Remove console on windows version of all GUI CamiTK application (camitk-imp, camitk-actionstatemachine, camitk-wizard)
As a camitk-imp user and CamiTK developer
I would like to optimize the application performance and not have a visible (1990's) dark console when I launch imp
So that I am not disturbed by another window on the screen, and therefore I focus on the task I need to do in the main window of camitk-imp
Epic/Topics ]

Description / Overview

By default, MSVC compile camitk-imp and all other GUI-based CamiTK programs as a console program.

As stated here, this mode results in Windows allocating and showing a console for you when starting the program up (e.g. CamiTK-imp). This console will require a redraw on every std::cerr or std::cout print, resulting in massive performance issues.

The best would be have a specific option in the camitk_application macro to declare the application as a console application (by default, and considering the CAMI domain, I suppose it is better to say that an application has a GUI by default, only specific CamiTK application are console only). E.g.:

camitk_application(...
                   NO_GUI
                   ...
)

Hints

As stated here:

If you program shows a graphical window, then you should change it to a Windows program. There are three methods to do this. The first option is to set the executable type to WIN32 in CMake:

     if(WIN32)
         add_executable(${EXECUTABLE_NAME} WIN32 ${SRC})
     else()
         add_executable(${EXECUTABLE_NAME} ${SRC})
     endif()

This is confirmed to work in this answer on stackoverflow.

The second proposed option seems a bit to windowesque and rely on the MSVC compiler. The third proposed option should not be considered here as it won't be a nice way considering the CamiTK objectives (it make use of a #pragma)

See also the CMake documentation for add_executable and WIN32_EXECUTABLE property/flag

Acceptance tests

  • When run camitk-imp, camitk-actionstatemachine, and camitk-wizard do not show any console
  • All other CamiTK CE application seem to work as before (e.g. the config and cepgenerator test pass)
  • The camitk_application macro has a new option for console application
  • The camitk_application macro documents this new option (so that generated doxygen talks about it)

Track

Track Prototyping Experience

Edited by Emmanuel Promayon