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<TITLE>Using SDL with Microsoft Visual C++</TITLE>
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<H1>
Using SDL with Microsoft Visual C++
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<H3>
by <A HREF="mailto:snowlion@sprynet.com">Lion Kimbro </A>and additions by <A HREF="mailto:james@conceptofzero.net">
James Turk</A>
</H3>
<p>
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.
</p>
<H3>
Building SDL
</H3>
<P>
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.
</P>
<P>
There are different solution files for the various
versions of the IDE. Please use the appropriate version
2008, 2010, 2012 or 2013.
</P>
<P>
Build the <CODE>.dll</CODE> and <CODE>.lib</CODE> files.
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<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 "Build".
</P>
<P>
You may get a few warnings, but you should not get any errors. You do have to
have at least the DirectX 9 SDK installed, however. The latest
version of DirectX can be downloaded 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>
<ul>
<li> SDL2.dll</li>
<li> SDL2.lib</li>
<li> SDL2main.lib</li>
</ul>
<P>
Search for these using the Windows Find (Windows-F) utility inside the VisualC directory.
</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>
.
<br>
<STRONG><FONT color="#009900">VC7 Specific: Instead of doing this I find it easier to
add the include and library directories to the list that VC7 keeps. Do this by
selecting Tools|Options|Projects|VC++ Directories and under the "Show
Directories For:" dropbox select "Include Files", and click the "New Directory
Icon" and add the [SDLROOT]\include directory (e.g. If you installed to
c:\SDL\ add c:\SDL\include).&nbsp;Proceed to&nbsp;change the
dropbox selection to "Library Files" and add [SDLROOT]\lib.</FONT></STRONG>
</P>
<P>
The "include directory" 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>
<ul>
<li> SDL2.dll</li>
</ul>
<P>
Add the following files to your project (It is not necessary to copy them to
your project directory):
</P>
<ul>
<li> SDL2.lib </li>
<li> SDL2main.lib</li>
</ul>
<P>
(To add them to your project, right click on your project, and select "Add
files to project")
</P>
<P><STRONG><FONT color="#009900">Instead of adding the files to your project it is more
desirable to add them to the linker options: Project|Properties|Linker|Command
Line and type the names of the libraries to link with in the "Additional
Options:" box.&nbsp; Note: This must be done&nbsp;for&nbsp;each&nbsp;build
configuration (e.g. Release,Debug).</FONT></STRONG></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:
<PRE><CODE>
#include "SDL.h"
int main( int argc, char* argv[] )
{
// Body of the program goes here.
return 0;
}
</CODE></PRE>
<P></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 "VisualC.txt", 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>
<P>Minor Fixes and Visual C++ 7 Information (In Green) was added by <A HREF="mailto:james@conceptofzero.net">James Turk</A>
</P>
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