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++
   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"> the SDL Download web site </A>, or you can build SDL yourself.
  15                 </p>
  16                 <H3>
  17                         Building SDL
  18                 </H3>
  19                 <P>
  20                         Go into the VisualC directory and double-click on the Visual Studio solution for your version of Visual Studio, e.g. <CODE>SDL_VS2008.sln</CODE> This should open up the IDE.
  21                 </P>
  22                 <P>
  23                         There are different solution files for the various
  24                         versions of the IDE. Please use the appropiate version
  25                         2008, 2010, 2012 or 2013.
  26                 </P>
  27                 <P>
  28                         Build the <CODE>.dll</CODE> and <CODE>.lib</CODE> files.
  29                 </P>
  30                 <P>
  31                         This is done by right clicking on each project in turn (Projects are listed in
  32                         the Workspace panel in the FileView tab), and selecting "Build".
  33                 </P>
  34                 <P>
  35                         You may get a few warnings, but you should not get any errors. You do have to
  36                         have at least the DirectX 9 SDK installed, however. The latest
  37                         version of DirectX can be downloaded from <A HREF="http://www.microsoft.com">Microsoft</A>.
  38                 </P>
  39                 <P>
  40                         Later, we will refer to the following .lib and .dll files that have just been
  41                         generated:
  42                 </P>
  43                 <ul>
  44     <li> SDL2.dll</li>
  45     <li> SDL2.lib</li>
  46     <li> SDL2main.lib</li>
  47     </ul>
  48                 <P>
  49                         Search for these using the Windows Find (Windows-F) utility inside the VisualC directory.
  50                 </P>
  51                 <H3>
  52                         Creating a Project with SDL
  53                 </H3>
  54                 <P>
  55                         Create a project as a Win32 Application.
  56                 </P>
  57                 <P>
  58                         Create a C++ file for your project.
  59                 </P>
  60                 <P>
  61                         Set the C runtime to "Multi-threaded DLL" in the menu: <CODE>Project|Settings|C/C++
  62                                 tab|Code Generation|Runtime Library </CODE>.
  63                 </P>
  64                 <P>
  65                         Add the SDL <CODE>include</CODE> directory to your list of includes in the
  66                         menu: <CODE>Project|Settings|C/C++ tab|Preprocessor|Additional include directories </CODE>
  67                         .
  68                         <br>
  69                         <STRONG><FONT color="#009900">VC7 Specific: Instead of doing this I find it easier to
  70                                         add the include and library directories to the list that VC7 keeps. Do this by
  71                                         selecting Tools|Options|Projects|VC++ Directories and under the "Show
  72                                         Directories For:" dropbox select "Include Files", and click the "New Directory
  73                                         Icon" and add the [SDLROOT]\include directory (e.g. If you installed to
  74                                         c:\SDL\ add c:\SDL\include).&nbsp;Proceed to&nbsp;change the
  75                                         dropbox selection to "Library Files" and add [SDLROOT]\lib.</FONT></STRONG>
  76                 </P>
  77                         <P>
  78                                 The "include directory" I am referring to is the <CODE>include</CODE> folder
  79                                 within the main SDL directory (the one that this HTML file located within).
  80                         </P>
  81                         <P>
  82                                 Now we're going to use the files that we had created earlier in the Build SDL
  83                                 step.
  84                         </P>
  85                         <P>
  86                                 Copy the following files into your Project directory:
  87                         </P>
  88                         <ul>
  89      <li> SDL2.dll</li>
  90      </ul>
  91                         <P>
  92                                 Add the following files to your project (It is not necessary to copy them to
  93                                 your project directory):
  94                         </P>
  95                         <ul>
  96      <li> SDL2.lib </li>
  97      <li> SDL2main.lib</li>
  98      </ul>
  99                         <P>
 100                                 (To add them to your project, right click on your project, and select "Add
 101                                 files to project")
 102                         </P>
 103                 <P><STRONG><FONT color="#009900">Instead of adding the files to your project it is more
 104                                         desireable to add them to the linker options: Project|Properties|Linker|Command
 105                                         Line and type the names of the libraries to link with in the "Additional
 106                                         Options:" box.&nbsp; Note: This must be done&nbsp;for&nbsp;each&nbsp;build
 107                                         configuration (e.g. Release,Debug).</FONT></STRONG></P>
 108                 <H3>
 109                         SDL 101, First Day of Class
 110                 </H3>
 111                 <P>
 112                         Now create the basic body of your project. The body of your program should take
 113                         the following form:
 114                         <PRE><CODE>
 115 #include "SDL.h"
 116
 117 int main( int argc, char* argv[] )
 118 {
 119   // Body of the program goes here.
 120   return 0;
 121 }
 122                         </CODE></PRE>
 123                 <P></P>
 124                 <H3>
 125                         That's it!
 126                 </H3>
 127                 <P>
 128                         I hope that this document has helped you get through the most difficult part of
 129                         using the SDL: installing it. Suggestions for improvements to this document
 130                         should be sent to the writers of this document.
 131                 </P>
 132                 <P>
 133                         Thanks to Paulus Esterhazy (pesterhazy@gmx.net), for the work on VC++ port.
 134                 </P>
 135                 <P>
 136                         This document was originally called "VisualC.txt", and was written by <A HREF="mailto:slouken@libsdl.org">
 137                                 Sam Lantinga</A>.
 138                 </P>
 139                 <P>
 140                         Later, it was converted to HTML and expanded into the document that you see
 141                         today by <A HREF="mailto:snowlion@sprynet.com">Lion Kimbro</A>.
 142                 </P>
 143                 <P>Minor Fixes and Visual C++ 7 Information (In Green) was added by <A HREF="mailto:james@conceptofzero.net">James Turk</A>
 144                 </P>
 145         </BODY>
 146 </HTML>