C++/CLI 2005 : Where to start with DirectX (Newbie)
Hi,
My configuration is following:
Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition
Windows 2000 SP4
Microsoft DirectX 9.0 SDK (Dc 2004)
After installing Microsoft DirectX 9.0 SDK, the only version which seemed to be compatible with Windows 2000, I tried to check out if my installation was OK and certainly if VC++ 2005 could "communicate" with that DirectX version installed.
I tried to include "using Microsoft::DirectX" instruction at top of a sample Visual C++/CLI application but curiously Intellisense couldn't find any "DirectX" after typing "using Microsoft::". Am I missing something? What must I do to connect a VC++2005 application with DirectX?
Thanks in advance,
Stphane
Hi again,
My appologies. I think I found the solution to my problems. Here's what I did:
- Solution Explorer
- Project properties
- Under Common properties:
I added a new reference to "Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D"
Compiling now without problem. Am I missing something else?
Finally, if I intend to use DirectX only with C++/CLI, any good reference or book you would recommend? I noticed the when browsing through DirectX documentation, there is absolutely no "Managed C++" examples...
Stphane
References that are common,
Microsoft.DirectX
Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D
Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3DX
Microsoft.DirectX.DirectInput
Microsoft.DirectX.DirectSound
I hope this helps.
Take care.
 Stphane Beauchemin wrote: |
| Finally, if I intend to use DirectX only with C++/CLI, any good reference or book you would recommend? I noticed the when browsing through DirectX documentation, there is absolutely no "Managed C++" examples... |
|
Stphane, demand for C++/CLI DirectX examples is almost completely non-existent. I'm curious about your choice, because I see it this way:
1) If you're using C++, why not use native DirectX, since there is a colossal number of samples available (and is used by professional industry)
2) If you want to use managed code, why not use C#, which also has a large number of DirectX samples (because syntax is far easier than C++)
If you answer is, "I am a C++ developer, but want to write C++ in a managed environment rather than use a different syntax", then you are in a very small minority (indeed, so small that no book publisher would probably take the time to publish such a book, which is why you can't find C++/CLI/DirectX books).
Regarding the samples, the unfortunate answer is that the DirectX samples team is extremely limited in what they can do. With releases coming out every two months, they need to make a tradeoff between creating a few samples in several managed languages, or many samples in one managed language (you'll notice that they still don't have parity with the C++ samples, and probably never will).
On the brighter side, if you were to convert the samples yourself, I'm sure that Andy Dunn wouldn't mind hosting them for you on TheZbuffer.com.
Hi David,
Many thanks for sharing your opinion with me. I started C++ by learning part time 6.0 and then switched rapidly to Managed C++ (VC++ 2003) and then C++/CLI (VC++2005) because this was the language version, if I can say it this way, which resemble the most with the 4th genaration languages I've been using so far.
At that time, I must admit that I was hesitating between taking C++ vs C# as my programming platform. Following a few discussions on the subject with my colleagues, some persons finally gave me the advice to go on with C++ as it was less limited than C# as the upcoming C++/CLI would also eventually fill the gap between the two regarding programming interface.
There is a lot of demand on C++ in my region, as well as C# I must admit less before but more these days. I attended a few Microsoft live shows and after talking with their representants, I really thought that, according to the pressure Microsoft seemed to show regarding migration to Managed C++ (C++/CLI), companies would make the move, migrate their applications to Managed Code. Telling you at this moment if I made the right choice, I honestly don't know as I invested a lot of energy learning C++.
Stphane
