DirectX SDK integration with VS 2010

3
votes

I'm not sure if anyone has noticed but there seems to be a conflict with the DirectX SDK and VS2010's Windows SDK. If you look inside the folder under the directory

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Include

You will see it contains the old headers for DirectX 11. The above directory is by default included to each VS 2010 project file and is required in order for VS 2010 to be able to compile correctly.

The same is true for .lib files for DirectX.

Now here lies the problem, to include the Directx SDK to your project in VS2010 you add the directories via the project property sheet. This automatically means you are including both the old headers and libs for DirectX as well as the new ones... :(

If you think you're building with the latest DirectX libs and header files you may very well be mistaken as the compiler could be using the unintended files.

How can I get around this problem as I can't seem to compile anything without keeping the default project settings ?

Also bare in mind I am using C++ and VS2010 Ultimate from MSDNAA.

1
visual-studio-2010directx

1 Answers

0
votes

Short answer: It probably doesn't matter.

Updated DXSDK installation won't update the system DLLs that ship with windows. It doesn't matter if you are including/linking with the DXSDK directory or the v7.0A directory. When the app runs, it loads the same DLLs either way. (Notable exception: the D3DX_xx.dll for helper functions - as those aren't OS components, they ship with the SDK and are meant for inclusion in the app setup package). The header files that ship with DXSDK should be nearly identical to what's in the v7.0a directory.

And if I'm not mistaken, include and lib directories specified in the Project Settings dialog for your app take predence BEFORE default SDK dirs. So updating your Project Settings dialog should be ok.

But if you really want to be sure... Instead of adding the DXSDK header/libs for each project, make them default search directories for all projects.

From the top-level menu for Visual Studio: Select Tools->Options.

From the left-nav menu on the Options dialog select "Project & Solutions", and "VC++ Directories" underneath that.

Then on the dropdown in the top right for "Show Directories for", select "Include Files".

Makes sure your $(DXSDK) include directory comes before the $(WindowsSdkDir) entry. If it's not already there, add it.

Repeat this for the "Library Files" option under the "Show Directories for" menu option.