VisualC.html

   1 <HTML>
   2         <HEAD>
   3                 <TITLE>Using SDL with Microsoft Visual C++</TITLE>
   4         </HEAD>
   5         <BODY>
   6                 <H1>
   7                         Using SDL with Microsoft Visual C++ 5,6&nbsp;and 7
   8                 </H1>
   9                 <H3>
  10                         by <A HREF="mailto:snowlion@sprynet.com">Lion Kimbro </A>and additions by <A HREF="mailto:james@conceptofzero.net">
  11                                 James Turk</A>
  12                 </H3>
  13                 <p>
  14                         You can either use the precompiled libraries from <A HREF="http://www.libsdl.org/download.php">
  15                                 the SDL Download web site </A>, or you can build SDL yourself.
  16                 </p>
  17                 <H3>
  18                         Building SDL
  19                 </H3>
  20                 <P>
  21                         Unzip the <CODE>VisualC.zip</CODE> file into the directory that contains this
  22                         file (<CODE>VisualC.html</CODE>).
  23                 </P>
  24                 <P>
  25                         Be certain that you unzip the zip file for your compiler into <strong>this</strong>
  26                         directory and not any other directory. If you are using WinZip, be careful to
  27                         make sure that it extracts to <strong>this</strong> folder, because it's
  28                         convenient feature of unzipping to a folder with the name of the file currently
  29                         being unzipped will get you in trouble if you use it right now. And that's all
  30                         I have to say about that.
  31                 </P>
  32                 <P>
  33                         Now that it's unzipped, go into the VisualC
  34                         directory that is created, and double-click on the VC++ file "<CODE>SDL.dsw</CODE>"<STRONG><FONT color="#009900">
  35                                         ("<CODE>SDL.sln</CODE>").</FONT></STRONG> This should open up the IDE.
  36                 </P>
  37                 <P>
  38                         You may be prompted at this point to upgrade the workspace, should you be using
  39                         a more recent version of Visual C++. If so, allow the workspace to be upgraded.
  40                 </P>
  41                 <P>
  42                         Build the <CODE>.dll</CODE> and <CODE>.lib</CODE> files.
  43                 </P>
  44                 <P>
  45                         This is done by right clicking on each project in turn (Projects are listed in
  46                         the Workspace panel in the FileView tab), and selecting "Build".
  47                 </P>
  48                 <P>
  49                         If you get an error about SDL_config.h being missing, you should
  50                         copy include/SDL_config.h.default to include/SDL_config.h and try again.
  51                 </P>
  52                 <P>
  53                         You may get a few warnings, but you should not get any errors. You do have to
  54                         have at least the DirectX 5 SDK installed, however. The latest
  55                         version of DirectX can be downloaded or purchased on a cheap CD (my
  56                         recommendation) from <A HREF="http://www.microsoft.com">Microsoft </A>.
  57                 </P>
  58                 <P>
  59                         Later, we will refer to the following .lib and .dll files that have just been
  60                         generated:
  61                 </P>
  62                 <ul>
  63     <li> SDL.dll</li>
  64     <li> SDL.lib</li>
  65     <li> SDLmain.lib</li>
  66     </ul>
  67                 <P>
  68                         Search for these using the Windows Find (Windows-F) utility, if you don't
  69                         already know where they should be. For those of you with a clue, look inside
  70                         the Debug or Release directories of the subdirectories of the Project folder.
  71                         (It might be easier to just use Windows Find if this sounds confusing. And
  72                         don't worry about needing a clue; we all need visits from the clue fairy
  73                         frequently.)
  74                 </P>
  75                 <H3>
  76                         Creating a Project with SDL
  77                 </H3>
  78                 <P>
  79                         Create a project as a Win32 Application.
  80                 </P>
  81                 <P>
  82                         Create a C++ file for your project.
  83                 </P>
  84                 <P>
  85                         Set the C runtime to "Multi-threaded DLL" in the menu: <CODE>Project|Settings|C/C++
  86                                 tab|Code Generation|Runtime Library </CODE>.
  87                 </P>
  88                 <P>
  89                         Add the SDL <CODE>include</CODE> directory to your list of includes in the
  90                         menu: <CODE>Project|Settings|C/C++ tab|Preprocessor|Additional include directories </CODE>
  91                         .
  92                         <br>
  93                         <STRONG><FONT color="#009900">VC7 Specific: Instead of doing this I find it easier to
  94                                         add the include and library directories to the list that VC7 keeps. Do this by
  95                                         selecting Tools|Options|Projects|VC++ Directories and under the "Show
  96                                         Directories For:" dropbox select "Include Files", and click the "New Directory
  97                                         Icon" and add the [SDLROOT]\include directory (ex. If you installed to
  98                                         c:\SDL-1.2.5\ add c:\SDL-1.2.5\include).&nbsp;Proceed to&nbsp;change the
  99                                         dropbox selection to "Library Files" and add [SDLROOT]\lib.</FONT></STRONG>
 100                 </P>
 101                         <P>
 102                                 The "include directory" I am referring to is the <CODE>include</CODE> folder
 103                                 within the main SDL directory (the one that this HTML file located within).
 104                         </P>
 105                         <P>
 106                                 Now we're going to use the files that we had created earlier in the Build SDL
 107                                 step.
 108                         </P>
 109                         <P>
 110                                 Copy the following files into your Project directory:
 111                         </P>
 112                         <ul>
 113      <li> SDL.dll</li>
 114      </ul>
 115                         <P>
 116                                 Add the following files to your project (It is not necessary to copy them to
 117                                 your project directory):
 118                         </P>
 119                         <ul>
 120      <li> SDL.lib </li>
 121      <li> SDLmain.lib</li>
 122      </ul>
 123                         <P>
 124                                 (To add them to your project, right click on your project, and select "Add
 125                                 files to project")
 126                         </P>
 127                 <P><STRONG><FONT color="#009900">Instead of adding the files to your project it is more
 128                                         desireable to add them to the linker options: Project|Properties|Linker|Command
 129                                         Line and type the names of the libraries to link with in the "Additional
 130                                         Options:" box.&nbsp; Note: This must be done&nbsp;for&nbsp;each&nbsp;build
 131                                         configuration (eg. Release,Debug).</FONT></STRONG></P>
 132                 <H3>
 133                         SDL 101, First Day of Class
 134                 </H3>
 135                 <P>
 136                         Now create the basic body of your project. The body of your program should take
 137                         the following form: <CODE>
 138                                 <PRE>
 139 #include "SDL.h"
 140
 141 int main( int argc, char* argv[] )
 142 {
 143   // Body of the program goes here.
 144   return 0;
 145 }
 146 </PRE>
 147                         </CODE>
 148                 <P></P>
 149                 <H3>
 150                         That's it!
 151                 </H3>
 152                 <P>
 153                         I hope that this document has helped you get through the most difficult part of
 154                         using the SDL: installing it. Suggestions for improvements to this document
 155                         should be sent to the writers of this document.
 156                 </P>
 157                 <P>
 158                         Thanks to Paulus Esterhazy (pesterhazy@gmx.net), for the work on VC++ port.
 159                 </P>
 160                 <P>
 161                         This document was originally called "VisualC.txt", and was written by <A HREF="mailto:slouken@libsdl.org">
 162                                 Sam Lantinga</A>.
 163                 </P>
 164                 <P>
 165                         Later, it was converted to HTML and expanded into the document that you see
 166                         today by <A HREF="mailto:snowlion@sprynet.com">Lion Kimbro</A>.
 167                 </P>
 168                 <P>Minor Fixes and Visual C++ 7 Information (In Green) was added by <A HREF="mailto:james@conceptofzero.net">James Turk</A>
 169                 </P>
 170         </BODY>
 171 </HTML>