[DRAFT] Using Gtkmm on Windows with Eclipse CDT

This would be the first and the last post on my blog that deal with windows. It seems that many people like to use Gtkmm with Eclipse on this minor operative system.

Prepare the environment

The fast way to prepare the environment is to download Waskana Desktop Developer, an Eclipse distribution that includes all you need to start write c++ applications on windows. If you choose to install Waskana you can skip next sections and go directly to install Gtkmm for windows.
If you prefer a custom environment let's start. What we need is:

• Java runtime (if not already installed)
• Eclipse CDT
• MinGW
• MSys
• Gtkmm for windows

Java runtime

Probably you have already installed some java runtime, on the rare case you have a virgin PC go to http://www.java.com and download latest version.

Eclipse CDT

From Eclipse website on the download section you can download directly the Eclipse version with CDT.
The download is a zip archive, simply extract it on your preferred directory

MinGW

For use GNU compiler on windows I prefer MinGW. For install MinGW go to the download page and download the latest Automated MinGW Installer. This application is a wizard for download all desired packages.

Welcome...


Download and install, next...


I agree...


Current, next...


This step require an interaction, from the checkbox list add "g++ compiler" and "MinGW Make", next...


Select installation directory. Is recommended to install MinGW on a directory without spaces, so do not install MinGW on "Program Files" or "My Documents", I use "C:\MinGW".


Start menu, Install...


The application start download...


If your installation complete with the error "bad header checksum", like this:

you need to delete the archive (the file is located on the same directory of the installer) and try to restart installation, usually the problem is due to the sourceforge mirror selection. You can also try to download manually required package (and put the file on the same directory of the installer).

If your installation compelete successfully...


When the MinGW installation is complete ensure that environment variables are correctly updated. The PATH variable must include the MinGW bin directory (for example "C:\MinGW\bin"), the lib varibale must include the MinGW lib directory (for example "C:\MinGW\lib" and the include variable must include the MinGW include directory (for eaxample "C:\MinGW\include").
Other infos on MinGW Getting Started.