Dragonfly with Visual Studio v16 (2019)

Home

Engine

Games

Tutorial

Docs

Book

Notes

This is a setup guide for configuring Microsoft Visual Studio to use and develop Dragonfly. This setup guide is good as of SFML version 2.6.* and Microsoft Visual Studio version 16 (2019).

Open Visual Studio.
Create a new Project
1. From the menu:
  "File" → "New" → "Project"
  "Empty Project"
2. Fill out information:
  Name: "Whatever you want"
  Location: "Wherever you want"
  Solution: "Create new solution"
  Solution name: "Whatever you want"
3. Click "Create"
  Note, if needed in the future, there are directions for Changing a Windows App to a Console App in Visual Studio
  Another note, to keep the console window open after the program ends, run with ctrl-F5 (instead of just F5). Other suggestions are available how-to-keep-the-console-window-open-in-visual-c++.
4. Click "Finish"
Set the compiler/linker settings for SFML:
1. Menu:
  "Project" → "Properties"
  
  Select:
  "Configuration Properties"
  
  Set Configuration in the top left drop-down to:
  "All Configurations"
  
  Set Platform in the top center drop-down to:
  "All Platforms"
2. Select:
  "VC++ Directories"
  "Include Directories" → (Dropdown arrow) → "Edit"
  
  Click top line, then "..." button on right. Use file browser to add:
  (Directory where extracted SFML)\include
  
  e.g.,..\..\SFML-2.6\include
  
  If linking in Dragonfly (versus developing Dragonfly), on the next line, also add:
  (Directory where extracted dragonfly)\include
  
  e.g., ..\..\dragonfly\include
  
  Click "OK"
  Set Configuration in the top left drop-down to:
  "Debug"
3. Select:
  "Library Directories" → (Dropdown arrow) → "Edit"
  
  Click top line, then "..." button on right. Use file browser to add:
  (Directory where extracted SFML)\lib
  
  e.g., ..\..\SFML-2.6\lib
  
  If linking in Dragonfly (versus developing Dragonfly), on the next line, also add:
  (Directory where extracted dragonfly library)
  
  e.g., ..\..\dragonfly\lib
  
  Click "OK"
4. Select:
  "Linker" → "Input" → "Additional Dependencies" → (Dropdown arrow) → "Edit"
  
  Add:
  sfml-system-d.lib
  sfml-window-d.lib
  sfml-graphics-d.lib
  sfml-main-d.lib
  sfml-audio-d.lib
  sfml-network-d.lib
  Winmm.lib
  Ws2_32.lib
  
  If linking in Dragonfly (versus developing Dragonfly), also add:
  libdragonfly-x64-debug.lib
  
  (Adjust the name to the version of the library appropriate for the build). Click "OK"
  
  Note! Changing from "Debug" to "Release" requires different SFML libraries for linking. See: SFML and Visual studio for details.

Create program to build. Menu:

"View" → "Solution Explorer"
(Expand Project name)
Right click "Source Files" → "Add" → "New Item"

Select:

"Installed" → "Visual C++"
"C++ File (.cpp)"

Fill out information:

Name: "game.cpp"
Location: (leave as-is)

Click "Add"

Do ONE of the below options:

If linking in Dragonfly (versus developing Dragonfly), paste in the below code:

//
// game.cpp
// 

// Engine includes.
#include "GameManager.h"
#include "LogManager.h"

int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {

  // Start up game manager.
  df::GameManager &game_manager = df::GameManager::getInstance();
  if (game_manager.startUp())  {
    df::LogManager &log_manager = df::LogManager::getInstance();
    log_manager.writeLog("Error starting game manager!");
    game_manager.shutDown();
    return 0;
  }

  // Show splash screen.
  df::splash();

  // Shut everything down.
  game_manager.shutDown();
}

If developing Dragonfly (versus linking in Dragonfly), paste in the below code:

#include <SFML/Graphics.hpp>

int main()
{
    sf::RenderWindow window(sf::VideoMode(200, 200), "SFML works!");
    sf::CircleShape shape(100.f);
    shape.setFillColor(sf::Color::Green);

    while (window.isOpen())
    {
        sf::Event event;
        while (window.pollEvent(event))
        {
            if (event.type == sf::Event::Closed)
                window.close();
        }

        window.clear();
        window.draw(shape);
        window.display();
    }

    return 0;
}