# Visibility of some files in Visual Studio

**URL:** https://discourse.cmake.org/t/visibility-of-some-files-in-visual-studio/10076
**Category:** Code
**Created:** [February 13, 2024, 11:13am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/visibility-of-some-files-in-visual-studio/10076 "2024-02-13T11:13:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Oodini](https://discourse.cmake.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/o/db5fbb/32.png) [@Oodini](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/Oodini)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2024, 11:13am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/visibility-of-some-files-in-visual-studio/10076/1 "2024-02-13T11:13:21Z")

</div>

Hello,

I am setting a library project for Visual Studio (questions at the end of post) :

```auto
└── MyLib
    ├── CMakeLists.txt
    ├── include
    │ └── MyLib
    │ └── SubLib_1
    │ └── x.h
    ├── src
    │ ├── CMakeLists.txt
    │ ├── SubLib_1
    │ │ └── x.cpp
    │ ├── SubLib_2
    │ │ ├── y.h
    │ │ └── y.cpp
    │ └── SubLib_3
    │ ├── y.h
    │ └── y.cpp
    └── test
        ├── CMakeLists.txt
        └── testcase.cpp

```

**MyLib\CMakeLists.txt :**

```auto
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.17.3)

project(MyLib LANGUAGES CXX)

add_subdirectory(src)
add_subdirectory(test)

```

**MyLib\src\CMakeLists.txt :**

```auto

target_include_directories(MyLib
    PUBLIC
        $<BUILD_INTERFACE:${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/include>
        $<INSTALL_INTERFACE:include>
    PRIVATE
        ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR} )

target_sources(MyLib
    PRIVATE
        $<BUILD_INTERFACE:${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/include/MyLib/SubLib_1/x.h>
        SubLib_1/x.cpp
        SubLib_2/y.h
        SubLib_2/y.cpp
        SubLib_3/z.h
        SubLib_3/z.cpp)

source_group(TREE . PREFIX Sources)

```

When I run the generator Visual Studio 2017, I get a solution called **MyLib** , where I can found 4 projects :

- ALL\_BUILD
- MyLib
- MyLibTest
- ZERO\_CHECK

In the **project MyLib** , I have :

- References
- External Dependencies
- Header Files
- Source Files

In **Header Files** , I have :  
y.h  
z.h

In **Source Files** , I have :  
x.cpp  
y.cpp  
z.cpp

* * *

1. Why do the files are grouped (Header Files / Source Files) ? Yet I used the command `source_group` with the `TREE` option.
2. How to keep in VS the sub-libraries directories structure (should I make a CMakeLists in each sublib ?) ?
3. How to display the private headers ?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Oodini](https://discourse.cmake.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/o/db5fbb/32.png) [@Oodini](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/Oodini)
#### Post date: [February 13, 2024, 4:03pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/visibility-of-some-files-in-visual-studio/10076/2 "2024-02-13T16:03:18Z")

</div>

I finally got that, which seemts to work, regarding the presentation in the VS tree (but the source files are for now empty).

`source_group(TREE . PREFIX Sources)` didn’t work without giving the list of files. I don’t understand why.

I you think it could be improved in anyway, let me know. Thanks.

```auto
add_library(MyLib STATIC)

set(PUBLIC_SOURCE_LIST
    ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/include/MyLib/SubLib_1/x.h)

set(PRIVATE_SOURCE_LIST
    SubLib_1/x.cpp
    SubLib_2/y.h
    SubLib_2/y.cpp
    SubLib_3/z.h
    SubLib_3/z.cpp)

target_sources(MyLib
    PUBLIC
        ${PUBLIC_SOURCE_LIST}
    PRIVATE
        ${PRIVATE_SOURCE_LIST})

source_group(TREE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR} PREFIX Sources FILES ${PRIVATE_SOURCE_LIST})
source_group(TREE ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/include/MyLib PREFIX Interface FILES ${PUBLIC_SOURCE_LIST})
        
target_include_directories(MyLib
    PUBLIC
        ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/include
    PRIVATE
        ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR} )

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![ben.boeckel](https://discourse.cmake.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@ben.boeckel](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/ben.boeckel)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2024, 6:28am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/visibility-of-some-files-in-visual-studio/10076/3 "2024-02-17T06:28:59Z")

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I suspect that test coverage of `source_group` is low. Could you please [file an issue](https://gitlab.kitware.com/cmake/cmake/-/issues) to investigate and either update the docs (or maybe figure out where it goes wrong)?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Oodini](https://discourse.cmake.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/o/db5fbb/32.png) [@Oodini](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/Oodini)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2024, 8:44am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/visibility-of-some-files-in-visual-studio/10076/4 "2024-02-21T08:44:55Z")

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I created the issue.