The following pre-processor command does not work using MS SDK #include files from Visual Studio 2008 Pro.
The following was in string.h probably the most used include file next to stdarg.h

Code:

#if _MSC_VER > 1000

this will crash the A7 engine compiler on load.
Do I have to edit all of these and make them #ifdef ????
That will kill all commands such as:

Code:

#if __STDC_WANT_SECURE_LIB__ && !defined (__midl)

specifically the !defined which is also in string.h
HArrrrg Help!!!!
As a result I am finding it impossible to use header files from the windows sdk.
Come on! What's the deal? Do I have to be in pure-C mode?
This is as basic in C/C++ coding as it gets.

You cannot "mix" files from different languages. Visual Studio is a C++ development system from Microsoft and lite-C is a C based game language from Conitec. Aside from having something to do with "C" they are very different.

I recommend the lite-C tutorial!

Petra: I really appreciate your reply and have carefully considered it. I understand the difference between languages, but lite-c is advertised as just that! A lite version of the c programming language. People are loading real c header files and dll's into lite-c and executing them. They even write their own dll's and use them. As I stated in my post these errors are in the string.h file you don't get more basic c than that. I am pointing it out to everyone simply to get lite-c on track with the new tools and allow all the pre-processor commands rather than just a few. My question also asked if I should be using pure-c mode in my programming.
Also a reference guide is needed for lite-c not another tutorial which usually only covers basic stuff and never touches on advanced subjects. I did do the entire set of workshops when I was evaluating the engine and on the first page of the help file is the statement and I quote:

Well SAM'S is great and I learned that stuff in 1986. Yes I am that old and developing video games. I have been programming in the c language since 1985 and was using Pascal, Basic, Assembler, Cobol and RPG before that since 1981 when I got my first programming job programming controller's for various analog devices at Systron in Santa Monica, CA.
It is imperative that I be able to load external dll's and use their API's. I will need to load the sqlite3.dll for database management plus the OpenAL audio library which allows real internet music streaming and 3D audio. This is crucial for top notch games.
Sorry I got carried away and I really do appreciate your input.

Hmm, I have worked with many compilers but until now I have never heard of the idea to replace headers from one compiler with headers from another compiler and expect that this still works.

You know that C++ and C are different languages?

When you want to use a Visual Studio header with another compiler you normally need to adapt it, look at the stdio.h or the d3d9.h headers that come with lite-C for an example.

Thank you Tobias. You are the only one that answered my question and I thank you. I hope that you are not telling me that the lite-c tutorial lied when they stated the following quote? I hope not!! I bought this engine and am $1,800.00 into it and hope this is not true. I did the tutorials and really scoped out this engine before spending so much money on it. I believed what I read.

That statement seemed to say it all to me. But hey what do I know, just what I read. Actually I need to use the email support that I paid for and get the real answers. I am preparing that email now because I got no answers on the forum just speculation. Not to disparage what has been said and to say that it has been fun, but now it's time to get back to work and make this puppy jump. It seems you are correct that I need to edit the standard c header files. I can use this engine and get rid of the #if that it seems to choke on. It also seems I have to get my scripting language straight, from what I have read we have 3 of them for this engine, C-Script, lite-C Pure, and lite-C Legacy. So I am sure you can see that since I am a newbie, I am also extremely confused. Which is best?? The examples seem to jump all over the place and no one seems to use one language more than another with A7. Then I have the problem of the examples! Everything for A6 has issues in A7 and doesn't work correctly. I am just trying to get into a development groove and stay there so I can get the work done. I really don't have that much time to experiment.
Once again I thank all you folks and thanks for the interesting time. It's been a blast.

I am not sure what your problem was with the tutorial line you quoted, that are not lies but just links to a C online tutorial, very useful BTW, but I know for sure that you can not compile a C++ header with a C compiler.

If you ask which language to use, my suggestion is either lite-C pure or C++, forget lite-C legacy and forget C-Script. Lite-C pure is meanwhile 100% better and more solid than C-Script. But if you want to use VC++ headers then just use VC++ as a programming language also, thats described in the SDK chapter of the manual.

Yo Tobias! Good to hear from you again. I understand what you said about compiling C++ header with C, not going to work. I have no problem with the quote I posted. I was merely pointing out that lite-C is being promoted to be just like C, maybe this is where I am confused.
I would love to use Pure mode because it is less coding, but I have specific needs and will have to acommodate them before I can move on.

• sqlite3 -- I need this for database
• OpenAL - I need this for Internet Streaming and 3D Audio
• Theora -- I need this for Video Streaming

If I can load and use the following libraries in Pure mode I would love it. My project has been started in Pure mode with the multi-player code as the outer layer and working great. Inside that the next crucial layer is Database and nothing else can go forward until it is done. I only have 2 choices of Database that will work on my web server(s) and my software and that is MySQL and sqlite3. After reading and going over the licenses for both of them with an attorney, it turned out that MySQL was too restrictive and only sqlite3 allowed you to distribute as you please. After Database comes the Audio and Video Streaming. Then we have a foundation for the 3D worlds.

I need to respond to what you said about VC++ headers. I am using C headers not C++ headers. I am NOT writing or trying to write code in C++. That really is a different language and incompatible. But C++ classes are coming to 3DGS and I refer you to the new T7 API which is simply a group of classes. I don't know enough yet about that API because there are no examples that I can find about programming in T7. But if you look at the class list it has an impressive array of classes. There are classes for just about every aspect of a game.
Sorry to be so long winded, but I really do appreciate your input and thank you for your response. If you have any info about loading the above libraries into 3DGS I would greatly appreciate that also.