Filter SDK/Compiling instructions

Introduction

The Avisynth API is a C++ API, but that doesn't mean that you can use every C++ compiler to compile your plugin. Unfortunately compilers have different ideas about what the C++ ABI should look like. In practice, this means that if you want things to work 100% as expected, you must compile your plugin with the same compiler that was used to compile AviSynth. That's MSVC 6.0 for official builds. Later versions of MSVC will kinda sorta work, as will ICL (up to ICL10.1), but there are caveats (for example, you must never allow any C++ exceptions to escape your plugin ever - use ThrowError() instead - and you must always make sure memory allocated by AviSynth is freed by AviSynth itself and not by your plugin). So unfortunately it matters what C++ compiler will be used to compile a plugin.

An application binary interface (ABI) specifies how software components should interact with each other at the binary level (in this case AviSynth and a plugin). ABIs cover details such as the sizes, layout, and alignment of data types, the calling convention of functions' arguments that are passed and returned. It standardizes details such as the C++ name mangling and exception propagation. The problem is that there are different C++ ABIs.

Microsoft set their general C++ ABI with their first C++ compilers, and it has had some changes along the years and versions of their compiler suite. Intel and Borland, among others, support the Microsoft ABI, and thus things built with the other generally work, just like with Linux and the ABI used by GCC. Enter MinGW.

Instead of implementing the Microsoft ABI, the people at GCC and MinGW decided to just use the same C++ ABI on Windows as they use everywhere else. And thus we have two groups of compilers that use a different ABI, and thus we have problems. If you try to load a mingw-built C++ API DLL from a MSVC-built Avisynth. The opposite will not work, either. The C interface was made exactly for this reason, as pretty much by chance the ABI for C is (more or less) set, and thus it is generally OK to mix binaries created by different C compilers.

This is why the Avisynth C API exists: if you want a portable API, you want a C API. C++ API's are more or less by definition unportable.

If you want extra reading regarding calling conventions and name mangling and such ABI-related things, you can read the following PDF that lists quite a few things of various implementations. Available here. Basically these things in general are not fixable by a mere header, you would have to patch a compiler for the other calling convention, as well as handle exceptions so that the other side would understand it as well. And so forth, and so forth. (source: Doom9 forum posts: [1], [2].)

Compiling AviSynth Plugins step by step instructions (for MS VC++ 6.0)

Be sure to start with the necessary software.

Open VC++. Select a new project: Go to the File tab -> New. Select a Win32 Dynamic-Link Library in the Projects tab:

Add the location of your project and the Project Name. The location is the project folder where the source of your project will be.

Select "An empty DLL project":

Copy existing source files (*.cpp), headers (*.h) and avisynth.h in your project folder. If you started from scratch, you only need to copy avisynth.h in your project folder.

Go to the Project tab -> Add To Project -> Files:

Add the existing source files (*.cpp), headers (*.h) and avisynth.h to your project. If you start from scratch, you need to a new files to your project:

Go to the Project tab -> Add To project -> New:

1) Select C++ source file, and give it a name. 2) Select C/C++ header file (if you are going to use one), and give it a name.

Go to the Build tab -> Set Active Configuration -> select the release build.

If you go to the Project tab again -> Settings. Then you should see something similar as this:

Save your workspace: File -> Save Workspace.

Finally, code your source/header files, and compile your plugin. Go to the Build tab -> Build (...)

Compiling AviSynth Plugins step by step instructions (for MS VC++ 2005 Express Edition)

Setup VC++ 2005 Express Edition environment

• Install MS VC++ 2005 Express Edition.

http://www.microsoft.com/express/2005/ It is web-based install, but you need to register (which you can do freely).

I prefer manual installation with full CD image download. It may be used on computer without Internet access. http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=57034 (Note: link updated Dec/10)

Run it at least once before installing the SDK

• Install Microsoft Platform SDK

Last version is at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=0BAF2B35-C656-4969-ACE8-E4C0C0716ADB

Previous versions works fine too (and older February 2003).

http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/platformsdk/sdkupdate/

http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/platformsdk/sdkupdate/psdk-full.htm

It seems, you need install Core component only with Web install, but you may prefer full or ISO download for offline computer.

• Update the Visual C++ directories in the Projects and Solutions section in the Options dialog box.

Add the paths to the appropriate subsection (change 'Microsoft Platform SDK for Windows Server 2003 R2' in following strings by your real path of installed version of Microsoft SDK):

Add to Executable files: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Platform SDK for Windows Server 2003 R2\Bin

Add to Include files: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Platform SDK for Windows Server 2003 R2\Include

Add to Library files: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Platform SDK for Windows Server 2003 R2\Lib

See http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualc/usingpsdk/

• Update the corewin_express.vsprops file.

To make the Win32 template work in Visual C++ Express you need to edit the corewin_express.vsprops file (found in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\VCProjectDefaults) and change the string that reads:

AdditionalDependencies="kernel32.lib" to

AdditionalDependencies="kernel32.lib user32.lib gdi32.lib winspool.lib comdlg32.lib advapi32.lib shell32.lib ole32.lib oleaut32.lib uuid.lib"

This step is usually not needed for most AviSynth plugins (kernel.lib is enough), but sometimes you may need in some other library, in particular User.Lib for debug.

• Enable Win32 Windows Application type in the Win32 Application Wizard.

To enable that type, you need to edit the file AppSettings.htm file located in the folder “%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\VCWizards\AppWiz\Generic\Application\html\1033\".

In a text editor comment out lines 441 - 444 by putting a // in front of them as shown here:

// WIN_APP.disabled = true;

// WIN_APP_LABEL.disabled = true;

// DLL_APP.disabled = true;

// DLL_APP_LABEL.disabled = true;

Save and close the file and open Visual C++ Express.

This step is optional if you have project file for plugin (new or old C++ version) and do not create new plugin from scratch.

How to compile existant (old MS VC 6.0) plugin with MS VC++ 2005

• Start VC++ 2005, go to folder with old plugin (e.g. SimpleSample) unpacked zip file with full source codes and project files, and open plugin workspace file SimpleSample.dsw.

• Agree in dialog to convert and open this project.

• Go to menu Build -> Configuration Manager, Set active solution configuration to Release (or Debug if you want firsly debug it).

• Go to Build -> Build Solution (F7) to compile and create SimpleSample.dll

• If you get fatal error LNK1181: cannot open input file 'odbc32.lib', then go to menu Project -> SimpleSample Properties. Select Configuration Properties -> Linker -> Input -> Additional Dependencies, and remove extra unneeded libraries like odbc32.lib, odbccp32.lib.

• Also check Linker -> Output File option there and set approriate pathname (or Inherit From Process default).

• You can make some changes (edit) of source codes if you want.

• Repeat command Build -> Build Solution (F7) to compile and create SimpleSample.dll

How to create new plugin from scratch with MS VC++ 2005

• Start VC++2005.
• Menu: fiIe -> Create new project.
• Select Win32 console appication.
• Enter name of your new project and press OK.
• You will in Win32 Appcilation Wizard. Press Application Settings (left panel).
• Select Application Type as DLL (but it may be console too).
• At Additional options select "Empty project"
• Copy files to project folder with Explorer.
• Add header file avisynth.h to the project: Menu Project -> Add existent item. Also add existant (e.g. simplesample.cpp) or create new CPP files by Project -> Add new item.
• Go to menu Build -> Configuration Manager, Set active solution configuration to Release (or Debug if you want firsly debug it).
• Make some changes (edit) of source codes to implement your algorithm. See SimpleSample or some other open source plugin source code and Avisynth Filter SDK for details.
• Go to Build -> Build Solution (F7) to compile and create plugin SimpleSample.dll

Compiling AviSynth Plugins step by step instructions (for MS VC++ 2008 Professional Edition)

• In this guide, we will compile the Example plugin from CPP for C programmers, from http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1538557#post1538557 or directly from http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?tc61m9otustmy29
• Start Microsoft Visual Studio 2008
• Upon first start, you are asked to set up your environment. You may choose the typical Visual C++ option
• Choose File->New->Project or click the New Project icon
• On the left pane, under Project Types, expand Visual C++ and select Win32
• On the right pane, choose Win32 Console Application
• Enter a name for your project (in this example we will use Example), click OK
• You may get an error: An error has occurred in this dialog, Error: 54, Unspecified Error. This may be because you installed some windows updates but didn't reboot yet. Click OK.
• You are shown the current project settings. Click Next.
• Under Application Type, click the DLL option. Under Additional options, check the Empty project box.
• A new directory is created, My Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\Example
• You need to extract the files from our example plugin into My Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\Example\Example
• In the default layout, there is a Solution Explorer pane on the left side. Right click Header Files, and select Add->Existing Item, select avisynth.h and click Add
• Continue to add the other files, Info.h and InfoF.h
• Right click Source Files, select Add->Existing Item, and select Example.cpp
• Click Build->Build Solution (this will give errors!)
• There's a lot of errors about OutputDebugStringW. To fix this, select Project->Example Properties
• In the left pane, Expand Configuration Properties, select General
• In the right pane, click Character Set. Use the drop-down to select Use Multi-Byte Character Set. Click OK.
• Click Build->Build Solution (this may give errors!)
• In the version 0.3 of the plugin, there was an error, 'example.cpp(610) : error C4430: missing type specifier - int assumed'. To fix this, double-click that error line to highlight it's location in the example.cpp source file. Change 'const wstep = (vi.IsRGB24()) ? 3 : 4; // 3 bytes for RGB24, & 4 for RGB32.' to 'const int wstep = (vi.IsRGB24()) ? 3 : 4; // 3 bytes for RGB24, & 4 for RGB32.'
• Click Build->Build Solution
• If you get an error 'unresolved external symbol _main referenced in function ___tmainCRTStartup', then you're trying to build an .exe. Use Project->Example Properties, Configuration Properties, General, set Configuration Type to Dynamic Library (.dll)
• By default, a debug version is made. To change this, Build->Configuration Manager, select Release in the left drop-down
• You will have to re-apply the configuration changes: Project->Example Properties, Configuration Properties, General, Configuration Type=Dynamic Library (.dll) and Character Set=Use Multi-Byte Character Set
• The following file should appear: My Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\Example\Release\Example.dll. Note that there is also a directory My Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\Example\Example\Release which contains only tempory files, but not the dll. This is set under Project->Example Properties, General, Output Directory=$(SolutionDir)$(ConfigurationName), Intermediate Directory=$(ConfigurationName). In this case $(SolutionDir)=My Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\Example, $(ConfigurationName)=Release.
• You need to copy Example.dll to your Avisynth plugins directory, and then test it with the Example.avs file.
• If everything worked, you can proceed to modify the example by following the comments, or also using the SimnpleSample included in the Avisynth distribution.

Compiling AviSynth Plugins step by step instructions (for MS VC++ 2010 Express and Professional Edition)

These instructions are also valid for the 2008 editions. Be sure to start with the necessary software.

Open MSVC++ 2010. Select a new project:

Select a Win32 Console Application. Add the location of your project and the project name. The Location\Name will be the project folder where the source of your project will be. If the folder "Name" doesn't exist you can create it by checking the 'Create directory for solution' box, otherwise it will create the subfolder.

Select application settings and check the application type 'DLL' and additional option 'Empty project' boxes. Click on finish:

In the Solution Explorer window, the solution has the 'folders' External Dependencies, Header Files, Resource Files and Source Files:

Copy existing source files (*.cpp), headers (*.h) and avisynth.h in your project folder. If you started from scratch, you only need to copy avisynth.h in your project folder.

You can add the source and header files to your project by right-clicking on a 'folder' (say Header Files as in the screenshot below), select Add and Existing Item (or New Item if you start from scratch):

Select the release build, since we are building the release build. If it's your first time you need to select the expert settings to make the build tab visible:

Tools > Settings > Expert Settings

Now you are ready to build you DLL. Go to

Build > Build Solution

And you will find your compiled plugin in the Location\Name\Folder.