Building vpython with from Visual Studio C++

You may find Eclipse a useful development and CVS environment (eclipse.org)

VPython CVS

Check-out the vpython-core2 module from

:pserver:anonymous@visualpython.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/visualpython

PythonX.N

Install Python X.N via the Windows Installer at http://www.python.org/download/.

Make sure it is installed on the same drive as vpython-core2, in \PythonXN.

Install these Python modules: numpy, FontTools, ttfquery.

Copy into C:\PythonXN\Lib\site-packages the folders site-packages\vis and site-packages\visual

and docs found in \YourCVS\vpython-core2

Install Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition, which includes the platform SDK (System Development Kit)

from http://www.microsoft.com/Express/Download/#webInstall

It is important to use the older 2008 version of Visual C++, because that's what built Python 2.7.

However, see the following for how to try to use Visual C++ 2010 with Python 2.7:

http://nukeit.org/compile-python-2-7-packages-with-visual-studio-2010-express

Also, make sure that in the Visual Studio 2010 project properties, Linker > Input,

you specify "Ignore Specific Default Libraries" to /NODEFAULTLIB:MSVCRT.lib.

To avoid the link error Error 1 error LNK1220: '/DELAYSIGN' requires '/KEYFILE' or '/KEYCONTAINER'

you need to go to Visual Studio project properties, Linker > Advanced, and clear Delay Sign.

Unzip Boost

Extract the files in vpython-core2/dependencies/win_boost.zip so that

there is a folder vpython-core2/dependencies/boost_files containing

boost (include files) and win_libs folders.

These files were obtained from http://www.boostpro.com/download

(If these files are not up to date with the current Python, you may have to

build the Boost libraries from source. See below. This was the case in

Aug. 2010 when the standard release of Python was 2.7, but the boostpro

libraries had been built for Python 2.6.)

On Vista, in Command Prompt, link from Python site-packages to the CVS files

(YourCVS is the directory where you have put the CVS files)

cd C:\Python2N\Lib\site-packages

mklink /D visual \YourCVS\vpython-core2\site-packages\visual

If you are using XP, you will need to copy/update these files

from CVS to C:\Python25\Lib\site-packages:

visual, examples, docs

Build cvisual.pyd

Open the cvisual.sln project file in Visual Studio Express, make Release the active

configuration, then press F7.

The .pyd file is placed in vpython-core2\site-packages\vis

Copy this file to C:\PythonXN\Lib\site-packages\vis

This is the only step that needs to be repeated as you make changes to the C++ source code.

Get Polygon module.

In setup.py I tried setting withNumPy=True and defaultStyle='STYLE_NUMPY', but it won't compile.

In the Polygon directory execute C:\Python2N\python setup.py install

Process MakeVPython.iss with Innosetup (innosetup.org) to build an installer:

1) Run compilevisual.py from the Visual source package to

Python-compile all the Visual .py files (produces .pyc files).

2) Make sure that C:\Python2N\Lib\idlelib\config-main.def has edit startup and

autosave set to 1 and that help is set for Visual before building the package.

3) Double-click MakeVPython.iss.

4) Near the start of the file, update AppVerName if necessary.

5) Do Build > Compile to produce a Windows installer.

6) Run the installer.

This produces a Windows installer that can be used by an administrator to

install a fully-compiled Visual into a protected area that users can't write

to. Without this second inno setup to get the .pyc files, every user would

have to recompile some of the site-packages/visual/*.py files. No big deal,

but nicer to have these files already compiled.

DEBUGGING

Go to the "System" control panel and choose advanced settings, then environment variables

Create a user variable "VPYTHON_DEBUG" and give it the value 1.

Run the Windows command prompt, found in Accessories in the program listings, cd to a

directory with a Python script, and execute this:

\Python2N\python.exe sometest.py

You'll get a trace of the VPYTHON_NOTE entries in the source code.

BUILDING BOOST FROM SOURCE

Download latest Boost (boost_1_43_0.zip, for example) from www.boost.org.

Unzip into boost_1_43_0, for example.

The following must be done from a Windows typescript,

or the Visual Studio Command Prompt, NOT from Msys.

> cd boost_1_43_0

cd to the Boost directory and execute

.\bootstrap.bat

to create the bjam tool and project-config.jam.

In the file project-config.jam, add the Python version (such as 3.1) for which the Boost

libaries are to be built:

using python : 3.1 ;

To build the Boost libraries, execute this for Python 2.x

.\bjam --build-type=complete --with-python --with-thread --with-signals stage

or this for Python 3.x

.\bjam --build-type=complete --with-python --with-thread --with-signals --with-random stage

"complete" means "make various variants of the libraries".

The files you want will be in stage/lib.

Move the following multithreaded static libraries to dependencies/boost_files/win_libs.

For Python 2.x:

libboost_python-vc90-mt-s-1_43.lib

libboost_signals-vc90-mt-s-1_43.lib

libboost_thread-vc90-mt-s-1_43.lib

For Python 3.x:

libboost_python3-vc90-mt-s-1_43.lib (and then change the name in win_libs to libboost_python-vc90-mt-s-1_43.lib)

libboost_signals-vc90-mt-s-1_43.lib

libboost_thread-vc90-mt-s-1_43.lib

Also, you need to copy the directory named boost from the Boost files into dependencies\boost_file.

For Boost 1_42_0, in line 21 of boost\python\exception_translator.hpp you maay need

to change bind to boost::bind.

Problem bulding with Boost 1.37; found this on the web (this problem disappeared for Boost 1.42):

Furthermore building pyrap with boost-1.37 and gcc-4.3.2 gave an error

due to a missing include. The following patch has to be applied to boost:

Index: boost/python/detail/translate_exception.hpp

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

--- boost/python/detail/translate_exception.hpp (revision 50228)

+++ boost/python/detail/translate_exception.hpp (working copy)

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@

# include <boost/call_traits.hpp>

# include <boost/type_traits/add_const.hpp>

+# include <boost/type_traits/add_reference.hpp>

# include <boost/function/function0.hpp>

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