FAQ-0835 Can I use Visual Studio .NET with Symbian OS v6.x SDKs?


FAQ-0835 Can I use Visual Studio .NET with Symbian OS v6.x SDKs?

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Classification:	C++	Category:	Utilities & Build Tools
Created:	11/28/2002	Modified:	09/02/2003
Number:	FAQ-0835
Platform:	Symbian OS v6.0, Symbian OS v6.1

Question:
Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0 is no longer supported by Microsoft, can I use Visual Studio .NET with Symbian OS SDKs?

Answer:
Visual Studio .NET is not officially supported for use with any Symbian OS SDKs. However, based on feedback from some developers who have experimented with it, you may find that using the following steps you can get your SDK to work correctly.

After doing abld makefile vc6 as usual, open the generated .dsp file. Visual C++ .NET will convert it to the new "solution" format (.sln). You will now need to change some compiler settings. Right click on the project name and bring up the Project Properties dialog. Under the C/C++ heading, set the following options as shown:

Code Generation
Enable C++ Exceptions No
Buffer Security Check No
Command Line
Additional Options /QIfist

This should remove all compiler/linker errors and warnings.

You also need to make sure your PATH environment variable is correctly setup. If you've upgraded from Visual Studio 6.0 then you should change the entries like C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\Common\MSDev98\Bin;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\Common\Tools;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\bin; to point to the new Visual Studio .NET installation, something like C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .net\VC7\Bin;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .net\Common7\IDE;.

To enable command line builds to complete properly, you will also need to add the /QIfist flag to \epoc32\tools\cl_win.pm. The exact form of this varies with the SDK that's installed but in general it will look something like this:

&main::Output(
"CLFLAGS = /nologo /Zp4 /W4 /QIfist"
);

Or

&main::Output(
"CLFLAGS =",
" /nologo", # suppress "sign-on" banner message
" /Zp4", # packs structures on 4 byte boundaries
" /GF", # Pools strings and places them in ead-only memory
" /QIfist" # fixes _ftol2 link errors with Visual C++ .net
);
There are also some unsupported, third-party solutions which allow you to use Symbian OS SDKs with Visual Studio .NET. A quick Internet search will turn up some of these. One such product is available from http://wallsmedia.narod.ru/epoc/. Important note: Please be aware that Symbian does not recommend, warrant or support any such solutions from any third party - you use them all at your own risk.