Libs ,DLLs and .h files

Question

Im a C# guy thats why I'm lost here, this project claims to have compiled that library for Windows https://soildgeo.codeplex.com/releases/view/108738

the folder comes with Include,Lib64 and Bin64 folders. If I'm not mistaken, I only need to copy .lib files to the VC/lib folder and the folders in include to VC/include folder, so that I can start coding against these APIs, they appear in the #include<> intellisense but then they don't compile. my questions are, are my assumptions on this whole process is right ? if not what are the right steps ? and lastly, do I need to use the Dlls found in Bin64 folder at any point ?

Im using VS2013 Thanks in advance

Edit

1>------ Build started: Project: PhysBAMTest, Configuration: Debug x64 ------ 1> main.cpp 1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\include\PhysBAM_Tools\Log\LOG.h(163): error C2146: syntax error : missing ';' before identifier 'attribute' 1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\include\PhysBAM_Tools\Log\LOG.h(163): error C2530: 'PhysBAM::LOG::anonymous-namespace'::cout' : references must be initialized 1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\include\PhysBAM_Tools\Log\LOG.h(163): error C2065: 'unused' : undeclared identifier 1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\include\PhysBAM_Tools\Log\LOG.h(163): error C4430: missing type specifier - int assumed. Note: C++ does not support default-int 1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\include\PhysBAM_Tools\Log\LOG.h(163): error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before '=' 1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\include\PhysBAM_Tools\Log\LOG.h(164): error C2146: syntax error : missing ';' before identifier '__attribute__' 1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\include\PhysBAM_Tools\Log\LOG.h(164): error C2530: 'PhysBAM::LOG::anonymous-namespace'::cerr' : references must be initialized 1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\include\PhysBAM_Tools\Log\LOG.h(164): error C2065: 'unused' : undeclared identifier 1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\include\PhysBAM_Tools\Log\LOG.h(164): error C4430: missing type specifier - int assumed. Note: C++ does not support default-int 1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\include\PhysBAM_Tools\Log\LOG.h(164): error C2374: 'PhysBAM::LOG::anonymous-namespace'::__attribute__' : redefinition; multiple initialization 1> C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\include\PhysBAM_Tools\Log\LOG.h(163) : see declaration of 'PhysBAM::LOG::anonymous-namespace'::attribute' 1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\include\PhysBAM_Tools\Log\LOG.h(164): error C2143: syntax error : missing ';' before '=' ========== Build: 0 succeeded, 1 failed, 0 up-to-date, 0 skipped ==========

Edit

after adding the WIN32 macro based on an answer below , I got a linker error this time

Error 1 error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol "class std::basic_ostream > & __cdecl PhysBAM::LOG::cout_Helper(void)" (?cout_Helper@LOG@PhysBAM@@YAAEAV?$basic_ostream@DU?$char_traits@D@std@@@std@@XZ) referenced in function "void __cdecl PhysBAM::LOG::anonymous namespace'::dynamic initializer for 'cout''(void)" (??__Ecout@?A0x5bbeb782@LOG@PhysBAM@@YAXXZ) C:\Users...\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Projects\PhysBAMTest\PhysBAMTest\main.obj PhysBAMTest

one suggestion: whatever/whenever you add new.. you keep them separate.. always. never mess with existing things. Always add the new folders to include path. — Ashish Negi
Just to clarify some things, there are two type of .lib files: One for static linking, where the .lib file contain the actual code for the library; And export library to act as a wrapper for a DLL, where the DLL contain the actual code for the library. The header files can contain some inline code, but mostly is just the declarations to tell the compiler what exists in the library. — Some programmer dude

rodrigo rodrigo · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-22T10:09:59

All those attribute, unused, __attribute__ are what some call GNU-ishms, that is, features specific to the GCC compatible compilers (GCC itself, Clang, ICC and others). But MS VC does not aim for GCC compatibility, so they just don't work.

The people that did the port to Windows managed to remove these construct by using a few precompiler tricks, I think in the file Utilities/PHYSBAM_OVERRIDE.h. But for those to work you have to define the macro WIN32. Do that in the project "C/C++ Preprocessor Settings" page, not in the code, so it will be defined for all the source files at once.

Alternatively, and this IMO would be the correct solution, patch the sources, and replace every occurrence of #ifdef WIN32 or #if defined(WIN32) with #ifdef _WIN32. The macro _WIN32 is always predefined in Win32 and Win64, but the WIN32 is not.

Well, technically you'd have to differentiate each occurence if the issue is about being a Windows system or about being a MSVC compiler (there is a GCC compiler for Windows). And then use _WIN32 for the system dependencies and _MSC_VER for the compiler ones.

And then, if you feel like it, send a patch to the Codeplex project.

UPDATE

About the linker error, that should be easy to fix: just add the necessary "*.lib" file or files to the project. You can add them to the Linker Property Pageof the project.

Libs ,DLLs and .h files

2 Answers