Instructions on using CFITSIO on Windows platforms for C programmers These instructions use a simple DOS-style command window. It is also possible to build and use CFITSIO within a GUI programming environment such as Visual Studio, but this is not supported here. =============================================================================== 1. Build the CFITSIO dll library This step will create the cfitsio.def, cfitsio.dll, and cfitsio.lib files. (If you downloaded the CFITSIO .zip file that contains the pre-built binary .dll file, then SKIP THIS STEP). A. With Microsoft Visual C++: 1. Open a DOS command window and execute the vcvars32.bat file that is distributed with older versions of Visual C++, or simply open the Visual C++ command window (e.g., when using Visual Studio 2010). 2. Unpack the CFITSIO source files (cfitxxxx.zip) into a new empty directory 3. In the DOS command window, cd to that directory and enter the following commands: nmake winDumpExts.mak nmake makefile.vcc (ignore the compiler warning messages) B: With Borland C++: First, follow the instructions provided by Borland to set up the proper environment variables and configure files for the compiler. Unpack the cfitsio.zip source file distribution into a suitable directory. In a DOS command window, cd to that directory and then execute the makepc.bat batch file on the command line to build the CFITSIO library, and the testprog and cookbook sample programs. =============================================================================== 2. Test the CFITSIO library with Visual C++ Compile and link the testprog.c test program. When using Visual Studio, the command is: cl /MD testprog.c cfitsio.lib This will create the testprog.exe executable program. Running this program should print out a long series of diagnostic messages that should end with "Status = 0; OK - no error" =============================================================================== 3. Compile and link an application program that calls CFITSIO routines with Visual C++ Include the fitsio.h and longnam.h header files in the C source code. Link the program with the cfitsio.lib file: cl /MD your_program.c cfitsio.lib NOTE: The /MD command line switch must be specified on the cl command line to force the compiler/linker to use the appropriete runtime library. If this switch is omitted, then the fits_report_error function in CFITSIO will likely crash. When building programs in the Visual Studio environment, one can force the equivalent of the /MD switch by selecting 'Settings...' under the 'Project' menu, then click on the C/C++ tab and select the 'Code Generator' category. Then under 'User Run-time Library' select 'Multithreaded DLL'.