Developing in the new Version of Microsoft Visual Studio

matew

Hello! I'm new here.

I want to get into creating plugins using the DAZ SDK. I'm working on a Windows 64bit environment. I've downloaded the latest version of the SDK and installed the latest version of Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 Community, but now I see in the documentation that I needed Microsoft Visual Studio 2010. How critical is this? Can I still work in Microsoft Visual C++ 2022?

ainm.sloinneadh

You can. I am.

The key thing is to set the correct options in CMake. I've just closed my computer down, but from memory I used the Visual Studio 14 (2015) generatoe with v100 set in the text field box below. I think it was called arguments or something. I can't remember if I downloaded the VS14 tools separately, if they are downloadable from within Visual Studio 22 installer or if they were already bundled, but rest assured it is possible. I wouldn't want to say it's easy, but it could be - a lot of my trials and tribulations were about figuring out what I needed to do rather than doing anything particularly complicated.

Richard Haseltine

This is discussed in the documentation, ./docs/compile_win.html

While the exact version of the Microsoft Visual Studio IDE used to develop a DAZ Studio plugin can vary (VS 2017 is being used internally at the time of this writing), the application itself is compiled with the Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 (v100) compiler. This is an important detail because it means that in order to avoid compatibility issues with the allocation and/or freeing of memory, any code that is intended to communicate directly with the application must also be compiled with the same compiler. That being said, it is possible for a plugin to act as a "shim" and marshal data between the application and an another library/engine that is compiled with a compiler other than the Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 compiler.

More recently 2019 and 2022 have been used, but still compiling using the 2010 version.

vectorinus

Hello! I use VS 2015. Although I think the 2017 version is the best (just can’t leave my old reliable lady).
I think it's better to first try to compile the examples supplied with DAZ SDK. They are already configured correctly for Visual Studio. If you start with your own project, then it may not work due to the incorrect location of the SDK and moc compiler folders. It is also easy to make errors in the directives for creating moc files, etc. As a result, you will not find out the real reason why your project did not compile: an error in its creation or incompatibility of the SDK with the new version of Visual Studio.

mrpdean_7efbae9610

How does one even get their hands on the Visual Studio 2010 Built Tools these days?

I can't seem to find them anywhere on the internet :)

Omniflux

mrpdean_7efbae9610 said:

How does one even get their hands on the Visual Studio 2010 Built Tools these days?

Install 

• Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7
• Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Service Pack 1 Compiler Update for the Windows SDK 7.1

The new (old) toolset should then show up in VS.

mrpdean_7efbae9610

Omniflux said:

mrpdean_7efbae9610 said:

How does one even get their hands on the Visual Studio 2010 Built Tools these days?

Install 

• Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7
• Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Service Pack 1 Compiler Update for the Windows SDK 7.1

The new (old) toolset should then show up in VS.

 

Brilliant!  Thanks!

I will give it a try now :)

mrpdean_7efbae9610

I was able to get Visual Studio 2010 (v100) to show up as a Toolset option in Visual Studio 2022 however, when I try to compile with that toolset I'm getting a bunch of permision denied errors.

Has anyone encounted this problem?

 

vectorinus

https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/VS-2022-Community-access-denied-error-wh/10108969 This thread explains in detail that Visual Studio 2022 sucks. What didn't you like about Visual Studio 2017? All the beauty you see in DAZ Studio was developed in Visual Studio 2010 (or 2012). Do you believe that a big issue will allow you to do even better?

Richard Haseltine

We are told that DS has been developed in Visual C++ 6.0, and Visual Studio 2005, 2008, 2010, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2022 - 2012 has not been used. The SDK refers to 2010 and 2017. Recent work has been done in 2017 and 2022, using the 2010 (v100) compiler for DS 4.x.x.x.

vectorinus

Richard, tell whoever gave you this interesting information that we admire them and the product they created. And we strive to be like them. (Hmm, I guessed I needed to program in Visual Studio 6.0, not 2015. That's why I got stuck in my plugin...)

mrpdean_7efbae9610

vectorinus said:

https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/VS-2022-Community-access-denied-error-wh/10108969 This thread explains in detail that Visual Studio 2022 sucks. What didn't you like about Visual Studio 2017? All the beauty you see in DAZ Studio was developed in Visual Studio 2010 (or 2012). Do you believe that a big issue will allow you to do even better?

Calm down there big fella!  I was just asking :)

I need VS 2022 for Unreal Engine development and getting 2022 and another (ancient) version of VS to happy coexist on the one machine is proving very challenging.  I think I'm going to spin up a virtual machine for Daz plugin development.

Richard Haseltine

mrpdean_7efbae9610 said:

vectorinus said:

https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/VS-2022-Community-access-denied-error-wh/10108969 This thread explains in detail that Visual Studio 2022 sucks. What didn't you like about Visual Studio 2017? All the beauty you see in DAZ Studio was developed in Visual Studio 2010 (or 2012). Do you believe that a big issue will allow you to do even better?

Calm down there big fella!  I was just asking :)

I need VS 2022 for Unreal Engine development and getting 2022 and another (ancient) version of VS to happy coexist on the one machine is proving very challenging.  I think I'm going to spin up a virtual machine for Daz plugin development.

We are told that Daz is careful to install 2010 and its service pack first, then the later versions - ideally, install all versions in ascending order of release to avoid the risks of path errors.

mrpdean_7efbae9610

Richard Haseltine said:

mrpdean_7efbae9610 said:

vectorinus said:

https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/t/VS-2022-Community-access-denied-error-wh/10108969 This thread explains in detail that Visual Studio 2022 sucks. What didn't you like about Visual Studio 2017? All the beauty you see in DAZ Studio was developed in Visual Studio 2010 (or 2012). Do you believe that a big issue will allow you to do even better?

Calm down there big fella!  I was just asking :)

I need VS 2022 for Unreal Engine development and getting 2022 and another (ancient) version of VS to happy coexist on the one machine is proving very challenging.  I think I'm going to spin up a virtual machine for Daz plugin development.

We are told that Daz is careful to install 2010 and its service pack first, then the later versions - ideally, install all versions in ascending order of release to avoid the risks of path errors.

Thank you.

Yes, I'm struggling to get everything installed on Windows 11.

2010 complains about missing .net 4.6, which complains about missing Win 7 SDK. When I try to install .net 4.6 it says it, or a newer version, is already installed and won't proceed.

I'll keep bashing away at it though :)

surreal

I stopped using VS2019/2022 for some reason I can no longer remember. I currently use VS2017 however, just did a test compile of one of my plug-in projects using VS2022. Did not get any 'Can not open ...' errors. I did however get some other permission errors (e.g. create/find files).

To fix I just needed to give VS2022 permission to modify the appropreate folders (Windows Security/Ransomware protection).
Have not yet had time to check if the compiled dll runs without errors though.