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+# Adding a Custom Command and Generated File #
+
+In this section we will show how you can add a generated source file into the
+build process of an application. For this example, we will create a table of
+precomputed square roots as part of the build process, and then compile that
+table into our application.
+
+To accomplish this, we first need a program that will generate the table. In the
+MathFunctions subdirectory a new source file named MakeTable.cxx will do just that.
+
+ // A simple program that builds a sqrt table
+ #include <iostream>
+ #include <fstream>
+ #include <cmath>
+
+ int main (int argc, char *argv[])
+ {
+ // make sure we have enough arguments
+ if (argc < 2) {
+ return 1;
+ }
+
+ std::ofstream fout(argv[1],std::ios_base::out);
+ const bool fileOpen = fout.is_open();
+ if(fileOpen) {
+ fout << "double sqrtTable[] = {" << std::endl;
+ for (int i = 0; i < 10; ++i) {
+ fout << sqrt(static_cast<double>(i)) << "," << std::endl;
+ }
+ // close the table with a zero
+ fout << "0};" << std::endl;
+ fout.close();
+ }
+ return fileOpen ? 0 : 1; // return 0 if wrote the file
+ }
+
+Note that the table is produced as valid C++ code and that the output filename
+is passed in as an argument.
+
+The next step is to add the appropriate commands to MathFunctions’ CMakeLists
+file to build the MakeTable executable and then run it as part of the build
+process. A few commands are needed to accomplish this, as shown below:
+
+ # first we add the executable that generates the table
+ add_executable(MakeTable MakeTable.cxx)
+
+ # add the command to generate the source code
+ add_custom_command(
+ OUTPUT ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/Table.h
+ COMMAND MakeTable ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/Table.h
+ DEPENDS MakeTable
+ )
+
+ # add the main library
+ add_library(MathFunctions
+ mysqrt.cxx
+ ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/Table.h
+ )
+
+ target_include_directories(MathFunctions
+ INTERFACE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}
+ PUBLIC ${Tutorial_BINARY_DIR}
+ # add the binary tree directory to the search path for include files
+ ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}
+ )
+
+ install(TARGETS MathFunctions DESTINATION lib)
+ install(FILES MathFunctions.h DESTINATION include)
+
+First, the executable for MakeTable is added as any other executable would be
+added. Then we add a custom command that specifies how to produce Table.h by
+running MakeTable. Next we have to let CMake know that mysqrt.cxx depends on
+the generated file Table.h. This is done by adding the generated Table.h to the
+list of sources for the library MathFunctions. We also have to add the current
+binary directory to the list of include directories so that Table.h can be
+found and included by mysqrt.cxx.
+
+Now let's use the generated table. First, modify mysqrt.cxx to include Table.h.
+Next, we can rewrite the mysqrt function to use the table:
+
+ if (x <= 0) {
+ return 0;
+ }
+
+ // use the table to help find an initial value
+ double result = x;
+ if (x >= 1 && x < 10) {
+ result = sqrtTable[static_cast<int>(x)];
+ }
+
+ // do ten iterations
+ for (int i = 0; i < 10; ++i) {
+ if (result <= 0) {
+ result = 0.1;
+ }
+ double delta = x - (result*result);
+ result = result + 0.5*delta/result;
+ std::cout << "Computing sqrt of " << x << " to be " << result << std::endl;
+ }
+
+Run cmake or cmake-gui to configure the project and then build it with your
+chosen build tool. When this project is built it will first build the MakeTable
+executable. It will then run MakeTable to produce Table.h. Finally, it will
+compile mysqrt.cxx which includes Table.h to produce the MathFunctions library.