75z Intermediate directory. This defi nes where intermediate fi les, primarily
object fi les (.obj extension), are placed during a build. Intermediate fi les
are never shipped with your fi nal program—they are only required
during the process of building your executable, library, or DLL. Hence,
it is a good idea to place intermediate fi les in a diff erent directory than
the fi nal products (.exe, .lib or .dll fi les).
Note that VisualStudio provides a macro facility which may be used
when specifying directories and other sett ings in the “Project Property Pages”
dialog. A macro is essentially a named variable that contains a global value and
that can be referred to in your project confi guration sett ings.
Macros are invoked by writing the name of the macro enclosed in paren-
theses and prefi xed with a dollar sign (e.g., $(ConfigurationName)). Some
commonly used macros are listed below.
z $(TargetFileName). The name of the fi nal executable, library, or DLL
fi le being built by this project.
z $(TargetPath). The full path of the folder containing the fi nal execut-
able, library, or DLL.
z $(ConfigurationName). The name of the build confi g, typically “De-
bug” or “Release.”2.2. Microsoft Visual Studio
Figure 2.10. Visual Studio project property pages—General page.