<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Using SDL with Microsoft Visual C++</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY> <H1> Using SDL with Microsoft Visual C++ </H1> <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 appropiate version 2008, 2010, 2012 or 2013. </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 "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). Proceed to 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 desireable 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. Note: This must be done for each 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> </BODY> </HTML>