3 <TITLE>Using SDL with Microsoft Visual C++</TITLE>
7 Using SDL with Microsoft Visual C++ 5,6 and 7
10 by <A HREF="mailto:snowlion@sprynet.com">Lion Kimbro </A>and additions by <A HREF="mailto:james@conceptofzero.net">
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.
21 Unzip the <CODE>VisualC.zip</CODE> file into the directory that contains this
22 file (<CODE>VisualC.html</CODE>).
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.
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.
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.
42 Build the <CODE>.dll</CODE> and <CODE>.lib</CODE> files.
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".
49 You may get a few warnings, but you should not get any errors. You do have to
50 have at least the DirectX 5 SDK installed, however. The latest
51 version of DirectX can be downloaded or purchased on a cheap CD (my
52 recommendation) from <A HREF="http://www.microsoft.com">Microsoft </A>.
55 Later, we will refer to the following .lib and .dll files that have just been
64 Search for these using the Windows Find (Windows-F) utility, if you don't
65 already know where they should be. For those of you with a clue, look inside
66 the Debug or Release directories of the subdirectories of the Project folder.
67 (It might be easier to just use Windows Find if this sounds confusing. And
68 don't worry about needing a clue; we all need visits from the clue fairy
72 Creating a Project with SDL
75 Create a project as a Win32 Application.
78 Create a C++ file for your project.
81 Set the C runtime to "Multi-threaded DLL" in the menu: <CODE>Project|Settings|C/C++
82 tab|Code Generation|Runtime Library </CODE>.
85 Add the SDL <CODE>include</CODE> directory to your list of includes in the
86 menu: <CODE>Project|Settings|C/C++ tab|Preprocessor|Additional include directories </CODE>
89 <STRONG><FONT color="#009900">VC7 Specific: Instead of doing this I find it easier to
90 add the include and library directories to the list that VC7 keeps. Do this by
91 selecting Tools|Options|Projects|VC++ Directories and under the "Show
92 Directories For:" dropbox select "Include Files", and click the "New Directory
93 Icon" and add the [SDLROOT]\include directory (ex. If you installed to
94 c:\SDL-1.2.5\ add c:\SDL-1.2.5\include). Proceed to change the
95 dropbox selection to "Library Files" and add [SDLROOT]\lib.</FONT></STRONG>
98 The "include directory" I am referring to is the <CODE>include</CODE> folder
99 within the main SDL directory (the one that this HTML file located within).
102 Now we're going to use the files that we had created earlier in the Build SDL
106 Copy the following files into your Project directory:
112 Add the following files to your project (It is not necessary to copy them to
113 your project directory):
117 <li> SDLmain.lib</li>
120 (To add them to your project, right click on your project, and select "Add
123 <P><STRONG><FONT color="#009900">Instead of adding the files to your project it is more
124 desireable to add them to the linker options: Project|Properties|Linker|Command
125 Line and type the names of the libraries to link with in the "Additional
126 Options:" box. Note: This must be done for each build
127 configuration (eg. Release,Debug).</FONT></STRONG></P>
129 SDL 101, First Day of Class
132 Now create the basic body of your project. The body of your program should take
133 the following form: <CODE>
137 int main( int argc, char* argv[] )
139 // Body of the program goes here.
149 I hope that this document has helped you get through the most difficult part of
150 using the SDL: installing it. Suggestions for improvements to this document
151 should be sent to the writers of this document.
154 Thanks to Paulus Esterhazy (pesterhazy@gmx.net), for the work on VC++ port.
157 This document was originally called "VisualC.txt", and was written by <A HREF="mailto:slouken@libsdl.org">
161 Later, it was converted to HTML and expanded into the document that you see
162 today by <A HREF="mailto:snowlion@sprynet.com">Lion Kimbro</A>.
164 <P>Minor Fixes and Visual C++ 7 Information (In Green) was added by <A HREF="mailto:james@conceptofzero.net">James Turk</A>