View source for Configure PLplot for Visual CXX CLI

You need a working Visual C++ and CMake installation. You should also ensure the following directories are included in your Path variable:
 <CMake install directory>\bin
 <MSVC++ install directory>\VC
 <MSVC++ install directory>\VC\bin

The following commands will work if you are not using wxWidgets. If you are using wxWidgets then check [[Configuration of wxWidgets driver]].

Copy the following commands into a text editor, add the correct directory on the first line and save as a batch file. Start the command line interface and execute the batch file. Of course, if you need, you can issue the commands directly from the command line.

 set PLWIN=<directory you extracted the source code to>
 cd %PLWIN%
 call vcvarsall
 mkdir buildnmake
 cd buildnmake
 set PATH=PLWIN\buildnmake\dll;%PATH%
 cmake -G "NMake Makefiles" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=install .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON
 nmake
 nmake install
 rename install\bin\plplotcxxd.dll plplotcxx.dll
 rename install\bin\plplotd.dll plplot.dll
 rename install\lib\plplotcxxd.lib plplotcxx.lib
 rename install\lib\plplotd.lib plplot.lib
 cmake -G "NMake Makefiles" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=install .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF
 nmake
 nmake install
 rename install\lib\plplotcxxd.lib plplotcxxs.lib
 rename install\lib\plplotd.lib plplots.lib
 cmake -G "NMake Makefiles" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=install .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=OFF
 nmake
 nmake install
 rename install\lib\plplotcxxd.lib plplotcxxsd.lib
 rename install\lib\plplotd.lib plplotsd.lib
 cmake -G "NMake Makefiles" -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=install .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=ON
 nmake
 nmake install


This will build shared and static debug and release versions of the plplot library and install all files into the directory <tt>plplot\buildnmake\install</tt>. 

For those who are not familiar with NMake and CMake here is an explanation of what we have just done. Nmake is a command line compiler included with Microsoft VC++ which can be used to build from source. Instead of project files it uses make files. To avoid creating make files for multiple compilers plplot includes CMake files. These are interpreted by CMake, along with the variables specified on the command line, to generate make files for many different compilers. So, in order, we performed the following actions:

 Set up needed paths including MSVC++ paths using vcvarsall
 Called CMake to generate make files for static/share and release/debug builds
 Called Nmake to build PlPlot
 Called Nmake install to move the libraries and header files to the install folder
 Renamed the libraries with sensible postfixes to indicate static and debug versions.


'''Note''': during the build the various DLLs are put in the subdirectory "dll" under the build directory. It is important that this directory is contained in the path during the build if you use the dynamic drivers facility as otherwise calls to get-drv-info will fail and the drivers won't be installed successfully. In addition, if you use wxWidgets driver you also must ensure that the wxWidgets DLL itself is in the path as well.
 
Alternatively you can use the GUI version of CMake, an easy-to-use user-interface that presents the available build options
and lets you set them. It is mostly a matter of taste, but:
* The GUI version provides an overview of the build opions that are available
* The command-line version is particularly useful if you are experimenting with these options, as it can be run from a batchfile

Some of the options that are available for cmake:

* <tt>-DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE=ON</tt>: makefiles provide verbose informations
* <tt>-DBUILD_TEST=ON</tt>: all examples will be built also (for test purposes)
* [[Configuration of wxWidgets driver]]

If you used the <tt>-DBUILD_TEST=ON</tt> option, you need to copy some files in order to run the examples:

 cd examples\c
 copy ..\..\..\data\*.fnt .

and additionally some dlls for a shared plplot built:

 copy ..\..\dll\plplotd.dll .
 copy ..\..\dll\plplotcxxd.dll . (for c++ examples)
 copy ..\..\dll\csirocsa.dll . (if library was built)

and for the wxWidgets driver (if wxWidgets library is shared):

 copy %WXWIN%\lib\gcc_dll\wxmsw26d_vc_custom.dll .

if this dll is not in the path.