= Technical FAQ = == Software requirements == To obtain the source code of EwE 5 and 6, you will need the following: * A Subversion client such as [http://tortoisesvn.net/ TortoiseSVN] to get a copy of the source code from the EwE Subversion repository, * Log-in access to SVN, which we will provide to you [mailto:ewedevteam@gmail.com?subject=Need%20wiki%20username upon request]. * The URL to our Subversion repository: !http://sources.ecopath.org/svn/Ecopath/trunk/Ecopath6 [ShowMe Show me!] To compile the source code of EwE 6, you will need: * Microsoft Windows XP or newer. The EwE6 sources are not [http://www.mono-project.com/Main_Page MONO] compliant. * A development environment such as [http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products/2010-editions/visual-basic-express Microsoft Visual Basic Express 2010] or newer, or [http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products/2010-editions Microsoft Visual Studio 2010] or newer * [http://support.microsoft.com/kb/239114 Microsoft Jet Engine 4.0] for using MDB databases. Native to Windows XP and newer. After installing the development environment, do the following to load the sources into Visual Studio: 1. Launch your development environment (Visual Studio or Visual Studio Express) 2. Select ''File > Open project / solution'' (or similar, the wording may vary with different versions of Visual Studio) 3. Browse to (EwE sources)\Sources, where (EwE sources) indicates the folder that you used to receive the EwE source code from Subversion 4. Now open one of the two EwE6 solution files, depending on the version of Visual Studio that you use The EwE sources should now be loaded without any complains. Once the sources are loaded, you will need to make three changes to Visual Studio to ascertain a proper working environment: 5. In the Visual Studio settings, make sure you always see Solutions via ''Tools\Options\Projects and Solutions\Always Show Solution''. Visual Studio has the interesting but slightly impractical default setting of hiding solutions. 6. Open the Solution Explorer panel, which by default is shown on the right hand side of the Visual Studio work space. If you do not see it, the View menu contains options to show this panel. In the Solution Explorer panel, expand the folder ''!ScientificInterface'', right-click the project ''!ScientificInterface' and select ''Set As Startup Project''. This ensures that the EwE application correctly launches. 8. Lastly, make sure the EwE project is compiled for 32-bit machines. To do this, right-click the main solution again, select ''Properties'', and in ''Configuration Properties'' switch the Platform to ''x86'' You can now compile and run EwE6. ---- To load models stored in .eweaccdb, .accdb formats you will need: * [http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=7554F536-8C28-4598-9B72-EF94E038C891&displaylang=en Microsoft 2007 Office drivers] for using ACCDB databases. Installed with Office 2007, and native to Windows Vista and newer. To compile the source code of EwE5, you require: * [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vbrun/default.aspx Microsoft Visual Basic 6]. * Windows XP. Visual Basic 6 does not work well on the 64 bit versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7. You can develop using Windows' excellent [https://encrypted.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=windows%207%20virtual%20pc&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CDMQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.microsoft.com%2Fwindows%2Fvirtual-pc%2F&ei=d9pzTofuIebZiAKViJ20Ag&usg=AFQjCNH3WKXDZkpqcnGbPNMMv64pd5obfQ&cad=rja Virtual PC]. == Code documentation == * [wiki:CodeDocumentation Documenting your code] - How to write and publish in-code documentation with Visual Studio and [http://blogs.msdn.com/sandcastle/ SandCastle] == Coding issues == We've ran into a series of limitations and oddities that we want to prevent from happening. Here are a few links that convey some of our experiences: * [wiki:CodeBestPractices Best practices, coding guidelines and user interface design guidelines] * [wiki:ScientficInterfaceKnownCompileErrorsFaq Solving key EwE6 source code errors]