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Setting up Visual C++(TGO-01-B)

The API comes with good documentation for setting up projects in WIN32 with SDL, but the docs lack just a little bit in that you have to go through the entire setup EVERY TIME you want to make an SDL base project. Well, you don't have to. There are some things that you only need to do once, and other things that you have to do for each project (which we shall cover in TGO-01-C).

The tasks you only have to do once are to set up the include path and library path for your development environment. In VC++6 you simply call up Tools->Options..., select the Directories tab, and add the appropriate directories to the Include Files and Library Files list and you are done. You will never ever have to do this again unless you uninstall VC++.

Setting up an SDL Project(TGO-01-C)

To set up a project to use SDL, you will have to go through a few steps every time. This isn't terribly uncommon-- you have to do the same thing if you are using DirectX. The type of project you want to create is a WIN32 Application, and have it start with an empty project.

Select the Project->Settings... menu item, and select the "C/C++" tab of the dialog that comes up. In the top combo box (with the word "Category" next to it on the left), select "Code Generation". Next, go over to the combo box entitled "Use Run-Time Library", and select "Multithreaded DLL".

Still in the Settings dialog, move over to the "Link" tab. In the "General" category, you want to edit the content of the "Object/Library Modules" text box. At the beginning of this text box, add "SDLmain.lib" and "SDL.lib".

Now click OK. The last step is to copy SDL.dll from the lib directory of SDL into the directory of your project. Without this dll, your application won't work.

And you are done with the SDL set up for this project. Every time you want to create a project using SDL, you have to do this. It's not too much, really.

Testing the Environment(TGO-01-D)

Now you've got the development environment set, and the project set, and it's time to test everything out to make sure it works. Create a new .cpp file for the project called main.cpp, and add the following code.

#include "SDL.h"
int main ( int argc , char* argv [] )
{
  return ( 0 ) ;
}

The first question to pop into your head is likely "Where did WinMain go?" This is a WIN32 Application, after all, and in WIN32 Applications, we always have to put in a WinMain, right? Well, no. In the .lib files that come with SDL all of the platform dependent stuff like WinMain are taken care of. The entry point for all SDL based applications will be main. Also, you will never want to include windows.h into any of your projects, because to do so would make it platform dependent, which nullifies one of the main goals of using SDL in the first place.

So, of course, this program does approximately nothing, but it is good for testing out the development environment. Attempt to compile and run this code. If it works, you know you've set up the environment and project successfully. If it doesn't, you forgot to do something. Don't be surprised when you run the application and nothing happens. Nothing is SUPPOSED to happen. As long as you don't get some sort of run-time error, you're OK.

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