First time: CEGUI 0.7.5 w/ MSVC++ 2010

[dredogol]

Things have changed a ton since I lasted used CEGUI years ago...

I'm making a quick test Win32-API using CEGUI 0.7.5 with MSVC++ 2010 Express.
I DLed the CEGUI-SDK-v0.7.5-vc10 binary version.

Questions are the following:
1) When I execute my final compiled [release] (exe), which DLLs can I REMOVE from the ReleaseWithSymbols folder?
I know I need the CEGUIBase, Falagard, D3D, and OpenGL ones...

2) Is the dependencies folder required?

3) Are there any special Linker Input libraries (not "Additional Libraries") I need to add in my project config section?

4) Are there any other special settings I need to change in my project config area... other than adding obvious Include/Lib files?

5) Do I need the (pdb) debug files for the project to compile in debug mode (huge MB hog)?

6) Is there any Sample Code for a Win32-API example?
I was just wondering which section I need to add the instance, system, and other calls at.
I see an Ogre example... but I'll be doing that later.

7) Since it's a Win32-API ... Do I use the OpenGL or Direct3D bootstrap?
I'm not entirely sure which setting the Win32-API defaults to...

Thanks.

[CrazyEddie]

1) Typically you can remove everything except CEGUIBase.dll, CEGUIFalagardWRBase.dll, the DLL(s) for whatever renderer(s) you linked to, one of the XMLParser DLLs, and usually one of the ImageCodec DLLs. (EDIT: To clarify with regards to XMLParser and ImageCodec modules: "one of" is not intended to mean 'pick one at random', usually you will use the compiled in default option - which is by default Expat for XML and SILLY for ImageCodec - this compiled in choice can be overridden at runtime, however).

2) After building your app, you may require some DLLs out of dependencies/bin in order that whichever optional things you intend to use are available - typically this would be some DLL related to an image loading library.

3) I don't understand. I do not use the Visual C++ IDE.

4) The only thing you want to ensure is that everything is using the same C/C++ runtime setting. For dynamic linking, the default /MD and /MDd options are fine and what you need.

5) You do not need these for running your app in debug mode, though you will need them if you want support for issues involving the need to post callstacks.

6) I guess not. The CEGUISampleHelper does contain Win32 code, but it's tailored for setting up the base stuff for CEGUI samples rather than being a simple example. This said, really everything is platform independent, I do not think there's anything all that special you have to do solely on the Win32 platform (though I guess you may need usual message pump running - depending on what you intend using for input). It's basically a case of initialising whichever rendering system you intend to use (not in the CEGUI sense, but in the sense of your app), and then calling the appropriate function(s) to initialise CEGUI.

7) You use whichever renderer your app will be based on. If your app is GL based, then use CEGUI::OpenGLRenderer::bootstrapSystem. If the app is D3D9 based, use CEGUI::Direct3D9Renderer::bootstrapSystem or what have you. Note: do not fall into the rookie mistake of then also calling CEGUI::System::create - if you use the bootstrap functions, you get all the initial objects created for you - you then just need to set up resources and what have you (there are (imperfect) tutorials in the main docs).

CE.

[dredogol]

I'm currently working on my sample project now.

Based on the sample codes, it seems you're using the regular MAIN()... so that means you need to create the projects with Win32-CONSOLE, and not the Win32-API setting when creating a project.

Difference is:
Win32-CONSOLE = regular ... int main();
Win32-API = windows ... int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, LPSTR lpCmdLine, int nCmdShow);

Just thought I should throw that in there for others to know... just in case.

[CrazyEddie]

Aside from if you're copying the sample code for reuse, you should not have to create projects for them manually, I think within the SDKs there should exist a ready made solution for the samples - unless a mistake was made when packaging those

It's a shame that Windows chooses to differentiate between a 'console' and 'windowed' application and be non-standard by using a differently named entry point for the latter. For the samples I just went with 'main' as defined in the language standard and chose not to clutter the source with pre-processor conditionals to accommodate 'WinMain'.

CE.

[dredogol]

After reading through all the BaseApplication files, I had a quick question:

In the BaseApp file... there's the initilizeResourceGroupDirectories() and initializeDefaultResourceGroups().
Do these 2 functions need to be called every time a new CEGUI object is created, or just once in the main app program?
Since I'm finding it in the all the RenderType_BaseApps (inherited from BaseApp), I'm assuming it's only a 1 time thing (which makes perfect sense), but I just wanted to double check.

A few more Q might pop up after I try to build the program.

[Kulik]

Yeah you only call this one time. When you are curious about a single function/method, refer to the API reference.

It contains explanations of most of the methods, some are more helpful than others of course. If you find something underdocumented, change the doxygen strings and make a patch/pull request.