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<TITLE> Using SDL with Microsoft Visual C++ 5 and 6 </TITLE>


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<H1> Using SDL with Microsoft Visual C++ 5 and 6 </H1>

<H3>
     by <A HREF="mailto:snowlion@sprynet.com"> Lion Kimbro </A>
</H3>


<p>
    You can either use the precompiled libraries from
    <A HREF="http://www.libsdl.org/download.html">
    the SDL Download web site </A>,
    or you can build SDL yourself.
</p>


<H3> Building SDL </H3>

<P>
     Unzip the <CODE>VisualC.zip</CODE> file into the directory
     that contains this file (<CODE>VisualC.html</CODE>).
</P>

<P>
     Be certain that you unzip <CODE> VisualC.zip </CODE>
     into <strong>this</strong> directory and not any other
     directory. If you are using WinZip, be careful to
     make sure that it extracts to <strong>this</strong>
     folder, because it's convenient feature of
     unzipping to a folder with the name of the
     file currently being unzipped will get you in
     trouble if you use it right now. And that's all
     I have to say about that.
</P>

<P>
     Now that it's unzipped, go into the VisualC directory
     that is created, and double-click on the VC++
     workspace file &quot;<CODE>SDL.dsw</CODE>&quot;.
     This should open up VisualC.
</P>

<P>
     You may be prompted at this point to upgrade the
     workspace, should you be using a more recent version
     of Visual C++. If so, allow the workspace to be
     upgraded.
</P>


<P>
     Build the <CODE>.dll</CODE> and <CODE>.lib</CODE> files.
</P>

<P>
     This is done by right clicking on each project in turn
     (Projects are listed in the Workspace panel in the
     FileView tab), and selecting &quot;Build&quot;.
</P>

<P>
     You may get a few warnings, but you should not get
     any errors. You do have to have at least the DirectX
     5 SDK installed, however. (I believe...) The latest
     version of DirectX can be downloaded or purchased
     on a cheap CD (my recommendation) from
     <A HREF="http://www.microsoft.com"> Microsoft </A>.
</P>

<P>
    Later, we will refer to the following .lib and .dll
    files that have just been generated:
</P>

    <list>
    <li> SDL.dll
    <li> SDL.lib
    <li> SDLmain.lib
    </list>

<P>
    Search for these using the Windows Find (Windows-F)
    utility, if you don't already know where they should be.
    For those of you with a clue, look inside the Debug
    or Release directories of the subdirectories of the
    VisualC folder. (It might be easier to just use
    Windows Find if this sounds confusing. And don't worry
    about needing a clue; we all need visits from the
    clue fairy frequently.)
</P>


<H3> Creating a Project with SDL </H3>

<P>
     Create a project as a Win32 Application.
</P>

<P>
     Create a C++ file for your project.
</P>

<P>
     Set the C runtime to "Multi-threaded DLL" in the menu:
     <CODE> Project|Settings|C/C++ tab|Code Generation|Runtime Library </CODE>.
</P>

<P>
     Add the SDL <CODE>include</CODE> directory to your list
     of includes in the menu:
     <CODE> Project|Settings|C/C++ tab|Preprocessor|Additional include directories </CODE>.
</P>

<P>
     The &quot;include directory&quot; I am referring to is the
     <CODE>include</CODE> folder within the main SDL
     directory (the one that this HTML file located
     within.
</P>

<P>
     Now we're going to use the files that we had created
     earlier in the Build SDL step.
</P>

<P>
     Copy the following files into your Project directory:
</P>

     <list>
     <li> SDL.dll </li>
     </list>

<P>
     Copy the following files into your Project directory,
     and <em>add them to your Project</em> as well:
</P>

     <list>
     <li> SDL.lib </li>
     <li> SDLmain.lib </li>
     </list>

<P>
     (To add them to your project, right click on your
     project, and select &quot;Add files to project&quot;)
</P>

<P>
     (I believe that it's not necessary to actually
     copy the .lib files into your directory; you only
     have to be certain that you add them to your Project.
     If someone is so inclined, correct this document, or
     <A HREF="mailto:snowlion@sprynet.com">
     e-mail me </A>,
     and I'll fix this document.)
</P>


<H3> SDL 101, First Day of Class </H3>

<P>
     Now create the basic body of your project.
     The body of your program should take the following form:

<CODE>
<PRE>
#include &quot;SDL.h&quot;

int main( int argc, char* argv[] )
{
  // Body of the program goes here.
  return 0;
}
</PRE>
</CODE>
</P>

<H3> That's it! </H3>

<P>
     I hope that this document has helped you get
     through the most difficult part of using the
     SDL: installing it. Suggestions for improvements
     to this document should be sent to the writers
     of this document.
</P>

<P>
     Thanks to Paulus Esterhazy (pesterhazy@gmx.net), for the work on VC++ port.
</P>

<P>
     This document was originally called &quot;VisualC.txt&quot;,
     and was written by 
     <A HREF="mailto:slouken@libsdl.org">Sam Lantinga</A>.
</P>

<P>
     Later, it was converted to HTML and expanded into
     the document that you see today by 
     <A HREF="mailto:snowlion@sprynet.com">Lion Kimbro</A>.
</P>


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