Re: [Dev-C++] Adding my own Lib files to Project

[Elizabeth B. <sog...@ya...>]

Look under:

Project->Project Options->Files/Directories

In that dialog there is a sub-tabbed thing, and the tabs are:

Library Directories, Include Directories, Resource Files, Resource Directories

If the libraries you need to link in to your application reside
somewhere beside the normal place ([DEV-C++_HOME]/lib or the
mingw-specific area) then you need to tell the linker about that
directory else it won't know where to look.

You add these directories using:
Project->Project Options->Files/Directories->Library Directories

These are *library* files and are not the same as include files.

Include files just tell the compiler (and your code) certain function
definitions (the signature of the function) and say to the compiler
"look, I don't have this code *now* but later on, when this program is
linked into an executable, somehow, someway, a function that matches
the signature in the header file will be provided".

So, anyway, after you compile your code using these header files
(often times referred to as "include files"), it's time to link it all
together. This is where the libraries come in - libraries provide the
actual code itself (not 100% accurate in that DLL's are used, but the
concept is the same: the library provides the implementation of the
functions defined in the header/include files).

> Are you saying that the name of the directory makes a difference ?
> The *** in my mail stans for projects. If by *** you are implying
> Dev-Cpp, then that is what I don't want to do. I would not like to
> mix my files with those that came with the compiler. My full path is
> C:\Projects\Lib. Do you mean I should change Lib to include and add
> the path to where please explain.

Right, you don't want to mix them with the standard header files; the
C:\Projects\lib is probably just an example.

Let's say I want to build a project entitled "terminal_library" so I make
a special directory (or folder) entitled "terminal_library_project"

mkdir terminal_library_project
cd terminal_library_project

I then hack away and build a DLL that resides within
terminal_library_project:

terminal_library_project:
	terminal_library_a.c
	terminal_library_a.h
	terminal_library_a.o
	terminal_library_b.c
	terminal_library_b.h
	terminal_library_b.o
	terminal_library.dll
	terminal_library.dll.a
	terminal_library.a
	terminal_library.def

Anyway, that is done so then I go over to a different folder to work
on the "terminal project" itself (which uses code in the
terminal_library).

cd ..
mkdir terminal_project
cd terminal_project

In the source files of terminal_project are things like this:

#include "terminal_library_a.h"

The problem with just stating this is that during the compile, the
compiler cannot automatically determine where to find
"terminal_library_a.h". In order for it to find it, I need to tell the
compiler where it is located, which is where:

Project->Project Options->Files/Directories->Include Directories

comes into play. I add "terminal_library_project" to this list of
include directories and it compiles into object code fine *but* it
fails to link with those nasty error messages you mentioned
earlier. Why is this? Because in the same way that the compiler needed
to know where to find the include files it also needs to know where to
find the library files, so I add "terminal_library_project" to the

Project->Project Options->Files/Directories->Library Directories

And this tells the *linker* where to find the *libraries*.

Elizabeth