Correct usage of simdjson in Visual Studio (2022)

[Mellnik]

I am trying to embed simdjson in my application using Visual Studio 2022.

I have built the library and included the singleheader file. When compiling I get the following errors:

include\simdjson.h(507): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_BUILDING_WINDOWS_DYNAMIC_LIBRARY' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(512): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_USING_WINDOWS_DYNAMIC_LIBRARY' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(524): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_USING_LIBRARY' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(2273): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_DEVELOPMENT_CHECKS' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(9653): error C4668: '__AVX2__' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(9670): error C4668: '__AVX2__' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(9670): error C4668: '__AVX2__' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(9686): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_IS_ARM64' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(9686): error C4668: '__AVX2__' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(9686): error C4668: '__AVX2__' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(9686): error C4668: '__SSE4_2__' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(9686): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_IS_PPC64' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(9704): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_IS_ARM64' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(13757): error C4668: '__AVX2__' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(13823): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_CLANG_VISUAL_STUDIO' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(14016): error C4800: Implicit conversion from 'unsigned char' to bool. Possible information loss
include\simdjson.h(14017): note: consider using explicit cast or comparison to 0 to avoid this warning
include\simdjson.h(14070): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_GCC8' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(15959): error C4668: '__AVX2__' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(16025): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_CLANG_VISUAL_STUDIO' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(16210): error C4800: Implicit conversion from 'unsigned char' to bool. Possible information loss
include\simdjson.h(16211): note: consider using explicit cast or comparison to 0 to avoid this warning
include\simdjson.h(16529): error C4800: Implicit conversion from 'int' to bool. Possible information loss
include\simdjson.h(16529): note: consider using explicit cast or comparison to 0 to avoid this warning
include\simdjson.h(16531): error C4800: Implicit conversion from 'int' to bool. Possible information loss
include\simdjson.h(16531): note: consider using explicit cast or comparison to 0 to avoid this warning
include\simdjson.h(18149): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_IS_PPC64' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(20453): error C4668: '__SSE4_2__' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(20518): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_CLANG_VISUAL_STUDIO' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(20690): error C4800: Implicit conversion from 'unsigned char' to bool. Possible information loss
include\simdjson.h(20691): note: consider using explicit cast or comparison to 0 to avoid this warning
include\simdjson.h(20979): error C4800: Implicit conversion from 'int' to bool. Possible information loss
include\simdjson.h(20979): note: consider using explicit cast or comparison to 0 to avoid this warning
include\simdjson.h(20981): error C4800: Implicit conversion from 'int' to bool. Possible information loss
include\simdjson.h(20981): note: consider using explicit cast or comparison to 0 to avoid this warning
include\simdjson.h(22606): error C4668: '__AVX2__' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(22608): error C4668: '__AVX2__' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(22610): error C4668: '__SSE4_2__' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(22612): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_IS_ARM64' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(22614): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_IS_PPC64' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(22950): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_VERBOSE_LOGGING' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(23583): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_DEVELOPMENT_CHECKS' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(26627): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_DEVELOPMENT_CHECKS' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(27767): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_CHECK_EOF' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(27828): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_CHECK_EOF' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(27955): error C4800: Implicit conversion from 'simdjson::fallback::ondemand::parser *const ' to bool. Possible information loss
include\simdjson.h(27955): note: consider using explicit cast or comparison to nullptr to avoid this warning
include\simdjson.h(27964): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_CHECK_EOF' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(27976): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_CHECK_EOF' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(27983): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_CHECK_EOF' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(27999): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_CHECK_EOF' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(28059): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_DEVELOPMENT_CHECKS' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(28069): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_DEVELOPMENT_CHECKS' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(28141): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_DEVELOPMENT_CHECKS' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(28190): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_CHECK_EOF' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(28241): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_DEVELOPMENT_CHECKS' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(28266): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_DEVELOPMENT_CHECKS' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(28353): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_DEVELOPMENT_CHECKS' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(28382): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_DEVELOPMENT_CHECKS' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(28543): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_DEVELOPMENT_CHECKS' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(28960): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_DEVELOPMENT_CHECKS' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(29208): error C4800: Implicit conversion from 'simdjson::error_code' to bool. Possible information loss
include\simdjson.h(29208): note: consider using explicit cast or comparison to 0 to avoid this warning
include\simdjson.h(2306): note: see declaration of 'simdjson::error_code'
include\simdjson.h(29335): error C4800: Implicit conversion from 'simdjson::error_code' to bool. Possible information loss
include\simdjson.h(29335): note: consider using explicit cast or comparison to 0 to avoid this warning
include\simdjson.h(2306): note: see declaration of 'simdjson::error_code'
include\simdjson.h(29415): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_DEVELOPMENT_CHECKS' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(30008): error C4800: Implicit conversion from 'simdjson::error_code' to bool. Possible information loss
include\simdjson.h(30008): note: consider using explicit cast or comparison to 0 to avoid this warning
include\simdjson.h(2306): note: see declaration of 'simdjson::error_code'
include\simdjson.h(30074): error C4800: Implicit conversion from 'simdjson::error_code' to bool. Possible information loss
include\simdjson.h(30074): note: consider using explicit cast or comparison to 0 to avoid this warning
include\simdjson.h(2306): note: see declaration of 'simdjson::error_code'
include\simdjson.h(30963): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_DEVELOPMENT_CHECKS' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(31118): error C4668: 'SIMDJSON_DEVELOPMENT_CHECKS' is not defined as a preprocessor macro, replacing with '0' for '#if/#elif'
include\simdjson.h(13070): error C4800: Implicit conversion from 'uint32_t' to bool. Possible information loss
include\simdjson.h(13070): note: consider using explicit cast or comparison to 0 to avoid this warning
1>C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.35.32215\INCLUDE\stdint.h(24): note: see declaration of 'uint32_t'

I am sorry but I did not find any docs on how to correctly embed the library.
Is there any clarification on it?

Thank you!

[lemire]

Thanks for your interest.

How you might use simdjson in Visual Studio depends very much of what you want to do...

1. You can just build the library (either static or dynamic/DLL) by grabbing CMake project (Visual Studio supports CMake). Then it becomes just another DLL.
2. You can import it as vcpkg dependency: https://github.com/simdjson/simdjson/wiki/vcpkg
3. You can install it by conan (https://github.com/simdjson/simdjson/wiki/conan). You will need to install conan support in Visual Studio.
4. You can just copy the single-header files into your project and treat it as you would treat any C++ code. See my example: https://github.com/lemire/simdjson_visual_studio_2022_example

Note: The "errors" you report are not errors. They are compiler warnings that are always disabled by default:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/error-messages/compiler-warnings/compiler-warning-level-4-c4668?view=msvc-170

It is fine if you like to have lots of static analysis done, but it is not useful to turn compiler warnings into an error. It is not a productive approach. If you are concerned by them, we are always happy to receive pull requests, but please do not report as errors compiler warnings that are never enabled by default.

[Mellnik]

Thank you for the detailed answer.

In my case I am building with Unreal Engine which has it's own predefined compilation setup.

I now have disabled the warnings/error before including the header file. This is how UE apparently handles many 3rd party libraries.

#if PLATFORM_WINDOWS
#include "Windows/WindowsHWrapper.h"
#include "Windows/AllowWindowsPlatformTypes.h"
#include "Windows/AllowWindowsPlatformAtomics.h"
#endif

THIRD_PARTY_INCLUDES_START

#include <simdjson.h>

THIRD_PARTY_INCLUDES_END

#if PLATFORM_WINDOWS
#include "Windows/HideWindowsPlatformAtomics.h"
#include "Windows/HideWindowsPlatformTypes.h"
#endif

[lemire]

Thanks. I looked at the warnings and it is unreasonable for us to silence them. For example, error() returns an integer enum which is different from zero if and only if there is an error. Going through and replacing if(error()) by if((bool)error()) is insane, and adding another function to our API is only a burden.

The Unreal Engine folks are being unreasonable.