Help/prop_tgt/AUTOGEN_TARGET_DEPENDS.rst

AUTOGEN_TARGET_DEPENDS
----------------------

Additional target dependencies of the corresponding :ref:`<ORIGIN>_autogen`
target.

  .. note::

    If Qt 5.15 or later is used and the generator is either :generator:`Ninja`
    or :ref:`Makefile Generators`, additional target dependencies are added to
    the :ref:`<ORIGIN>_autogen_timestamp_deps` target instead of the
    :ref:`<ORIGIN>_autogen` target.


Targets which have their :prop_tgt:`AUTOMOC` or :prop_tgt:`AUTOUIC` property
``ON`` have a corresponding :ref:`<ORIGIN>_autogen`  target which generates
``moc`` and ``uic`` files.  As this :ref:`<ORIGIN>_autogen`  target is created
at generate-time, it is not possible to define dependencies of it using e.g.
:command:`add_dependencies`.  Instead the ``AUTOGEN_TARGET_DEPENDS`` target
property can be set to a :ref:`;-list <CMake Language Lists>` of additional
dependencies for the :ref:`<ORIGIN>_autogen`  target. Dependencies can be target
names or file names.

In total the dependencies of the :ref:`<ORIGIN>_autogen`  target are composed
from

- forwarded origin target dependencies
  (enabled by default via :prop_tgt:`AUTOGEN_ORIGIN_DEPENDS`)
- additional user defined dependencies from ``AUTOGEN_TARGET_DEPENDS``

See the :manual:`cmake-qt(7)` manual for more information on using CMake
with Qt.

Use cases
^^^^^^^^^

If :prop_tgt:`AUTOMOC` or :prop_tgt:`AUTOUIC` depends on a file that is either

- a :prop_sf:`GENERATED` non C++ file (e.g. a :prop_sf:`GENERATED` ``.json``
  or ``.ui`` file) or
- a :prop_sf:`GENERATED` C++ file that isn't recognized by :prop_tgt:`AUTOMOC`
  and :prop_tgt:`AUTOUIC` because it's skipped by :prop_sf:`SKIP_AUTOMOC`,
  :prop_sf:`SKIP_AUTOUIC`, :prop_sf:`SKIP_AUTOGEN` or :policy:`CMP0071` or
- a file that isn't in the origin target's sources

it must be added to ``AUTOGEN_TARGET_DEPENDS``.