Installing Microsoft C compiler 6.1 and older

In order to install EiffelStudio in Windows you will need to attain a C/C++ compiler. For 32-bit (x86) users, the installer comes complete with a free C/C++ compiler, which you can opt to install if no compatible C/C++ was detected on your system. For x86 users who do not want to use the packaged free C/C++ compiler, or if you are using an 64-bit (x64) operating system and are trying to install the 64-bit version of EiffelStudio, you will need to either attain a free Microsoft C/C++ compiler or use an installed version of Visual Studio.

Using a Microsoft Visual C/C++ Compiler

Attaining the Free Microsoft Windows SDK

The Microsoft C compiler is now freely available by downloading the Windows SDK. Below you will find a description on how to set up the Microsoft SDK so that you can compile C code on Windows.

The first thing to do is to download the Windows SDK from Microsoft's web site: Windows SDK setup.exe.

Note: The Windows SDK download is currently called Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit for Windows Vista. This is not a Windows Vista specific download! It can be used all Windows-based operating systems from Windows XP and up. See the Requirements section of the download page for more information.

When installing it, make sure to install the Developer Tools, in particular the Windows Vista Headers and Libraries, the Visual C++ Compilers and the Windows Development Tools. Failure to do so would result in a non-working C compiler.

Using Visual Studio

If you already have Visual Studio on your system, that is Visual Studio and not one of the Visual Studio Express SKUs, EiffelStudio and the installer will utilize it.

Note: Only Visual Studio versions released prior to a release of EiffelStudio are supported. For instance Visual Studio 2008 was released after EiffelStudio 6.1, as a result EiffelStudio 6.1 only supports Visual Studio versions up to the 2005 release.

In order to use Visual Studio with EiffelStudio you need be sure you have installed the Visual C/C++ compiler and developer tools. It is also important you choose to install the correct compiler tools. As of Visual Studio 2008 the installation on a x64 operating system does not, by default, install the x64 compiler tools. As a result the EiffelStudio installer will fail to find the installed C/C++ when using a x64 version of EiffelStudio. Be sure to customize the installation and under the Visual C++ node, check X64 Compiler and Tools.

Configuring C Compiler to Compile From the Command Line

After you have successfully installed the Windows SDK, the only thing you need to do is to configure some environment variables. The best way to configure them is to use the `setenv.cmd' batch file included in the Windows SDK:

cmd.exe /V:ON /E:ON./K "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0\Bin\setenv.cmd" /Release

After executing this command you can invoke the C compiler. Note that the prompt will change color, you may want to use `color' (taking no arguments) to restore to the default, or `color 07' to set it white on black.

Note: Replace "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0" by the location where you installed the Windows SDK.

Using espawn Instead

Alternatively you can compile the utilize the espawn tool. The tool mocks the environment used by the Eiffel compiler so global access to Windows SDK tools, such as the C/C++ compiler, is granted. As such there is no need to manually configure your system's environment variables or use the setenv.cmd.

Note: espawn is not distributed with EiffelStudio so you will need a working Eiffel compiler to compile and make use of it, or you may visit eiffelroom and download the tool.