTRY_KEY "${CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME}-${EWS_VERSION}")

# this works
set(CPACK_NSIS_MENU_LINKS "${EWS_WEBSITE}" "Homepage for ${EWS_APP_NAME}")

# this doesn't
set(CPACK_CREATE_DESKTOP_LINKS "${EXE_TARGET_NAME}")

# Icon in the add/remove control panel. Must be an .exe file 
set(CPACK_NSIS_INSTALLED_ICON_NAME bin\\\\${EXE_TARGET_NAME}.exe)

set(CPACK_NSIS_URL_INFO_ABOUT "${EWS_WEBSITE}")
set(CPACK_NSIS_HELP_LINK "${EWS_WEBSITE}")

Any ideas or debugging tips are appreciated!

Answer 1

I am using the following macro to add links both to the program files menu to the desktop

macro(prepareNSIS_Link linkName appName params)
 #prepare start menu links
 LIST(APPEND CPACK_NSIS_CREATE_ICONS_EXTRA "  CreateShortCut '$SMPROGRAMS\\\\$STARTMENU_FOLDER\\\\${linkName}.lnk' '$INSTDIR\\\\bin\\\\${appName}.exe' '${params}'")
 LIST(APPEND CPACK_NSIS_DELETE_ICONS_EXTRA "  Delete '$SMPROGRAMS\\\\$START_MENU\\\\${linkName}.lnk'")

 #prepare desktop links
 LIST(APPEND CPACK_NSIS_CREATE_ICONS_EXTRA  "  CreateShortCut '$DESKTOP\\\\${linkName}.lnk' '$INSTDIR\\\\bin\\\\${appName}.exe' '${params}'")
 LIST(APPEND CPACK_NSIS_DELETE_ICONS_EXTRA  "  Delete '$DESKTOP\\\\${linkName}.lnk'")
endmacro()

To create a link to for [installFolder]/bin/app.exe -some -parameters call it as:

prepareNSIS_Link("My application" "app" "-some -parameters")

Once you set up all your links be nice and replace semicolons with new lines:

  string (REPLACE ";" "\n" CPACK_NSIS_CREATE_ICONS_EXTRA "${CPACK_NSIS_CREATE_ICONS_EXTRA}")
  string (REPLACE ";" "\n" CPACK_NSIS_DELETE_ICONS_EXTRA "${CPACK_NSIS_DELETE_ICONS_EXTRA}")

Answer 2

try adding this to your CMakeLists.txt:

set (CPACK_NSIS_MODIFY_PATH "ON")

I think that should add a page after the license that gives the option to add the install directory to the path, and add an option to create desktop links.