Visual Studio 2017 - Disable CMake for dependencies

Question

I have a Visual Studio 2017 Solution that has some header-only dependencies that are multiplatform and use CMake.

I do not need CMake at all, but I keep getting a lot of warnings and issues because Visual Studio 2017 insists on using CMake, exploring these projects, etc.

Is there a way to completely disable the CMake feature for this solution/project?

Update:

• I load the project as a solution not as a CMake project.

• It is a header-only library and it does not require CMake to work. It is just using it for testing and other purposes.

• I keep the dependency as a git submodule so I don't want to make changes to it. It is correctly working by adding it to the main project as an include path, etc.

• The only thing I want I want is to avoid is CMake autodiscovery in these directories because I have no use for it.

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For instance:

• Add Eigen to your project as a submodule in a directory called Eigen. (This is a header-only library)

• Write some code in your solution and reference the header files (you need to add the correct include paths, etc.)

• You will see that CMake will pick Eigen (when it is not actually necessary)

• You will get warnings and Targets, etc.

Answer 1

Don't open the CMakeLists.txt with File->Open->CMake. Choose File->Open->File. You can also try to uninstall the visual studio c++ tools for cmake portion of Visual Studio 2017 via the installation tool.

Answer 2

In Solution Explorer, locate CMakeLists.txt, right-click it. Select Custom Build Tool->General. Erase everything from there. Make sure you have a backup just in case ...