CSD1401 - Visual Studio Setup for CProcessing ​

Prerequisites ​

• Installed Visual Studio 2022 Community Edition. If you haven’t, here are the steps to set it up:
  • Click here to download the Visual Studio 2022 installer.
  • Double-click on the installer that you downloaded.
  • When prompted check the box for [Desktop development with C++] under the [Desktop and Mobile] section
  • Click the on [Install/Modify] button.
• Downloaded the CProcessingSG.zip zip file from the Moodle link CProcessing Library.
• Downloaded the cp_vs2022_handout.zip zip file from the Moodle link CProcessing Setup for Visual Studio 2022 Handout. It should contain:
  • cp_vs2022_setup.html: This document as an offline HTML.
  • DigiPen_Singapore_WEB_RED.png: A simple PNG image file for us to us
  • main.c: Sample C code that will use CProcessing code to spawn a window and render DigiPen_Singapore_WEB_RED.png onto it.

Project Creation ​

First, we will create the Visual Studio Solution and Project files that will be used to run our first application.

• Open Visual Studio. You should see a window that looks like this:

• Under the [Visual Studio 2022] window:
  • Click on [Create a new project]
• Under the [Create a new project] window:
  • Click on [Empty Project]. Make sure that it’s the C++ version.
  • Click on [Next].
• Under the [Configure your new project] page:
  • (Optional) Change the [Project Name] to one of your liking.
  • (Optional) Change the [Location].
  • Note the [Location] as we need to navigate to it later.
  • Click on [Create].

You should see Visual Studio appear on your screen, like so:

This means that it has successfully created and opened.

In this project, we will not be building for 32-bit systems, so to avoid confusion, we need to remove 32-bit system-related configurations from the project.

• Under [Build] > [Configuration Manager]
• Click on [Active Solution Platform] > [Edit…] > Click on [x86] > [Remove]
• Click on [Platform] > [Edit…] > Click on [Win32] > [Remove]

Adding a folder for CProcessing and assets ​

Next, we will add the CProcessing library to a location within the project folder. This is so that our project can easily locate CProcessing’s header and library files, and subsequently use its code.

• Go to the project’s Solution File (.sln) using Windows Explorer. It should be at the [Location] that you set earlier.
• Create a folder named "Extern" at that location. Extern is short for "External" which means that this folder will contain code that is provided by someone else.
  • Copy the CProcessing folder from the given CProcessingSG.zip file into the "Extern" folder.
  • Create a folder named "Assets" at that location.
    • Copy the given DigiPen_Singapore_WEB_RED.png file into the "Assets" folder you just created

Project Configuration ​

Next, we configure the project properties. Right-click on the project in the Solution Explorer:

Then click on [Properties]. It should open a window that looks something like this:

This window contains all configurations of the project.

❗ IMPORTANT
From here on, unless stated otherwise, all the settings we will make will affect both Debug and Release configurations, so make sure to set [Configurations] to All Configurations.

Add the additional directories the compiler needs to look for when compiling and linking:

• Under [Configuration Properties] > [VC++ Directories]
  • Add $(SolutionDir)Extern\CProcessing\inc to [General] > [Include Directories]
  • Add $(SolutionDir)Extern\CProcessing\lib\x64 to [General] > [Library Directories]

⚠️ WARNING
When you add an entry into a section, you have to seperate each entry with ';'. For example, if the entry for [Include Directories] is: $(VC_IncludePath);$(WindowsSDK_IncludePath), to add $(SolutionDir)Extern\CProcessing\inc, you will have to do: $(VC_IncludePath);$(WindowsSDK_IncludePath);$(SolutionDir)Extern\CProcessing\inc

Configure the linker to link to the appropriate CProcessing library files depending on whether we are on Debug or Release configurations:

• Under [Configuration Properties] > [Linker] > [Input] > [Additional Dependencies]
  • With [Configuration] set to Debug, add CProcessingd.lib
  • With [Configuration] set to Release, add CProcessing.lib

Configure the character set the project is using:

• Under [Configuration Properties] > [Advanced] > [Character Set]
  • Set to Use Multibyte Set

Configure the subsystem the project is using:

• Under [Configuration Properties] > [Linker] > [System] > [Subsystem]
  • Set to Windows (/SUBSYSTEM:WINDOWS)

Set the output directory of the compiler where the executable will be created. We will set this to a folder named bin at the directory the Solution file is in:

• Under [Configuration Properties] > [General] > [Output Directory]
  • Set to $(SolutionDir)\bin\$(Configuration)-$(Platform)\

Set the intermediate directory of the compiler. This is where all the 'rubbish' files that the compiler generates will go to.
We will set this to a folder named ".tmp" at the directory the Solution file is in:

• Under [Configuration Properties] > [General] > [Intermediate Directory] ** Set to $(SolutionDir)\.tmp\$(Configuration)-$(Platform)\

Set the working directory of the debugger to be in the same directory as the executables output by the compiler:

• Under [Configuration Properties] > [Debugging] > [Working Directory] ** Set to $(SolutionDir)\bin\$(Configuration)-$(Platform)\

Configure the entry point to comply with CProcessing’s entry point:

• Under [Configuration Properties] > [Linker] > [Advanced] > [Entry Point]
  • Set to mainCRTStartup

Tell Visual Studio to copy the appropriate .dll and assets to where the executable is after it’s done building:

• With [Configuration] set to Debug:
  • Go to [Configuration Properties] -> [Build Events] > [Post-Build Event] > [Command Line] > Click on the [v] icon at the end of the [Command Line] entry area > [Edit...] and add the following lines in the popup window:
    • xcopy "$(SolutionDir)Assets\*" "$(OutDir)Assets\" /s /r /y /q
    • xcopy "$(SolutionDir)Extern\CProcessing\lib\x64\CProcessingd.dll" "$(OutDir)" /s /r /y /q
    • xcopy "$(SolutionDir)Extern\CProcessing\lib\x64\fmodL.dll" "$(OutDir)" /s /r /y /q
• With [Configuration] set to Release, add the following lines:
  • Go to [Configuration Properties] -> [Build Events] > [Post-Build Event] > [Command Line] > Click on the [v] icon at the end of the [Command Line] entry area > [Edit...] and add the following lines in the popup window:
    • xcopy "$(SolutionDir)Assets\*" "$(OutDir)Assets\" /s /r /y /q
    • xcopy "$(SolutionDir)Extern\CProcessing\lib\x64\CProcessing.dll" "$(OutDir)" /s /r /y /q
    • xcopy "$(SolutionDir)Extern\CProcessing\lib\x64\fmod.dll" "$(OutDir)" /s /r /y /q

Running our first application ​

Create a fresh CPP file with the entry point function and name it "main.c"

• [Project] > [Add New Item..] > [C++ File]
• Copy the code from the given "main.c" into the "main.c" file that you just created.
• Build and run the project
• You should see a window pop up with the singapore DigiPen logo.

If you got here, congratulations! You have set up CProcessing!