15.2. Configuration Questions
15.2.1. What are the memory requirements of MSVC?
MSVC 1.5.x will work on a 486 class machine with a minimum of 4MB of RAM. 8MB will make your life much better. MSVC 2.x needs at least 16MB. Microsoft recommends 20MB on the box.
Note: VC 1.5 takes a big (3x) performance hit under all operating systems if you have less than 16 Meg. I published an article about this (and other performance enhancements) in Windows/DOS Developers Journal in May, 95.
[email protected], email, 7/11/95
15.2.2. How can I get MSVC 2.1, I can't find it in stores?
The point releases are part of the MSVC subscription (See section 2.1.1.). Only major releases are sold through retail, so you'll need to buy a subscription to get the point releases. Subscriptions are available from Microsoft, Programmer's Paradise and Programmer's shop. (See section 2.1 for info)
15.2.3. Should I run under Win 95 or NT?
Life is a bunch of trade off's. The trade off's here are if you run under 95, you won't need as much memory, but the OS is not as robust as NT, so you will probably crash more. On the flip side, if you run under NT (a full 32-bit OS), you won't crash as much, but alas, you will need more memory. Personally, I prefer the NT route. NT catches all memory problems and handles them nicely for you without destabilizing the system.
[email protected], 6/18/95
15.2.4. How do I set the include/lib/exe directories?
MSVC versions < 2.0 used environment variables INCLUDE/LIBDIR/EXEDIR. MSVC versions > 2.0 uses settings in the Visual C++ Tools menu. Select "Tools" and then "Options" menu item. A dialog opens, and select "Directories" tab button. There you can set Include directories, Library directories, Executable directories...
[email protected] (Lee, Jin Woo), via programmer.win32, 6/10/95
15.2.5. I can't compile any programs! Help!
Question: I just installed VC1.51 on my system. Installation proceeded smoothly without any errors. However, I can't compile any programs! Even when I try to compile the simplest and shortest programs, I get this error message:
Can't open the compilation response file
Answer : A common cause of this type of error is having a TMP or TEMP environment variable which isn't pointing at a valid directory. E.g. your AUTOEXEC.BAT file says:
set TMP=C:\TMP
and you don't have a "C:\TMP" directory.
Chris Marriott, [email protected], programmer.misc, 6/18/95
15.2.6. Can I setup a project to search different paths for source?
I would like to have my projects first search for the source in a local directory, and if it can't find it there, search a network drive.
TODO: Find answer to this one, seems good. Asked on tools 6/21 by
Joe Kinsella, [email protected]
15.2.7. How do I build a browser file for all of MFC?
It's nice to be able to browse the MFC classes and source code, the best way to do this is via some Microsoft supplied .BAT files for the Microsoft Software Library:
BLDBSC15.BAT - for VC++ 1.5
BLDBSC20.BAT - for VC++ 2.0
BLDBSC21.BAT - for VC++ 2.1
Basically, you want invoke the compiler on every file with /Zs as the option, which means generate the .sbr file and no .obj. Next, you want to run bscmake.exe on the generated .sbr files to create your .bsc file. The MFC makefile will complain about the obj's being missing, but you can ignore that warning. It will take significantly longer and more time to create both .sbrs and .objs.
[email protected], 6/25/95
It is worth noting that VC 2.1 has a pre-built browser file that is on the CD-ROM but is not installed. It can be loaded at any time into the IDE with the File/Open command.
[email protected], email, 7/11/95
If you are using the 32-bit versions, you can get more information in the README.TXT file in the \msvc20\mfc\src directory. What is tells you is to move to that directory and from the dos prompt run:
nmake DEBUG=1 BROWSEONLY=1
[email protected], mfc-l, 7/17/95
15.2.8. When I compile I get: "fatal error C1010: unexpected end of file while looking for precompiled header directive" - why?
You need to #include "stdafx.h" at the top of your file.
NEW!! 15.2.9. Is there any way of seeing UNICODE strings interpretted correctly in VC++ debug watch window?
Under Tools|Options Goto the Debug Tab, there is an option 'Display unicode strings' turn it on and it should display unicode strings correctly.
Chris Depetris [[email protected]], VCPP mailing list, 6/30/98