Assembly Language and System Programming

Fall 2006

Instructions to Set Up Visual C++ 2005 Express for Assignment 3

1. To build a windows program in Visual C++ 2005 Express, you need some additional include files (such as windows.h) during compilation and some additional library files (such as user32.lib, gdi32.lib…etc.) for linking. To obtain those files, follow either one of the two methods below:

(a) The first method works only if you have previously installed a different version of VC++. If you have a different version of VC++, then you probably already have the required include and library files (in folders like C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98).

(b) If the first method does not work for you, then please download the “Platform SDK” from Microsoft. To reduce the download size, you may choose the “custom build” mode and select only the “Microsoft Windows Core SDK” – “Build Environment (x86 32-bit).”

2. Then follow the instructions in http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualc/usingpsdk/ (Steps 3 and 4) to reconfigure Visual C++ 2005 Express, so it can find the new include and library files. If you use method (a) in the previous step, then remember to change “C:\Program Files\Microsoft Platform SDK Server 2003 R2\…” to the path that contains your version of VC++. (Note: NOT the Express edition.)

3. If you get an error because of the missing odbc32.lib and odbccp32.lib files, then right click on the project name, select “Properties” – “Configuration Properties” – “Linker” – “Input” and remove odbc32.lib and odbccp32.lib there.