Install protobuf using vcpkg.
Follow the instructions on the official Microsoft website to install vcpkg. In short:
- Clone locally from https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg. It is known to make problems, if there are spaces in the path to vcpkg. So I suggest installing it somewhere like
C:\Users\<username>\vcpkg\. So for example:
C:\Users\Username> git clone https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg
- Change to
vcpkgdirectory:C:\Users\Username> cd vcpkg - In the vcpkg root directory, run the vcpkg bootstrapper command:
C:\Users\Username\vcpkg> bootstrap-vcpkg.bat
In order to use protobuf in the debug version of AERA it needs to be compiled with ITERATOR_DEBUG_LEVEL = 0. Do do this you need to change the x86-windows.cmake triplets of vcpkg. Make a backup of the original x86-windows.cmake before continuing.
You can find the cmake-files in C:\Users\<username>\vcpkg\triplets. There open the x86-windows.cmake with an editor of choice (e.g. Notepad++) and add the following two lines to the end of the file:
set(VCPKG_C_FLAGS_DEBUG "/D_ITERATOR_DEBUG_LEVEL=0")
set(VCPKG_CXX_FLAGS_DEBUG "/D_ITERATOR_DEBUG_LEVEL=0")
The whole file should look like this:
set(VCPKG_TARGET_ARCHITECTURE x86)
set(VCPKG_CRT_LINKAGE dynamic)
set(VCPKG_LIBRARY_LINKAGE dynamic)
set(VCPKG_C_FLAGS_DEBUG "/D_ITERATOR_DEBUG_LEVEL=0")
set(VCPKG_CXX_FLAGS_DEBUG "/D_ITERATOR_DEBUG_LEVEL=0")
In order to use the installed protobuf version without including further linking the file name should stay the same (x86-windows.cmake).
Go into the root directory of vcpkg with a terminal and run the following command:
C:\Users\<username>\vcpkg> vcpkg install protobuf protobuf:x86-windows
In order to use protobuf include files in Visual Studio without further linking you should additionally run
C:\Users\<username>\vcpkg> vcpkg integrate install
If it returns with an error message it probably is because of lacking administrator rights. For this open a new terminal as an administrator and rerun the previous command.
To install Protobuf for usage on the Webots side, there are no prerequisits that you need to take care of. However, Webots is using x64, not x86 architecture. Pay close attention to this.
If the x64 version of protobuf has not been installed automatically when installing the x86 version, all you have to do is follow the same isntructions as above, only changing the install commans to:
C:\Users\<username>\vcpkg> vcpkg install protobuf protobuf:x64-windows
vcpkg should take care of everything else.
Not necessary for simply building and using the TCP IODevice, skip if not changing the tcp_data_message.proto file.
If you ever change the proto file you will have to recompile it.
For this use protoc which is included in the previously installed vcpkg protobuf installation.
If protoc is not in your path run the following from the ...\vcpkg\installed\x86-windows\tools\protobuf\ folder (for the compilation, it does not matter whether you use protoc located in the x86-windows or the x64-windows folder):
protoc -I=C:\Path\to\AERA_Protobuf --cpp_out=C:\Path\to\AERA_Protobuf C:\Path\to\AERA_Protobuf\tcp_data_message.proto
If protoc is in your path simply cd into the Proto folder and run:
C:\Path\to\AERA_Protobuf> protoc -I=. --cpp_out=. tcp_data_message.proto
After recompiling the .proto file you must add the #ifdef ENABLE_PROTOBUF statement to the generated .pp.cc file in the same way as before.
Once everything is installed you need to add the created dlls to your project. For this simply copy-paste libprotobuf.dll and libprotobuf-lite.dll from C:\Path\to\vcpkg\installed\x86-windows\bin to C:\Path\to\Webots\controllers\folder. Now everything should be set up for running AERA with a TCP connection.
Vcpkg should take care of copy pasting the generated dlls to AERA.
However, if this is not the case, do the same as above, copy-pasting the aforementioned dlls to the generated AERA Release folder. Additionally, copy-paste libprotobufd.dll and libprotobuf-lited.dll from C:\Path\to\vcpkg\installed\x86-windows\debug\bin to C:\Path\to\replicode\Debug. Since different dlls are used for Release/ Debug configuration.
If you want to use the tcp-connection with AERA you have to enable it by setting the ENABLE_PROTOBUF flag in the AERA project properties. For this right-click on the AERA project (in the solution view on the left), select Properties -> C/C++ -> Preprocessor. There in the first line (Preprocessor Definitions) add a new entry called ENABLE_PROTOBUF.