Getting started with the video processing project

This post focuses on how to get the source and build the projects of the Video Processing Project. We will be using Visual Studio 2010 on Windows 7.

Checking out the source

The first step is to check out the source code from sourceforge to some directory VPP_ROOT on the local harddrive http://videoprocessing.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/videoprocessing/trunk/videoprocessing

Launching Visual Studio

Then navigate to the VPP_ROOT\Projects\Win32\Launch directory in explorer.  In this directory there is a batch file named RTVC.bat. This is the file that Visual Studio has to be launched via. The reason for this was primarily to be able to install the VPP on various machines with various versions of Visual Studio, the Windows SDK, and different Windows OSs and to get going quickly by making a few simple changes in the environment using these batch files. On executing the batchfile, the VPP Visual Studio solution will be opened. Note that if you are working on Windows 7/Vista, you need to execute the RTVC.bat file via a console that has been started as administrator if you want to register the DirectShow filters from inside Visual Studio.  If you do not start as administrator, you will see the following errors on building the solution:

Optionally configuring VPP for your environment

Typically no modification of the batch files is necessary. However this depends on the specific environment (VS and Windows SDK installation drives, Windows version, etc.). At the very least, you might have to select the version of Visual Studio.

Selecting the Visual Studio version

In VsVersion.bat once can change the VS version by editing the VS_VERSION variable.

 VS_VERSION=VC10  

Change this to the Visual Studio version you are intending to use. The default is VS2010. 

Using Visual Studio Express

Additionally, the project can be built using the express version of Visual Studio by setting

 VC_EXE=VCExpress.exe  

Windows SDK detection

In User.bat the Windows SDK version is detected. This can be overridden manually by setting DSHOWBASECLASSES and WindowsSDKDir.

Building the VPP

If everything is configured correctly, Visual Studio should be launched and the solution can be built by hitting F7.