How to build my Qt/MSbuild project in Github actions

Question

My project is developed in Qt C++ in Windows environment. I want to build on Github actions by using msbuild and windeployqt.

This is my example yml script

name: MSBuild
on:
 push:
 branches: [ "master" ]
 pull_request:
 branches: [ "master" ]
env:
 # Path to the solution file relative to the root of the project.
 SOLUTION_FILE_PATH: ..
 QT_VERSION: 6.4.3
 # Configuration type to build.
 # You can convert this to a build matrix if you need coverage of multiple configuration types.
 # https://docs.github.com/actions/learn-github-actions/managing-complex-workflows#using-a-build-matrix
 BUILD_CONFIGURATION: Release
permissions:
 contents: read
jobs:
 build:
 runs-on: windows-latest
steps:
- name: (1) Checkout repo
 uses: actions/checkout@v3
- name: (2) Install Qt
 uses: jurplel/install-qt-action@v3
 with:
 version: ${{ env.QT_VERSION }}
 host: windows
 target: desktop
 arch: win64_msvc2019_64
 dir: ${{ runner.temp }}
 setup-python: false 
 
- name: (4) Add MSBuild to PATH
 uses: microsoft/[email protected]
- name: Create build folder
 run: mkdir -p ${{ runner.temp }}\build
- name: (5) Build with msbuild
 working-directory: ${{ runner.temp }}\build
 run: echo "Start building in ${{ runner.temp }}\build"
 cd ${{ runner.temp }}\build
 msbuild /m /p:Configuration=${{ env.BUILD_CONFIGURATION }} ${{ github.workspace }}\xxx.sln
- name: (6) List contents of the build directory
 run: |
 ls -R ${{ runner.temp }}\build
 
#- name: (6) Deploy with windeployqt
# working-directory: ${{ runner.temp }}
# run: |
# mkdir ${{ env.DEPLOY_DIR }}
# windeployqt --dir ${{ env.DEPLOY_DIR }} ${{ env.SOLUTION_FILE_PATH }}/path/to/my/exe

But after step 5 and 6, nothing happened. There's even no any error message that I can check if the source code is built correctly.

Can someone teach me how to build it with MSbuild and windeployqt?

Thanks!

Update: after syntax errors fixed:

- name: (2) Install Qt
 uses: jurplel/install-qt-action@v3
 with:
 version: ${{ env.QT_VERSION }}
 host: windows
 target: desktop
 arch: win64_msvc2019_64
 dir: ${{ runner.temp }}
 setup-python: false 
 
- name: Print Qt version information
 run: |
 qmake -v
 
- name: (3) Add MSBuild to PATH
 uses: microsoft/[email protected]
- name: (4) Create build folder
 run: |
 mkdir -p ${{ runner.temp }}\build
- name: (5) Set Qt Environment Variables
 run: |
 echo "Setting Qt Environment Variables"
 echo "QTDIR=${{ runner.temp }}/Qt/${{ env.QT_VERSION }}/msvc2019_64" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 echo "QtToolsPath=${{ runner.temp }}/Qt/${{ env.QT_VERSION }}/msvc2019_64/bin" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 shell: bash
- name: (6) Build with msbuild
 working-directory: ${{ github.workspace }}
 run: |
 echo "Current directory: $($PWD.Path)"
 msbuild /p:Configuration=${{ env.BUILD_CONFIGURATION }} /p:OutDir=${{ runner.temp }}\build\ "${{ env.SOLUTION_FILE_PATH }}\QtStockV3.sln"

enter image description here

UPDATE 2: Q: How to include path in github action?

In the section below "Set Qt Environment Variables and path", I set several include path which contain my header files.

But according to the error msg, it didn't find the header files there?

I'll provide a complete example here, after I resolve all of this. And thanks for your help!

enter image description here

- name: (5) Install Vcpkg and cURL 
 working-directory: ${{ runner.temp }}
 run: |
 git clone https://github.com/microsoft/vcpkg.git
 cd vcpkg
 .\bootstrap-vcpkg.bat
 .\vcpkg install curl
 curl --version
- name: Set Qt Environment Variables and path
 run: |
 echo "QTDIR=${{ runner.temp }}/Qt/${{ env.QT_VERSION }}/msvc2019_64" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 echo "QtToolsPath=${{ runner.temp }}/Qt/${{ env.QT_VERSION }}/msvc2019_64/bin" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 echo "INCLUDE_PATH_1=${{ github.workspace }}/${{ env.PROJ_NAME }}/src/header" >> $GITHUB_PATH
 echo "INCLUDE_PATH_2=${{ github.workspace }}/${{ env.PROJ_NAME }}/src/parser" >> $GITHUB_PATH
 echo "INCLUDE_PATH_3=${{ github.workspace }}/${{ env.PROJ_NAME }}/src/cc" >> $GITHUB_PATH
 echo "INCLUDE_PATH_VCPKG=${{ runner.temp }}/vcpkg/installed/x64-windows/include" >> $GITHUB_PATH
 ls ${INCLUDE_PATH_1}
 ls ${INCLUDE_PATH_2}
 ls ${INCLUDE_PATH_3}
 shell: bash
 
- name: (7) Build with msbuild
 working-directory: ${{ github.workspace }}
 run: |
 echo "Current directory: $($PWD.Path)"
 msbuild /p:Configuration=${{ env.BUILD_CONFIGURATION }} /p:OutDir=${{ runner.temp }}\build\ "${{ env.SOLUTION_FILE_PATH }}\QtStockV3.sln"

enter image description here

Update 3 The way I use $GITHUB_PATH and $GITHUB_ENV seems not work. I installed json in the same way I installed in local.

The pkg was installed properly but still see the error msg in log.

- name: Install nlohmann JSON
 working-directory: ${{ runner.temp }}
 run: |
 git clone https://github.com//json.git
 cd json
 echo "${{ runner.temp }}\json\include" >> $GITHUB_ENV
 ls "${{ runner.temp }}\json\include"

enter image description here

enter image description here

Update 4: I installed json with vcpkg, then the errors left are related to header files path.

To simplified the including path, I move all of my headers to the same folder with .cc

update: I noticed that the path to my header file was not included in the list. But how to do this? To modify the vcxproj file locally? enter image description here

enter image description here

• Azeem: You may use lint your workflow with rhysd.github.io/actionlint to fix the typos.
• Azeem: You need to configure charts with modules i.e. modules: qcharts. Also, configure cache i.e. cache: true.
• Azeem: Typo in my above comment: qcharts => qtcharts
• Azeem: Apparently, missing vcpkg integrate install. See vcpkg.io/en/getting-started.html.
• Azeem: The path in your cl.exe command for JSON lib is C:\Installation\json\include which is not what nlohmann::json path you're using with #include directive. You need to fix these inclusions.

Answer 1

IIRC, you need to set QTDIR and QtToolsPath env vars before your build step. You may use QT_ROOT_DIR to set these in a separate step (see example below with Bash):

- name: Set QTDIR and QtToolsPath
 shell: bash
 run: |
 echo "QTDIR=$QT_ROOT_DIR" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
 echo "QtToolsPath=$QT_ROOT_DIR/bin" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
- name: Build
 run: ...

where, QT_ROOT_DIR represents the Qt installation directory.

See jurplel/install-qt-action's dir input parameter for more details on QT_ROOT_DIR.

---

Depending on your application, you may need to configure modules input parameter to install Qt modules which are not installed by default.

Apart from that, you might want to enable caching to speed up your workflow runs i.e. cache: true. See cache input parameter for more details.