MS Windows development platform

After typing scons from the relax base directory to compile the C modules, the following error may occur:

If you encounter this problem, the solution is straightforward. Simply change line 130 of the file 'include\pyconfig.h' (the line number might be different for newer Python versions), located in the base Python installation directory, from

to

For very old SCons versions (< 0.96.92) the following error may occur:

To fix the problem edit the file 'scons-version\SCons\Tool\msvs.py' in the Python installation directory, where version is the installed SCons version. Within the function 'get_msvs_install_dirs()' (at line 1319), change the lines:

• K = 'Software\\Microsoft\\VisualStudio\\' + str(version_num)
• if (version_num >= 8.0):
  • try:
    • SCons.Util.RegOpenKeyEx( SCons.Util.HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, K )
• • except SCons.Util.RegError:
    • K = 'Software\\Microsoft\\VCExpress\\' + str(version_num)

to

• K = 'Software\\Microsoft\\VisualStudio\\' + str(version_num)
• if (version_num >= 8.0):
  • K = 'Software\\Microsoft\\VCExpress\\' + str(version_num)

A similar error message is seen if you use the 32-bit MSVS compiler on 64-bit MS Windows. This is for all SCons versions <= 2.3.0. After typing 'scons', you will see the error:

This is caused by a bug in the SCons program. The fix is quite simple, just find the 'Tools\MSCommon\vc.py' or 'Tool\MSCommon\vc.py' file in your installed SCons version. Find the 'msvc_find_valid_batch_script()' function in that file. Then change the line:

• if not req_target_platform and target_platform in ('amd64','x86_64'):

To:

• if target_platform in ('amd64','x86_64'):

However the best option is to upgrade to SCons version 2.3.1 or higher.

Vim is a powerful text editor which can be used to edit the relax source code. The programs Notepad or Wordpad should not be used to edit the relax source code as tabs are not translated into 4 spaces. Blocks of Python code should be indented using four spaces (the Python convention). The combination of tabs and spaces will cause relax to fail.

Vim's graphical interface is accessible through the gvim program (this is installed with the rest of Vim). If you have never used Vim or the vi programs before, understanding how the program works can take a while. A tutorial is installed together with the program and is available through the program vimtutor.

The current version of Vim, as of October 2006, is 7.0. The MS Windows installation file is gvim70.exe. Please visit the Vim download site for newer versions.

After double clicking on the installation EXE file, follow the instructions in the installation wizard.

The Vim configuration file should be modified prior to editing relax's source code. The configuration file for MS Windows is called '_vimrc' and is located in the Vim installation directory (which in the default setup is 'C:\Program Files\Vim\_vimrc'). To the end of this file, add the following lines:

• set nobackup
• set tabstop=4
• set shiftwidth=4
• set expandtab
• set lbr

The nobackup command stops gvim from creating backup files (files ending in ~). The tabstop, shiftwidth, and expandtab commands are for setting up the correct indentation for the relax source code. The command lbr enables word wrap in the program.

Double click on the file 'protext-1.3.exe' to extract the files to disk. As the instructions below are for a minimal installation, these files should be installed in a directory such as 'C:\ProTeXt' and left on the system. To commence the installation, double click on the file 'Setup.exe' which is located in this directory. This will open a PDF file from which the software can be installed.

To launch the LaTeX installation wizard, click on the link called 'Click here to install MiKTeX' located within the PDF file (which is opened after executing the 'Setup.exe' file). Then follow these step:

• Select 'Install MiKTeX on my hard-disk'.
• Select the 'Small' package set. If the full package set is installed, then the original files extracted from the WinRAR archive can be deleted. Otherwise when asked to select the the 'local repository' when running LaTeX, point the program to the MiKTeX directory which was extracted from the archive (for example 'C:\ProTeXt\MiKTeX\' if the files were extracted to 'C:\ProTeXt\').
• Select 'Install MiKTeX for everyone' if you are the computer administrator.
• To avoid problems in running LaTeX, leave the installation directories at the default locations (see the PDF file for details).
• Select 'Don't integrate existing TEXMF trees'.
• Check the installation options.
• Select 'Finish' to complete the installation.

Ghostscript is required to convert LaTeX compiled device independent file (.dvi) into the final PDF file through the commands dvips and ps2pdf. To launch the Ghostscript installation wizard, click on the link called 'Click here to install Ghostscript' from within the PDF file. Installation is relatively straight forward.

The intermediate postscript file (and PDF file if Adobe Acrobat Reader is not installed) can be viewed using the GSView program. This program is not essential though. To launch the GSView installation wizard, click on the link called 'Click here to install GSView' from the PDF file. Installation is again relatively straight forward, just click on 'Next' a number of times followed by 'Finish'.