/* ======================================================================

$Day: $ (001)
$Date: $
$Creator: Emmanuel Vaccaro $
$Notice: (C)Copyright 2014 by Emmanuel Vaccaro. All Rights Reserved. $
====================================================================== */
Hand made hero Day 001 - Set up Workspace in Windows
Required software:
- Visual Studio 2013 (Free Community Edition)
- Text editor (Sublime Text, Brackets or Emacs)
- Command Prompt (Custom Shortcut if needed)
Step 1). Set up virtual drives
To set up virtual drive, open up your command prompt and enter the following code:
-

wmic logicaldisk get deviceid, volumename, description

This will get a list of all of the devices connected to your pc will display.
Now get the DeviceID of the drive in which you are going to use to store the workspace. In this
particular case, we will be using F:\ which is our 16gb USB flash drive.
In command prompt, you can substitute the drives into a virtual drive using the command
"subst".
FACT: 'subst' is a command on the DOS, Microsoft Operating Systems used for substituting paths
on physical and logical drives as virtual drives.
Now we're going to substitute the "F:\" directory to the virtual drive "W:\" with the following
code:
- subst w: f:\
// ^
^ ^
// |
| |
// |
| Existing drive
// |
Virtual drive to create
// Command
Now, if we type in the 'subst' command, we will see the following: "W:\: => F:\"
This means that we now have a virtual drive created called "W:\" which was substituted from
"F:\" which means we can refer to "F:\" in future by using the virtual drive "W:\".

Step 1.5). [Optional]

The problem with this setup is the fact that it will need to be done every time you close your
computer and start it up again. What you can do as a work-around is place a new .bat file inside
of Windows' Startup folder located in Start > All Programs > Startup.
Note: The Startup folder is a directory in which Window's will execute any programs (.exe's) or
any files that can be executed.
In this folder, we will create a new text document file and call it 'startup.bat'.
Next, you will need to open the file in notepad and type the following code:
-

@echo off //<--- Tells the command script to not display the code after this line.
subst w: f:\

Now upon each start up of Windows, it will automatically substitute your physical drive over to a
new virtual drive under 'w:'
After the virtual drive has been created, we are going to create a custom command prompt
shortcut to always start in the "W:\" virtual drive.
-

Navigate to Start > All Programs > Accessories and hold down CTRL whilst clicking and
dragging a shortcut of Command Prompt over to the desktop.
Once you have a shortcut to Command Prompt on your desktop, Right-Click on it and select
Properties.
Underneath 'Start in:' replace the text with 'W:\'.

Now the custom command prompt will open up in the virtual drive 'W:\'
Step 2). Set up Workspace folders
In your explorer, you should now see this drive layout:
-

F:\ (Physical Drive)

W:\ (Virtual Drive)

To set up the workspace folders, create the following folder structure within drive "W:\":
-

W:\
build
handmade
code
data
misc

Step 3). Setting up Shell.bat & <TextEditorName>.bat

In this step, we will be making a 'shell' batch file as well as a <TextEditorName>.bat for your text
editor. This will allow us to use command prompt to access the text editor easier throughout the
project. As well as performing other rudimentary tasks.

First, we will need to create a .bat file for your text editor:
- Open up the 'misc' folder located under "W:\handmade\misc", create a new text document
and name it '<YourTextEditor>.bat'. In this case we will be using Sublime Text, so it would
essentially be 'sublime.bat'.
- In notepad, we will need to add some batch code to locate our text editor installation
directory:
"C:\Program Files\<TextEditor>\<TextEditor>.exe"
//
^
^
//
|
|
//
|
|
//
Where '<TextEditor>' is the name of the text editor you are using
Since we are using Sublime Text, our code would look like this:
@echo off <--- Turns off printing lines to console
"C:\Program Files\Sublime Text 2\sublime_text.exe" %*
//
^
^
//
|
|
//
|
Command for passing command line arguments (also %1, %2 adds 1
//
|
or 2 empty string params)
//
|
(e.g. sublime test.txt) which opens sublime with txt file
//
Text editor installation directory
Note: Depending on your text editor, it may be installed in a different directory. Search through
either 'Program Files' or 'Program Files (x86)' to locate the appropriate installation directory of
your text editor.
FACT: The 'shell script' is a computer program designed to run by the 'Unix shell', a command
line interpreter. Typical operations performed by shell scripts include file manipulation, program
execution, and printing text.
Now that our text editor .bat file is created (the file we will be calling every time we want to
open the text editor inside of the console) we will need to create a 'shell.bat' file underneath the
directory "W:\handmade\misc".
-

//
//
//
//
//
//
//

Open up Command Prompt and navigate to the "W:\" by going - cd W:\ Then type in the
following code into CMD:
cd handmade\misc && notepad shell.bat
^
^
^
^
^
|
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File to create, such as a batch file (.bat)
|
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Text editor (e.g. Notepad, Sublime text, Brackets etc)
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AND operator (runs following command(s))
|
Folder directory in drive
Change Directory Command

NOTE: If you get the warning "Cannot find the file shell.bat", select YES as it will create a new
one in that directory.
The directory "W:\handmade\misc" should now contain a file named 'shell.bat'. This is basically
going to be our script to tell Windows that we want to add another path to the "PATH"
environment variable.
Note: You can see a list of environment variables by navigating to:
- (WINDOWS 7) Start > Right-Click on Computer > Properties > Advanced System Settings >
Advanced Tab > Environment Variables... and ther will be a list of variables.
Now that you have created a 'shell.bat' file, you should have the text editor (which you specified
in the above mentioned code) opened up and ready for edit. Within the text editor, type in the
following code (Ignore the commented lines beginning with '<---'):
@echo off
- set path=w:\handmade\misc;%path% <--- Sets 'path' environment variable to OUR path and
it's OLD path (%path%)
Now the path variable should be set to our misc folder and whenever and wherever we wish to
open up our text editor in Command Prompt we will type in the name of the .bat file we created
earlier:
-

sublime

Sublime text can even open up specific files by going:

-

sublime test.txt

Which then opens up sublime and the directory of the test file I wish to add. Since we are
already in the directory "W:\handmade\misc" and the file 'test.txt' is within this specific folder,
this syntax is completely valid.
If we wish to add files that are in other locations, for example, one folder out of the current
directory, we'd have to specify this way:
- sublime ..\test.txt
//
^
//
|
//
The '..\' part of the command tells cmd prompt to go one folder up a directory
This directory means it is located within "W:\handmade" instead of "W:\handmade\misc".
We now have a way to call sublime text (or any other text editor) anywhere in cmd prompt.

Step 3.5). [Optional][Recommended]

We need to set up the custom command prompt to call the 'shell.bat' file every time we open up
command prompt.
The reason is, every time we close command prompt, it doesn't save our changes made to the
Environment Variables unless we actually change it manually (which I don't recommend doing
for various reasons).
This is very simple and to do this we need to find the Command Prompt shortcut we made on
the Desktop earlier, Right-Click and select Properties.
Under "Target:" type the following code:
- %windir%\system32\cmd.exe /k w:\handmade\misc\shell.bat
//
^
^
//
|
|
//
|
Directory in which shell.bat is under on the
//
|
virtual drive
//
Runs a command and then returns back to the CMD prompt
In turn, what this will do is run the shell.bat before entering the cmd prompt. Meaning, you
don't have to manually call it every time you open a new Command Prompt.
Step 4). Creating our cpp files (for C/C++)
Now that we have our text editor set up, we can start to create source files. In Command
Prompt, navigate to "W:\handmade\code" by typing in the following code:
-

cd W:\handmade\code

Once you are in this directory, we need to create a cpp file. Thanks to what we did earlier with
environment variables, we are definitely able to do this by using the following:
-

sublime win32_handmade.cpp

NOTE: This will NOT save the file straight away upon opening the file in sublime text. To save,
you need to hit CTRL-S (together) for the file to be saved in the location you opened it. In this
case "W:\handmade\code".
Once opened the file in sublime text, hit CTRL-S as mentioned above, to ensure it is saved in the
directory you opened it. Once inside of sublime, type the following cpp code:

#include <windows.h>
int CALLBACK
WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance,
HINSTANCE hPrevInstance,
LPSTR lpCmdLine,
int nCmdShow)
{
MessageBox(0, "Hello World!", "HandMade",
MB_OK|MB_ICONINFORMATION);
return(0);
}
All this code will do, is open up a message box displaying "Hello World!" and titled "HandMade".
NOTE: If you are uncertain about how this code works, Casey Muratori explains this in thorough
detail on his YouTube video at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee3EtYb8d1o&list=UUaTznQhurW5AaiYPbhEAKA&index=12
Once you have finished writing in the cpp file. Hit CTRL-S again to save your progress and exit
sublime text.
Step 5). Edit Shell.bat file (To Enable VS compiler)
Now that we have established where our code is going to do, we need to enable the compiler
and run it whenever we wish to build our project. To do this, we're going to need to locate
Microsoft's VC compiler library.
If you have installed Visual Studio 2013 (Free Community) correctly, then this will be located
under:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat".
Double check that this directory and file exists by navigating to that folder. If it does NOT exist,
then you will have to re-install Visual Studio 2013 (Free Community):
http://www.visualstudio.com/
Once you have verified it does exist, then open up the custom Command Prompt and type in the
following command:
-

sublime handmade\misc\shell.bat

When sublime (or your own text editor) opens up, add the following line underneath what's
already written in shell.bat:
//
//
//
//
//
//
//

call "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat" x64

^
^
^
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|
|
|
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Sets the
|
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compiler library
|
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to 64-bit
|
Directory where VS compiler library is located
Command used to specifically run a call to a .bat file or subroutine

Step 6). Create a build.bat file (to compile project)

We are going to need to create a build.bat file so that if we wish to build our project throughout
the course of using Command Prompt, we can by just typing 'build'. To do this, we will need to
create the file in the appropriate file.
Open the custom Command Prompt and navigate to 'misc':
-

cd handmade\misc

Next, create the build.bat file:

-

sublime build.bat

Now, we need to write a fair bit of code for the compiler to work as expected:
@echo off
mkdir ..\..\build //<-- 'mkdir' Creates a new directory ('Build' folder)if the directory does not exist
pushd ..\..\build //<-- 'pushd' Stores the name of the current dirtectory for use by 'popd' later

//
//
//
//
//
//
//
//

cl /Zi ..\handmade\code\win32_handmade.cpp user32.lib

^ ^
^
^
| |
|
|
| |
|
Adds windows.h library dependency for build
| |
Directory where our main cpp file is located
| (Debug Information Format) Zi produces a program database (PDB) - /Zi implies /Debug
| Other formats include: Z7, Zi, ZI (Look here for more details:
| http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/958x11bc.aspx)
Uses the compiler (cl.exe) to compile and link source code files into apps, libraries and DLLs

//
//
//
//

popd
^
|
'popd' Uses the saved directory in 'pushd' command (In this case, build will be saved in pushd's
saved location)
Done! You are now able to call build inside of the custom Command Prompt whenever and
wherever you wish. Your build files will then be located in "W:\build".