DZCOMM

MSVC-specific information.

See readme.txt for a more general overview.



====================================
============ MSVC notes ============
====================================

   Status: Todo


===========================================
============ Required software ============
===========================================

   - Microsoft Visual C++.
   - Recent set of DirectX and other Windows SDK headers.
   - djgpp compiler (djdev*.zip, gcc*b.zip, and bnu*b.zip).
   - GNU make (mak*b.zip).
   - Optional: rm (fil*b.zip). Used by the clean and uninstall targets.
   - Optional: sed (sed*b.zip). Used by "make depend" and "fixdll".
   - Optional: sort (txt*b.zip). Used by "fixdll". Use Unix sort, not DOS!


   The djgpp compiler and associated tools can be downloaded from your 
   nearest SimTel mirror site, in the /pub/simtelnet/gnu/djgpp/ directory, 
   or you can use the zip picker on http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/. See the 
   djgpp readme.1st file for information about how to install djgpp.



============================================
============ Installing dzcomm =============
============================================

   This is a source-only distribution, so you will have to compile Allegro 
   before you can use it. To do this you should:

   Set up your environment so that MSVC can be used from the commandline. 
   You probably have a vcvars32.bat file that will do this for you.

   Type "cd dzcomm", followed by "fixmsvc.bat", followed by "make". Then go 
   do something interesting while everything compiles. When it finishes 
   compiling, type "make install" to set the library up ready for use.

   If you also want to install a debugging version of the library (highly 
   recommended), now type "make install DEBUGMODE=1". Case is important, so 
   it must be DEBUGMODE, not debugmode!

   If you also want to install a profiling version of the library, now type 
   "make install PROFILEMODE=1".

   If you want statically linked libraries as well as the default DLL, set 
   the environment variable "STATICLINK=1", and repeat the "make install", 
   "make install DEBUGMODE=1", and "make install PROFILEMODE=1".

   If your copy of dzcomm doesn't include the makefile.dep dependency files 
   (unlikely, unless you have run "make veryclean" at some point), you can 
   regenerate them by running "make depend".

   If your copy of dzcomm doesn't include the linker .def file (unlikely, 
   unless you have run "make veryclean" at some point), you can regenerate 
   them by running "fixdll.bat".



=======================================
============ Using Allegro ============
=======================================

   All the Allegro functions, variables, and data structures are defined in 
   allegro.h. You should include this in your programs, and link with one of 
   the libraries:

   alleg.lib      - optimised DLL import library
   alld.lib       - debugging DLL import library
   allp.lib       - profiling DLL import library
   alleg_s.lib    - statically linked optimised library
   alld_s.lib     - statically linked debugging library
   allp_s.lib     - statically linked profiling library

   When using a statically linked library, you must define the preprocessor 
   symbol ALLEGRO_STATICLINK before including any of the Allegro headers.

   If you use one of the DLL versions, you will obviously need to distribute 
   the appropriate DLL along with your program: these can be found in the 
   allegro/lib/msvc/ directory.

