Linking a .lib library to a project in Visual Studio

Question

Somehow, even after going through a lot of materials, I could not understand one thing. I have a c++ library project in Visual Studio 2013. When I build it, it creates *.lib file. Now, there is another project where I need to link the .lib file. I created a folder called lib, dumped the .lib file in there and set the path of the lib folder to Properties->Linker->General->Additional Library Directories. Next I added the library file name *.lib in Properties->Linker->Input->Additional Dependencies. Now, building the project throws huge list of linker errors with message unresolved external symbol .... What is that I need to do more for linking the library?

Answer 1

I'm not sure what's the language your "another project" used, anyway, you should specifically set your *.lib file in Linker->Input->Additional Dependencies if you didn't explicitly load it in code.

Answer 2

If the both projects reside in the same solution the simplest option is to right-click of the project, go to to Properties, there go to Common Properties and in Framework and References add a reference to that library project. This will set the linker to link the .lib and adds a build dependency so the lib is always compiled before the executable.