1 Installing wxWidgets for Windows
2 -----------------------------------------------------------
4 This is wxWidgets for Microsoft Windows 9x/ME, Windows NT
5 and later (2000, XP, Vista, 7, etc) and Windows CE.
7 These installation notes can be found in docs/msw/install.txt
8 in your wxWidgets distribution.
10 IMPORTANT NOTE: If you experience problems installing, please
11 re-read these instructions and other related files (changes.txt,
12 readme.txt, FAQ) carefully before posting to wx-users list.
14 If you are sure that you found a bug, please report it at
17 http://trac.wxwidgets.org/newticket
19 Please notice that often trying to correct the bug yourself is the
20 quickest way to fix it. Even if you fail to do it, you may
21 discover valuable information allowing us to fix it while doing
22 it. We also give much higher priority to bug reports with patches
23 fixing the problems so this ensures that your report will be
30 - Configuring the Build
31 - Building Applications Using wxWidgets
37 Please simply uncompress the .zip file manually into any directory.
38 However we advise avoiding using directories with spaces in their
39 names (notably "C:\Program Files") as this risks creating problems
40 with makefiles and other command-line tools.
43 In the majority of cases, you don't need to change the default
44 library build configuration. If you wish to change some of the build
45 options you need to edit the include/wx/msw/setup.h file enabling or
46 disabling the features you would like to compile wxWidgets with[out].
48 NB: If you checked your sources from version control repository and
49 didn't obtain them from a release file, the file above doesn't
50 exist and you will need to copy include/wx/msw/setup0.h to
51 include/wx/msw/setup.h.
53 Notice that this file is later copied into a directory under lib for
54 each of the build configurations which allows to have different
55 build options for different configurations too.
57 See "Configuring the Build" section for more information.
63 The following sections explain how to compile wxWidgets with each supported
64 compiler, see the "Building Applications" section about the instructions for
65 building your application using wxWidgets.
67 Search for one of Microsoft/Borland/Watcom/Symantec/Cygwin/Mingw32 keywords
68 to quickly locate the instructions for your compiler. Notice that the primary
69 compilers for wxWidgets under MSW are Microsoft Visual C++ and GNU g++, other
70 compilers are more rarely tested and might not work so please consider using
71 one of these two if possible.
73 All makefiles and project are located in build\msw directory.
75 Where Compiled Files are Stored
76 -------------------------------
78 After successful compilation you'll find the libraries in a subdirectory
79 of lib directory named after the compiler and DLL/static settings.
82 lib\vc_lib VC++ compiled static libraries
84 lib\bcc_lib Static libraries for Borland C++
85 lib\wat_dll Watcom C++ DLLs
87 Names of compiled wxWidgets libraries follow this scheme: libraries that don't
88 depend on GUI components begin with "wxbase" followed by a version number and,
89 optionally, letters indicating Unicode compilation ('u') and a debug build ('d').
90 The last component is the name of the wxWidgets component (unless you build the
91 library as single monolithic library; look for "Configuring the Build" below).
92 This is a typical set of release ANSI build libraries (release versions on
93 left, debug on right side):
95 wxbase29.lib wxbase29d.lib
96 wxbase29_net.lib wxbase29d_net.lib
97 wxbase29_xml.lib wxbase29d_xml.lib
98 wxmsw29_core.lib wxmsw29d_core.lib
99 wxmsw29_html.lib wxmsw29d_html.lib
100 wxmsw29_adv.lib wxmsw29d_adv.lib
102 Their Unicode debug counterparts in wxUniversal build would be
106 wxbase29ud_xml.lib (notice these libs are same for wxUniv and wxMSW)
107 wxmswuniv29ud_core.lib
108 wxmswuniv29ud_html.lib
109 wxmswuniv29ud_adv.lib
111 These directories also contain a subdirectory with the wx/setup.h header. This
112 subdirectory is named after the port, Unicode, wxUniv and debug settings and
113 you must add it to the include paths when compiling your application. Some
116 lib\vc_lib\msw\wx\setup.h VC++ static, wxMSW
117 lib\vc_lib\mswud\wx\setup.h VC++ static, wxMSW, Unicode, debug
118 lib\vc_lib\mswunivd\wx\setup.h VC++ static, wxUniversal, debug
120 Below are compiler specific notes followed by customizing instructions that
121 apply to all compilers (search for "Configuring the Build").
123 Microsoft Visual C++ Compilation
124 ----------------------------------------------------------------
126 You may wish to visit http://wiki.wxwidgets.org/Microsoft_Visual_C%2B%2B_Guide
127 for a more informal and detailed description of the process summarized below.
129 Please note that the VC++ 6.0 project files will work for VC++ .NET as well.
131 VC++ 5.0 can also be used, providing Service Pack 3 is applied. Without it
132 you will have trouble with internal compiler errors. It is available for
133 download at: ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/developr/visualstudio/sp3/full.
135 Using project files (VC++ 6 and later):
137 1. Unarchive wxWidgets-x.y.z-vc.zip, the VC++ 6 project
138 makefiles (already included in wxMSW-x.y.z.zip and the setup version).
139 2. Open build\msw\wx.dsw, which has configurations for static
140 compilation or DLL compilation, and each of these available in
141 Unicode/ANSI, Debug/Release and wxUniversal or native variations.
142 Normally you'll use a static linking ANSI configuration.
143 Choose the Win32 Debug or Win32 Release configuration (or any other that
144 suits your needs) and use Batch Build to compile _all_ projects. If you
145 know you won't need some of the libraries (e.g. the HTML part), you don't have
146 to compile it. It will also produce similar variations on jpeg.lib,
147 png.lib, tiff.lib, zlib.lib, and regex.lib.
149 If you want to build DLL configurations in wx.dsw project you unfortunately
150 need to build them in the proper order (jpeg, png, tiff, zlib, regex, expat,
151 base, net, odbc, core, gl, html, media, qa, adv, dbgrid, xrc, aui, richtext,
152 propgrid) manually because VC6 doesn't always respect the correct build order.
154 Alternatively, use the special wx_dll.dsw project which adds the
155 dependencies to force the correct order (but, because of this, doesn't work
156 for the static libraries) or simply redo the build several times until all
157 DLLs are linked correctly.
158 3. Open a sample project file, choose a configuration such as
159 Win32 Debug using Build | Set Active Configuration..., and compile.
160 The project files don't use precompiled headers, to save disk
161 space, but you can switch PCH compiling on for greater speed.
162 NOTE: you may also use samples/samples.dsw to access all
163 sample projects without opening each workspace individually.
164 You can use the Batch Build facility to make several samples
169 1. Change directory to build\msw. Type:
171 'nmake -f makefile.vc'
173 to make the wxWidgets core library as release DLL.
174 See "Configuring the Build" for instruction how to build debug or static
177 2. Change directory to samples and type 'nmake -f makefile.vc'
178 to make all the samples. You can also make them individually.
182 Use the 'clean' target to clean all objects, libraries and
185 Note (1): if you wish to use templates, please edit
186 include\wx\msw\setup.h and set wxUSE_DEBUG_NEW_ALWAYS to 0.
187 Without this, the redefinition of 'new' will cause problems in
188 the headers. Alternatively, #undef new before including template headers.
189 You will also need to set wxUSE_IOSTREAMH to 0 if you will be
190 using templates, to avoid the non-template stream files being included
193 Note (2): libraries and applications generated with makefiles and
194 project files are now (hopefully) compatible where static libraries
195 are concerned, but please exercise caution nevertheless and if
196 possible, use one method or the other.
198 Note (3): some crash problems can be due to inconsistent compiler
199 options. If strange/weird/impossible things start to happen please
200 check (dumping IDE project file as makefile and doing text comparison
201 if necessary) that the project settings, especially the list of defined
202 symbols, struct packing, etc. are exactly the same for all items in
203 the project. After this, delete everything (including PCH) and recompile.
205 Note (4): to create your own IDE files, copy .dsp and .dsw
206 files from an existing wxWidgets sample and adapt them, or
207 visit http://wiki.wxwidgets.org/Microsoft_Visual_C%2B%2B_Guide.
209 Microsoft Visual C++ Compilation for 64-bit Windows
210 ----------------------------------------------------------------
212 Visual Studio 2005 includes 64-bit compilers, though they are not installed by
213 default; you need to select them during the installation. Both native 64-bit
214 compilers and 32-bit hosted cross compilers are included, so you do not need a
215 64-bit machine to use them (though you do to run the created executables).
216 Visual C++ Express Edition does not include 64-bit compilers.
218 64-bit compilers are also available in various SDKs, for example
219 the .NET Framework SDK:
220 http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/programming/64bit/devtools/
224 1. Open the VC++ 6 workspace file: build\msw\wx.dsw. Visual Studio will then
225 convert the projects to the current Visual C++ project format.
227 2. To add 64-bit targets, go to the 'Build' menu and choose 'Configuration
228 Manager...'. In the 'Active solution platform' drop down choose '<new>',
229 then you can choose either 'Itanium' or 'x64'.
231 For more detailed instructions see:
232 http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/9yb4317s(en-us,vs.80).aspx
234 Note: 64-bit targets created this way will use the build directory of the
235 corresponding 32-bit target for some files. Therefore after building
236 for one CPU it is necessary to clean the build before building the
237 equivalent target for another CPU. We've reported the problem to MS
238 but they say it is not possible to fix it.
240 3. To build, go to the 'Build' menu and choose 'Batch Build...'. Tick all the
241 all the 'x64|Debug' or all the 'Itanium|Debug' projects, and click 'Build'.
243 This will build a debug version of the static libs. The section above on
244 Visual C++ in general has more information about adjusting the settings to
245 build other configurations.
247 4. To compile one of the samples open one of the sample projects, such as
248 samples\minimal\minimal.dsw. Visual Studio will convert the project as in
249 step 1, then add a 64-bit target as in step 2, and build.
253 1. Open a 64-bit build command prompt, for either x64 or Itanium. Change
254 directory to build\msw. Then for x64 type:
256 nmake -f makefile.vc TARGET_CPU=AMD64
260 nmake -f makefile.vc TARGET_CPU=IA64
262 This will build a debug version of wxWidgets DLLs. See "Configuring the
263 build" for instruction how to build other configurations such as a release
264 build or static libraries.
266 2. Change to the directory of one of the samples such as samples\minimal. Type
267 the same command used to build the main library, for example for x64:
269 nmake -f makefile.vc TARGET_CPU=AMD64
273 The versions of the VC++ 8 compiler included with some SDKs requires an
274 additional library to be linked or the following error is received.
276 LNK2001 unresolved external symbol __security_check_cookie
278 If you receive this error add bufferoverflowu.lib to link, e.g.:
280 nmake -f makefile.vc TARGET_CPU=AMD64 LDFLAGS=bufferoverflowu.lib
282 See http://support.microsoft.com/?id=894573 for more information.
284 Borland C++ Compilation
285 ----------------------------------------------------------------
287 The minimum version required is 5.5 (last version supported by BC++ 5.0 was
288 2.4.2), which can be downloaded for free from:
289 http://www.borland.com/products/downloads/download_cbuilder.html
291 We have found that the free Turbo Explorer and commercial BDS work fine; the
292 debugger is very good. To avoid linker errors you will need to add
293 -DSHARED=1 to the makefile line for the library
295 The version 5.6 included in Borland C++ Builder 2006 works as well after the
296 following small change: please remove the test for __WINDOWS__ from line 88
297 of the file BCCDIR\include\stl\_threads.h.
299 Compiling using the makefiles:
301 1. Change directory to build\msw. Type 'make -f makefile.bcc' to
302 make the wxWidgets core library. Ignore the compiler warnings.
303 This produces a couple of libraries in the lib\bcc_lib directory.
305 2. Change directory to a sample or demo such as samples\minimal, and type
306 'make -f makefile.bcc'. This produces a windows exe file - by default
307 in the bcc_mswd subdirectory.
309 Note (1): the wxWidgets makefiles assume dword structure alignment. Please
310 make sure that your own project or makefile settings use the
311 same alignment, or you could experience mysterious crashes. To
312 change the alignment, change CPPFLAGS in build\msw\config.bcc.
314 Note (2): If you wish debug messages to be sent to the console in
315 debug mode, edit makefile.bcc and change /aa to /Tpe in link commands.
317 Using the Debugger and IDE in BDS or Turbo Explorer
318 ---------------------------------------------------
320 Doubleclick / open samples\minimal\borland.bdsproj. The current version
321 is to be used with a dynamic build of wxWidgets-made by running
322 make -f Makefile.bcc -DBUILD=debug -DSHARED=1
323 in wxWidgets\build\msw. You also need the wxWidgets\lib\bcc_dll
324 directory in your PATH. The debugger tracks your source and also
325 traces into the wxWidgets sources.
327 To use this to debug other samples, copy the borland_ide.cpp
328 and borland.bdsproj files, then replace all occurrences of
329 "minimal" with the name of the new project files
331 Compilation succeeds with CBuilderX personal edition and CBuilder6, but
332 you may have to copy make.exe from the 5.5 download to the new bin directory.
334 Compiling using the IDE files for Borland C++ 5.0 and using CBuilder IDE
335 (v1-v6): not supported
339 In all of your wxWidgets applications, your source code should include
340 the following preprocessor directive:
346 (check the samples -- e.g., \wx2\samples\minimal\minimal.cpp -- for
349 Borland 16 Bit Compilation for Windows 3.1
350 ----------------------------------------------------------------
352 The last version of wxWidgets to support 16-bit compilation with Borland was
353 2.2.7 - Please download and read the instructions in that release
355 Watcom C++ 10.6/11 and OpenWatcom Compilation
356 ----------------------------------------------------------------
358 1. Change directory to build\msw. Type 'wmake -f makefile.wat' to
359 make the wxWidgets core library.
361 2. Change directory to samples\minimal and type 'wmake -f makefile.wat'
362 to make this sample. Repeat for other samples of interest.
364 Note (1): if variant.cpp is compiled with date/time class options, the linker
365 gives up. So the date/time option is switched off for Watcom C++.
366 Also, wxAutomationObject is not compiled with Watcom C++ 10.
368 Note (2): RawBitmaps won't work at present because they use unsupported template
371 Note (3): if Watcom can't read the precompiled header when building a sample,
372 try deleting .pch files in build\msw\wat_* and compiling
375 Note (4): wxUSE_STD_STRING is disabled in wx/string.h for Watcom as this
376 compiler doesn't come with standard C++ library headers by default.
377 If you install STLPort or another STL implementation, you'll need to
378 edit wx/string.h and remove the check for Digital Mars in it (search
382 Cygwin/MinGW Compilation
383 ----------------------------------------------------------------
385 wxWidgets supports Cygwin (formerly GnuWin32) betas and
386 releases, and MinGW. Cygwin can be downloaded from:
388 http://sources.redhat.com/cygwin/
392 http://www.mingw.org/
394 Both Cygwin and MinGW can be used with configure (assuming you have MSYS
395 installed in case of MinGW). You will need new enough MinGW version, preferably
396 MinGW 2.0 (ships with gcc3) or at least 1.0 (gcc-2.95.3). GCC versions older
397 than 2.95.3 don't work; you can use wxWidgets 2.4 with them.
399 NOTE: some notes specific to old Cygwin (< 1.1.x) are at the end of this
400 section (see OLD VERSIONS)
402 There are two methods of compiling wxWidgets, by using the
403 makefiles provided or by using 'configure'.
405 Retrieve and install the latest version of Cygwin, or MinGW, as per
406 the instructions with either of these packages.
408 If using MinGW, you can download the add-on MSYS package to
409 provide Unix-like tools that you'll need to build wxWidgets using configure.
411 Using makefiles Directly
412 ----------------------------------------------------------------
414 NOTE: The makefile.gcc makefiles are for compilation under MinGW using
415 Windows command interpreter (command.com/cmd.exe), they won't work in
416 other environments (such as UNIX or Unix-like, e.g. MSYS where you have
417 to use configure instead, see the section below)
419 Use the makefile.gcc files for compiling wxWidgets and samples,
420 e.g. to compile a debugging version of wxWidgets:
422 > mingw32-make -f makefile.gcc BUILD=debug
423 > cd c:\wx\samples\minimal
424 > mingw32-make -f makefile.gcc BUILD=debug
425 (See below for more options.)
427 Notice that Windows command interpreter (cmd.exe) and mingw32-make must be
428 used, using Bash (sh.exe) and make.exe from MSYS will only work when using
429 configure-based build procedure described below!
431 You can also use the 'strip' command to reduce executable/dll size (note that
432 stripping an executable/dll will remove debug information!).
434 All targets have 'clean' targets to allow removal of object files
435 and other intermediate compiler files.
438 ----------------------------------------------------------------
440 Instead of using the makefiles, you can use the configure
441 system to generate appropriate makefiles, as used on Unix
442 and Mac OS X systems.
444 Change directory to the root of the wxWidgets distribution,
445 make a build directory, and run configure and make in this directory.
452 ../configure --with-msw --enable-debug --enable-debug_gdb --disable-shared
454 make install % This step is optional, see note (6) below.
461 1. See also the Cygwin/MinGW on the web site or CD-ROM for
462 further information about using wxWidgets with these compilers.
464 2. libwx.a is 100 MB or more - but much less if compiled with no
465 debug info (-g0) and level 4 optimization (-O4).
467 3. If you get a link error under MinGW 2.95.2 referring to:
469 EnumDAdvise__11IDataObjectPP13IEnumSTATDATA@8
471 then you need to edit the file objidl.h at line 663 and add
472 a missing PURE keyword:
474 STDMETHOD(EnumDAdvise)(THIS_ IEnumSTATDATA**) PURE;
476 4. There's a bug in MinGW headers for some early distributions.
478 in include/windows32/defines.h, where it says:
480 #define LPSTR_TEXTCALLBACKA (LPSTR)-1L)
484 #define LPSTR_TEXTCALLBACKA ((LPSTR)-1L)
488 5. OpenGL support should work with MinGW as-is. However,
489 if you wish to generate import libraries appropriate either for
490 the MS OpenGL libraries or the SGI OpenGL libraries, go to
491 include/wx/msw/gl and use:
493 dlltool -k -d opengl.def -llibopengl.a
497 dlltool -k -d opengl32.def -llibopengl32.a
499 and similarly for glu[32].def.
501 6. The 'make install' step is optional, and copies files
504 /usr/local/lib - wxmswXYZd.dll.a and wxmswXYZd.dll
505 /usr/local/include/wx - wxWidgets header files
506 /usr/local/bin - wx-config
508 You may need to do this if using wx-config with the
511 7. With Cygwin, you can invoke gdb --nw myfile.exe to
512 debug an executable. If there are memory leaks, they will be
513 flagged when the program quits. You can use Cygwin gdb
514 to debug MinGW executables.
516 8. Note that gcc's precompiled headers do not work on current versions of
517 Cygwin. If your version of Cygwin is affected you will need to use the
518 --disable-precomp-headers configure option.
522 - Modify the file wx/src/cygnus.bat (or mingw32.bat or mingegcs.bat)
523 to set up appropriate variables, if necessary mounting drives.
524 Run it before compiling.
526 - For Cygwin, make sure there's a \tmp directory on your
527 Windows drive or bison will crash (actually you don't need
528 bison for ordinary wxWidgets compilation: a pre-generated .c file is
531 - If using GnuWin32 b18, you will need to copy windres.exe
532 from e.g. the MinGW distribution, to a directory in your path.
535 Symantec & DigitalMars C++ Compilation
536 ----------------------------------------------------------------
538 The DigitalMars compiler is a free successor to the Symantec compiler
539 and can be downloaded from http://www.digitalmars.com/
541 1. You need to download and unzip in turn (later packages will overwrite
543 Digital Mars C/C++ Compiler Version 8.40 or later
545 from http://www.digitalmars.com/download/freecompiler.html
547 2. Change directory to build\msw and type 'make -f makefile.dmc' to
548 make the wxWidgets core library.
550 3. Change directory to samples\minimal and type 'make -f makefile.dmc'
551 to make this sample. Most of the other samples also work.
554 Note that if you don't have the files makefile.dmc you may create them yourself
555 using bakefile tool according to the instructions in build\bakefiles\README:
558 bakefile_gen -f dmars -b wx.bkl
559 bakefile_gen -f dmars -b ../../samples/minimal/minimal.bkl
562 Note that wxUSE_STD_STRING is disabled in wx/string.h for Digital Mars as this
563 compiler doesn't come with standard C++ library headers by default. If you
564 install STLPort or another STL implementation, you'll need to edit wx/string.h
565 and remove the check for Digital Mars in it (search for __DMC__).
568 16-bit compilation is no longer supported.
570 Configuring the Build
571 ================================================================
573 So far the instructions only explain how to build release DLLs of wxWidgets
574 and did not cover any configuration. It is possible to change many aspects of
575 the build, including debug/release and ANSI/Unicode settings. All makefiles in
576 build\msw directory use same options (with a few exceptions documented below)
577 and the only difference between them is in object files and library directory
578 names and in make invocation command.
580 Changing the Settings
581 ----------------------------------------------------------------
583 There are two ways to modify the settings: either by passing the values as
584 arguments when invoking make or by editing build\msw\config.$(compiler) file
585 where $(compiler) is same extension as the makefile you use has (see below).
586 The latter is good for setting options that never change in your development
587 process (e.g. GCC_VERSION or VENDOR). If you want to build several versions of
588 wxWidgets and use them side by side, the former method is better. Settings in
589 config.* files are shared by all makefiles (samples, contrib, main library),
590 but if you pass the options as arguments, you must use same arguments you used
591 for the library when building samples or contrib libraries!
593 Examples of invoking make in Unicode debug build (other options described
594 below are set analogically):
597 > nmake -f makefile.vc BUILD=debug UNICODE=1
600 > make -f makefile.bcc -DBUILD=debug -DUNICODE=1
601 (Note that you have to use -D to set the variable, unlike in other make
605 > wmake -f makefile.wat BUILD=debug UNICODE=1
607 MinGW using native makefiles:
608 > mingw32-make -f makefile.gcc BUILD=debug UNICODE=1
610 MinGW using configure:
611 > ./configure --enable-debug --enable-unicode
612 (see ./configure --help on details; configure is not covered in this
615 Cygwin using configure:
616 > ./configure --disable-precomp-headers --enable-debug --enable-unicode
617 (use --disable-precomp-headers if Cygwin doesn't support precompiled
620 Brief explanation of options and possible values is in every
621 build\msw\config.* file; more detailed description follows.
624 ----------------------------------------------------------------
627 Builds release version of the library. It differs from default 'debug' in
628 lack of appended 'd' in name of library and uses the release CRT libraries
629 instead of debug ones. Notice that even release builds do include debug
630 information by default, see DEBUG_FLAG for more information about it.
633 Build shared libraries (DLLs). By default, DLLs are not built
637 To build ANSI versions of the libraries, add UNICODE=0 to make invocation
638 (default is UNICODE=1). If you want to be able to use Unicode version on
639 Windows9x, you will need to set MSLU=1 as well.
641 This option affect name of the library ('u' is appended) and the directory
642 where the library and setup.h are store (ditto).
645 Build wxUniversal instead of native wxMSW (see
646 http://www.wxwidgets.org/wxuniv.htm for more information).
649 ----------------------------------------------------------------
652 Starting with version 2.5.1, wxWidgets has the ability to be built as
653 several smaller libraries instead of single big one as used to be the case
654 in 2.4 and older versions. This is called "multilib build" and is the
655 default behaviour of makefiles. You can still build single library
656 ("monolithic build") by setting MONOLITHIC variable to 1.
659 Disable building GUI parts of the library, build only wxBase components used
660 by console applications. Note that if you leave USE_GUI=1 then both wxBase
661 and GUI libraries are built. If you are building monolithic library, then
662 you should set wxUSE_GUI to 1 in setup.h.
665 Build wxmsw29_gl.lib library with OpenGL integration class wxGLCanvas.
666 You must also modify your setup.h to #define wxUSE_GLCANVAS 1. Note that
667 OpenGL library is always built as additional library, even in monolithic
671 Do not build wxHTML library. If MONOLITHIC=1, then you must also
672 #define wxUSE_HTML 1 in setup.h.
675 Do not build XRC resources library. If MONOLITHIC=1, then you must also
676 #define wxUSE_HTML 1 in setup.h.
679 Links static version of C and C++ runtime libraries into the executable, so
680 that the program does not depend on DLLs provided with the compiler (e.g.
681 Visual C++'s msvcrt.dll or Borland's cc3250mt.dll).
682 Caution: Do not use static runtime libraries when building DLL (SHARED=1)!
685 Enables MSLU (Microsoft Layer for Unicode). This setting makes sense only if
686 used together with UNICODE=1. If you want to be able to use Unicode version
687 on Windows9x, you will need MSLU (Microsoft Layer for Unicode) runtime DLL
688 and import lib. The former can be downloaded from Microsoft, the latter is
689 part of the latest Platform SDK from Microsoft (see msdn.microsoft.com for
690 details). An alternative implementation of import library can be downloaded
691 from http://libunicows.sourceforge.net - unlike the official one, this one
692 works with other compilers and does not require 300+ MB Platform SDK update.
697 Specifies the level of debug support in wxWidgets. Notice that
698 this is independent from both BUILD and DEBUG_INFO options. By default
699 always set to 1 meaning that debug support is enabled: asserts are compiled
700 into the code (they are inactive by default in release builds of the
701 application but can be enabled), wxLogDebug() and wxLogTrace() are available
702 and __WXDEBUG__ is defined. Setting it to 0 completely disables all
703 debugging code in wxWidgets while setting it to 2 enables even the time
704 consuming assertions and checks which are deemed to be unsuitable for
705 production environment.
709 This option affects whether debugging information is generated. If
710 omitted or set to 'default' its value is determined the value of
713 TARGET_CPU=AMD64|IA64
714 (VC++ only.) Set this variable to build for x86_64 systems. If unset, x86
717 VENDOR=<your company name>
718 Set this to a short string identifying your company if you are planning to
719 distribute wxWidgets DLLs with your application. Default value is 'custom'.
720 This string is included as part of DLL name. wxWidgets DLLs contain compiler
721 name, version information and vendor name in them. For example
722 wxmsw290_core_bcc_custom.dll is one of DLLs build using Borland C++ with
723 default settings. If you set VENDOR=mycorp, the name will change to
724 wxmsw290_core_bcc_mycorp.dll.
726 CFG=<configuration name>
727 Sets configuration name so that you can have multiple wxWidgets builds with
728 different setup.h settings coexisting in same tree. See "Object and library
729 directories" below for more information.
731 COMPILER_PREFIX=<string>
732 If you build with multiple versions of the same compiler, you can put
733 their outputs into directories like "vc6_lib", "vc8_lib" etc. instead of
734 "vc_lib" by setting this variable to e.g. "vc6". This is merely a
735 convenience variable, you can achieve the same effect (but different
736 directory names) with the CFG option.
739 Compiler-Specific Options
740 ----------------------------------------------------------------
744 If you are using gcc-2.95 instead of gcc3, you must set GCC_VERSION to
745 2.95. In build\msw\config.gcc, change
754 If set to 1, msvcrtd.dll is used, if to 0, msvcrt.dll is used. By default
755 msvcrtd.dll is used only if the executable contains debug info and
756 msvcrt.dll if it doesn't. It is sometimes desirable to build with debug info
757 and still link against msvcrt.dll (e.g. when you want to ship the app to
758 customers and still have usable .pdb files with debug information) and this
759 setting makes it possible.
761 Fine-tuning the Compiler
762 ----------------------------------------------------------------
764 All makefiles have variables that you can use to specify additional options
765 passed to the compiler or linker. You won't need this in most cases, but if you
766 do, simply add desired flags to CFLAGS (for C compiler), CXXFLAGS (for C++
767 compiler), CPPFLAGS (for both C and C++ compiler) and LDFLAGS (the linker).
769 Object and Library Directories
770 ----------------------------------------------------------------
772 All object files produced during a library build are stored in a directory under
773 build\msw. Its name is derived from the build settings and CFG variable and from
774 the compiler name. Examples of directory names:
776 build\msw\bcc_msw SHARED=0
777 build\msw\bcc_mswdll SHARED=1
778 build\msw\bcc_mswunivd SHARED=0, WXUNIV=1, BUILD=debug
779 build\msw\vc_mswunivd ditto, with Visual C++
781 Libraries and DLLs are copied into a subdirectory of the lib directory with a
782 name derived from the compiler and a static/DLL setting and setup.h into a
783 directory with a name that contains other settings:
786 lib\bcc_lib\msw\wx\setup.h
788 lib\bcc_dll\msw\wx\setup.h
790 lib\bcc_lib\mswunivd\wx\setup.h
792 lib\vc_lib\mswunivd\wx\setup.h
794 Each lib\ subdirectory has wx subdirectory with setup.h as seen above.
795 This file is copied there from include\wx\msw\setup.h (and if it doesn't exist,
796 from include\wx\msw\setup0.h) and this is the copy of setup.h that is used by
797 all samples and should be used by your apps as well. If you are doing changes
798 to setup.h, you should do them in this file, _not_ in include\wx\msw\setup.h.
800 If you set CFG to something, the value is appended to directory names. E.g.
801 for CFG=MyBuild, you'll have object files in
803 build\msw\bcc_mswMyBuild
804 build\msw\bcc_mswdllMyBuild
813 By now it is clear what CFG is for: builds with different CFG settings don't
814 share any files and they use different setup.h files. For example, this allows
815 you to have two static debug builds, one with wxUSE_SOCKETS=0 and one with sockets
816 enabled (without CFG, both of them would be put into same directory and there
817 would be conflicts between the files).
820 Building Applications Using wxWidgets
821 =====================================
823 NB: The makefiles and project files provided with wxWidgets samples show which
824 flags should be used when building applications using wxWidgets so in case
825 of a problem, e.g. if the instructions here are out of date, you can always
826 simply copy a makefile or project file from samples\minimal or some other
827 sample and adapt it to your application.
829 Independently of the compiler and make/IDE you are using you must do the
830 following to use wxWidgets:
832 * Add $WXWIN/include to the
836 * Define the following symbols for the preprocessor:
837 - __WXMSW__ to ensure you use the correct wxWidgets port.
838 - _UNICODE unless you want to use deprecated ANSI build of wxWidgets.
839 - NDEBUG if you want to build in release mode, i.e. disable asserts.
840 - WXUSINGDLL if you are using DLL build of wxWidgets.
841 * Add $WXWIN/lib/prefix_lib-or-dll to the libraries path. The prefix depends
842 on the compiler, by default it is "vc" for MSVC, "gcc" for g++ and so on.
843 * Add the list of libraries to link with to the linker input. The exact list
844 depends on which libraries you use and whether you built wxWidgets in
845 monolithic or default multlib mode and basically should include all the
846 relevant libraries from the directory above, e.g. "wxmsw29ud_core.lib
847 wxbase29ud.lib wxtiffd.lib wxjpegd.lib wxpngd.lib wxzlibd.lib wxregexud.lib
848 wxexpatd.lib" for a debug build of an application using the core library only
849 (all wxWidgets applications use the base library).
852 Microsoft Visual C++ users can simplify the linker setup by prepending the
853 directory $WXWIN/msvc to the include path (it must come before $WXWIN/include
854 directory!) and omitting the last step: the required libraries will be linked
855 in automatically using the "#pragma comment(lib)" feature of this compiler.