What are best practices regarding c++ project folder structure?

imstylen · January 28, 2020, 8:27pm

During compiling after upgrading to 4.24 I was notified of a few engine changes and went about updating my code to account for depreciations. All was well, other than a default build setting that had changed:

[Upgrade]     bLegacyPublicIncludePaths = false                 => Omits subfolders from public include paths to reduce compiler command line length. (Previously: true).

As it says, setting this value to true will mess up your includes if you have split your files into multiple subdirectories.

My project source folder is as follows (Wall of text incoming):

C:.
│   Game.Target.cs
│   GameEditor.Target.cs
│
└───Game
    │   Game.Build.cs
    │   Game.cpp
    │   Game.h
    │   GameCharacter.cpp
    │   GameCharacter.h
    │   GameCharacterAnimInstance.cpp
    │   GameCharacterAnimInstance.h
    │   GameGameInstance.cpp
    │   GameGameInstance.h
    │   GameGameMode.cpp
    │   GameGameMode.h
    │   HealthBar.cpp
    │   HealthBar.h
    │   LoginGameMode.cpp
    │   LoginGameMode.h
    │
    ├───Abilities
    │   │   ChanceProcAbility.cpp
    │   │   ChanceProcAbility.h
    │   │   SelfHealAbility.cpp
    │   │   SelfHealAbility.h
    │   │   SellfEffectAbility.cpp
    │   │   SellfEffectAbility.h
    │   │   SingleEffectAbility.cpp
    │   │   SingleEffectAbility.h
    │   │   UseIfEffectActive.cpp
    │   │   UseIfEffectActive.h
    │   │
    │   └───Core
    │           AbilityComponent.cpp
    │           AbilityComponent.h
    │
    ├───GameplayEffects
    │   │   MovementControlLossEffect.cpp
    │   │   MovementControlLossEffect.h
    │   │   ProcOverlayEffect.cpp
    │   │   ProcOverlayEffect.h
    │   │   StatEffect.cpp
    │   │   StatEffect.h
    │   │
    │   └───Core
    │           DOTEffect.cpp
    │           DOTEffect.h
    │           GamePlayEffectComponent.cpp
    │           GamePlayEffectComponent.h
    │
    ├───Lobby
    │       LobbyGameMode.cpp
    │       LobbyGameMode.h
    │       LobbyPlayerController.cpp
    │       LobbyPlayerController.h
    │
    ├───Player
    │   └───Core
    │           GamePlayerController.cpp
    │           GamePlayerController.h
    │           PlayerCharacter.cpp
    │           PlayerCharacter.h
    │           PlayerCharacterAnimInstance.cpp
    │           PlayerCharacterAnimInstance.h
    │
    └───UserInterface
            AbilityBarItem.cpp
            AbilityBarItem.h
            EffectStackBar.cpp
            EffectStackBar.h
            EffectStackBarItem.cpp
            EffectStackBarItem.h
            HotBar.cpp
            HotBar.h
            LoginWidget.cpp
            LoginWidget.h
            WinnerOverlayWidget.cpp
            WinnerOverlayWidget.h

I’m assuming that by this upgrade being the new default, the way I’ve been going at it is not intended. It feels off to have everything in one folder. You can split it up in visual studio using filters, but every time you “Generate project files” they are lost to the abyss.