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