[Xlw-users] xlw and CodeBlocks

Hi

Some people have reported difficulties in getting a working installation 
of XLW with MingW(GCC) & Code::Blocks.  I am in the process of uploading 
a video onto Youtube that demonstrates how this combo can be 
successfully installed.  The basic process is as follows.

========================

1. Clean :-
---------------

Remove all traces of Code::Blocks, XLW and MingW from your computer. You 
may have to physically remove the MingW Directory from your C drive.
Then it is advisable also to remove the path to the MingW Bin directory 
from your Path.  This can be done by going to :

    Control Panel --> System --> Advanced --> Environment Variables

Then edit Path to remove ( if present ) the MinGW Bin directory. For me 
it is "C:\GNU\MinGW\bin".  Also remove (if present) the MSYS Bin 
directory. For me this  is "C:\GNU\MSYS\bin".

2. Install MinGw :-
--------------------------

On the xlw sourceforge download page :

http://sourceforge.net/projects/xlw/files/

You will find the MinGW installer :

xlw-mingw-installer --> MinGW _ GCC4.4.0 --> xlw-MinGW-Installer.exe 
<http://sourceforge.net/projects/xlw/files/xlw-mingw-installer/MinGW%20_%20GCC4.4.0/xlw-MinGW-Installer.exe/download>

Download this and install. It should install to  C:\GNU

2. Install Code::Blocks :-
----------------------------------
 I am in the process of uploading a video onto Youtube tha
 From the Code::Blocks download page :

http://www.codeblocks.org/downloads/5

Download and install  codeblocks-8.02-setup.exe . This is the version 
WITHOUT MinGW.

When installing this should detect the previously installed MinGW 
installation.


3. Install XLW :-
----------------------

 From the xlw website download install XLW ensuring you check the 
Code::Blocks checkbox on the the components page of the installer.


It is not essential that the three components ( MinGW, Code::Blocks & 
XLW) are installed in the order as described above HOWEVER installing 
them in this order doesn't require any post-installation configuration. 
For example if MinGW is already installed before installing 
Code::Blocks, it will automatically be detected. Whereas if you install 
MinGW AFTER Code::Blocks, you have explicitly tell Code::Blocks that 
MinGW is present on the machine.

=====================


Statically Linked XLW
-------------------------------

By default XLW links to the dynamic runtime of MinGW. This has the 
consequence that if an XLL built with MinGW on one machine is put onto a 
different machine without MinGW ( hence no MinGW runtime) it will not 
work. Most likely Excel complain that it is not a valid XLL.  There is a 
workaround posted by Benjamin de Besses to this list which forces the 
XLL to link to the static runtime hence eliminating this consequence.  
His email is reposted as part of this email below:


From: Benjamin de Besses <b2besses@fr...> - 2010-01-29 09:29

================
Hi,

I have used the -static-libgcc option to supss the libgcc depandance
of my xll. With this change the xll could be executed without MinGW or
libgcc_s_dw2-1.dll

see: http://sourceforge.net/project/shownotes.php?release_id=691876 for
<http://sourceforge.net/project/shownotes.php?release_id=691876%20for%3Cbr%20/%3E>details

Here my make/rules.mak changes

# Optimization option -O3 have been sussed to produce a valid xll
CPPFLAGS= $(CPPFLAGSINC)
endiftime

# Add -static-libgcc to solve the libgcc_s_dw2-1.dll depandance issue
$(TARGET)::$(LIBOBJ)
@-$(RM) $@
$(CXX) -static-libgcc -fPIC -shared -o $@ \
-Wl,--out-implib=$(INSTALL_DLL)/$(LIBPREFIX)$(LIBRARY).lib \
-Wl,--export-all-symbols \
-Wl,--enable-auto-import \
$(LIBOBJ)\
-Wl,--no-whole-archive $(LDFLAGS) -L"$(XLW)/xlw/lib" $(LDFLAGS)

================


This will workaround will inserted into a future version of  XLW.


Dev-CPP vs Code::Blocks
----------------------------

Dev-CPP doesn't seem to be actively maintained anymore. Moreover the way 
it builds  dynamic libraries is very different and to the way later 
versions of GCC build libraries on Win32. Maintaining XLW  
compatibility  with Dev-C++ will become (in my view) an unreasonable  
sink of valuable resources and developer time  that ( in my view ) is 
unjustified. Obviously  Mark Joshi has the final word on this  and if he 
has a different view then  perhaps  future versions will continue to 
support  Dev-C++ for a bit longer.


Finally a Request
------------------------

As developers of XLW we try out best to answer questions on this list 
and offer help where we can but we are all contributing our limited free 
time and resources to the project.  However XLW is an open source 
community project with an enormous user-base ( Over 52,000 downloads) 
therefore there are many people out there who can probably answer many 
of the questions posted to the list. Please do consider helping others 
by giving them support and answering other user's queries.  Do also 
consider making development contributions. With release of Excel 2010 
imminent with support of 64bit XLL there is plenty of development 
required this year.

Best
N