Wt

h1. Installing MSVC 2005

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h2. General

We suggest to either use MSVC 2005 Standard/Professional/Team Edition, or the free Express edition.

Microsoft has improved MSVC 2005 by means of a service pack; I strongly recommend you upgrade your compiler with this service pack (SP1). This service pack is available both for the full version and the Express Edition at http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/bb265237.aspx It is a good idea to drink a cup of coffee while the service pack is installing.

If you are using Vista, MSVC will insist that you also install the SP1 Upgrade for Vista (an additional upgrade to SP1).

If you choose to use the Express edition, you have to perform some extra steps outlined below.

At the time of writing, released Boost versions did not support MSVC2008, so if you would decide to use this compiler, you're on your own for now.

h2. Installing MSVC2005, Express Edition

Steps to install MSVC C++ EE on your computer:

• Go to http://www.microsoft.com/express/2005/ and download the compiler
• Install the platform SDK by executing at least steps 1 through 3 of this document: http://www.microsoft.com/express/2005/platformsdk/default.aspx (hint: in step 3, you can find the paths in Tools->Options->Projects and Solutions->VC++ Directories)
• Edit c:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\Tools\vsvars32.bat. Update the PATH, INCLUDE and LIB environments with the same directories as in step 3 of the previous document.

You do not need to install the Platform SDK if you use the Standard/Professional/Team Edition of MS Visual Studio.

Do not forget to install service pack 1 now (follow the link in the introduction)

h2. Wt and MSVC2008, Express Edition

At the end of 2007, Microsoft released a new version of their compilers: MSVC 2008, aka version 9.0. This compiler includes the platform SDK, so there is no longer a need to download that part separately. Download the compiler from http://www.microsoft.com/express/

Current versions of Wt compile with MSVC2008, but boost versions prior to 1.35 will not work.