Compiling FsSimpleWindow framework program in Visual Studio 2010 Express Edition

I see little point of using Visual Studio IDE.  I can do almost everything from a makefile.  Rather, using it may be a waste of time because Microsoft changes the interface once every a few years and forces you to re-learn how to do the same thing.  It is a total waste of your time.  If you are paid for hours, that's not a bad thing for you.  But, if you are paid for what you make, you don't want to go along with Microsoft's freak.

I have been doing most of my development work with a makefile and nmake.exe, and I didn't have to change much settings since Visual C++ 6.0.  Of course I did some, but not much.  I am using same command prompt and my favorite editor from which I can run nmake.exe.

So, I suggest you to learn to compile from command prompt, but until then, you can go with the following instructions.

Step 1 Start Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Express Edition IDE

Step 2 Select File -> New -> Project

Step 3 Select "Win32" -> "Win32 Console Application"

Step 4 Select location (In this case "C:/Projects"), and name (in this example "sampleProject"), and make sure "Create directory for solution" is ON, and click "OK"

Step 5 In Win32 Application Wizard, Click "Next"

Step 6 CHECK "Empty Project" and click "Finish".  Another thing of Visual Studio that freaks me out is its nosy default files.  Let's start with an empty project.

Step 7 Project opens up

Step 8 Select "Project" -> "Settings"

Step 9 From "Configuration", select "All Configurations"

Step 10 In "Configuration Properties", select "VC++ Directories", and add the following.

        ;C:\Projects\fssimplewindow\src;C:\Projects\ysbitmapfont\src

I am assuming you extracted fssimplewindow and ysbitmapfont in "C:\Projects".  Directory names must be changed according to the location you extracted the files.  Directories must be separated by a semi-colon (;).

Step 11 Click "OK"

Step 12 Select "Project" -> "Add Existing Item"

Step 13 Goto "C:\Projects\fssimplewindow\src\windows" and select "fswin32keymap.cpp", "fswin32winmain.cpp", and "fswin32wrapper.cpp", and click "Add".

Step 14 Select "Project" -> "Add Existing Item" (same as Step 12)

Step 15 Go to "C:\Projects\ysbitmapfont\src" and select "ysglfontdata.c", "ysglmaketextbitmap.c", and "ysglusefontbitmap.c", and click "Add"

Step 16 Select "Project" -> "Add New Item"

Step 17 Select "C++ File (.cpp)" and type file name and click "Add"

Step 18 Write your program.

Step 19 Press Ctrl + F5 and click "Yes"

Step 20 then your program starts.  This program shows a message "This is a sample program." and closes when you press a key.