Enabling GDML on Windows

Getting Started
1

Hi All. I’m attempting to build geant4-v11.3.0 with GDML following previous questions Geant4 installation options on Windows.
I follow the methodology suggested by weller. However, Xerces-C still cannot be found.

CMake Error at C:/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio/2022/Community/Common7/IDE/CommonExtensions/Microsoft/CMake/CMake/share/cmake-3.30/Modules/FindPackageHandleStandardArgs.cmake:233 (message):
  Failed to find XercesC (missing: XercesC_LIBRARY XercesC_INCLUDE_DIR
  XercesC_VERSION) (Required is at least version "3.3.0")

I can see that the GDML headers have been built and the CmakeCache shows the following messages relating to the inclusion of XercesC.

 //No help, variable specified on the command line.
CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH:UNINITIALIZED=C:\Program Files\xercesc\xerces-c-3.3.0-install
...
//Xerces-C++ include directory
XercesC_INCLUDE_DIR:PATH=C:/Program Files/xercesc/xerces-c-3.3.0-install/include

//Xerces-C++ libraries (debug)
XercesC_LIBRARY_DEBUG:FILEPATH=XercesC_LIBRARY_DEBUG-NOTFOUND

//Xerces-C++ libraries (release)
XercesC_LIBRARY_RELEASE:FILEPATH=C:/Program Files/xercesc/xerces-c-3.3.0-install/lib/xerces-c_3.lib

I have previously built Geant4 and had this working without GDML, but have then attempted to rebuild this with GDML and get this issue. I can recover Geant4 without GDML. How can I correctly build the GDML tools?

See details of my build below.
Thanks in advance,
Joe Crone

XercesC has been installed at C:\Program Files\xercesc\xerces-c-3.3.0-install following the instructions Build Instructions and configured for the windows build, with

cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="C:\Program Files\xercesc\xerces-c-3.3.0-install" "C:\Program Files\xercesc\xerces-c-3.3.0"
cmake --build . --config Debug
cmake --build . --config Debug --target install

Then in the Geant4 build I have used the standard build as described in https:;;geant4-userdoc.web.cern.ch;UsersGuides;InstallationGuide;html;installguide.html#on-windows-platforms.
(Apologies, using semi-colons instead of slashes in links because of forum limits for new users)
However, I have used the configuration

cmake <standard> -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH="C:\Program Files\xercesc\xerces-c-3.3.0-install" -DGEANT4_USE_GDML=ON "C:\Program Files\Geant4\geant4-v11.3.0"
cmake --build . --config Release
cmake --build . --config Release --target install

_Geant4 Version:v11.3.0
_Operating System:Windows 11
_Compiler/Version:MSVC 14.42
_CMake Version:3.30.5-msvc23

2

Hello Joe,

I tried your CMake command and CMake found the Xerces library correctly.
You can also try to add the “C:\Program Files\xercesc\xerces-c-3.3.0-install\bin” to your path. In this way, it is not necessary to use the -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH.

On Windows, I also recommend using the CMake GUI. Here you can see if the library and headers are found, and if not, you can set them manually.

Andrea

3

Hi Andrea,

Thanks for checking this out. I have also attempted to replicate this on a different windows 10 PC which also fails in the same way. xerces-c-3.3.0 has been added to path (system environment variable) in both cases. I will try to configure this using the cmake GUI and without using -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH and see if this gives me a different result.

Joe

4

Thanks Andrea,

This I have built Geant4 with the cmake GUI and this builds identically to the command line version above. I can re-build my projects but I have to specify

-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="<path/to/xerces-c>

on every configuration command for the projects i.e. xerces-c is not found unless I point cmake to it.
Is there a way to avoid this?

Joe

5

This doesn’t work for any project in which Xerces-C++ is used. When trying to use the GDMLParser I get the following system error.

image
image1074×436 22.7 KB

The system error does not pop up until the code is executed. The configuration and build steps proceed fine. The file xerces-c-3_3.dll is present in xercesc/xerces-c-3.3.0-install/bin.

How can I avoid this error?

Joe

6

I have also attempted to build Geant4 with GDML with respect to the tutorial at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU4Ps3pHdIc on two different PCs. Again, XercesC is not found when configuring projects unless

-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="<path/to/xerces-c>"

is used (the path is now C:\Program Files\xerces-c). This then configures and builds but upon execution gives the same system error as in my previous post.

Joe

7

That dll isnt in your windows path. You need to look into how to add it.