SDL in Code::Blocks

Setting up SDL in Code::Blocks

Last Updated 2/20/06

First thing you need to do is download SDL headers and binaries.
You will find them on the SDL website, specifically on .

Scroll Down to the Development Libraries section and download the Mingw32 development library

Open gz archive and there should be a *.tar archive inside.
Open the *.tar and there should be a folder side of that.
Open the folder and it'll contain a bunch of subfolders.

Copy the contents of the lib subfolder to the Code::Blocks lib folder. The Code::Blocks lib folder should be at C:\Program Files\CodeBlocks\lib.

Next copy the contents of the bin subfolder to the Code::Blocks bin folder. It should be at C:\Program Files\CodeBlocks\bin.

After that, open the include subfolder in the archive and extract the folder named "SDL" to the Code::Blocks include folder, which should be at C:\Program Files\CodeBlocks\include.

Note: Some versions of SDL won't have a folder named "SDL" in the archive's include subfolder, but just a bunch of header files. To get around this simply create a folder named "SDL" in your Code::Blocks include folder and copy all the header files from the archive to that folder you made.

Now take the SDL.dll from the archive (it should be inside the bin subfolder), and extract it to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32. This is so whenever you make an SDL app, the program will be able to find SDL.dll even if SDL.dll is not in the same directory.

Now start up Code::Blocks and create a new SDL project.

Then save the project where ever you want.

Next, go to the project -> properties.

Under the Targets tab, set type to "GUI application". Also make sure to uncheck "Pause when execution ends".
This is to make sure a console window does not pop up.

Code::Blocks automatically generated a sample program for you. This program includes a source and image file which are located in the same folder where you saved the project.

All you have to do is hit F9 to compile and run your program. If there are no errors, you're done. Otherwise go back and make sure everything is done.

Newer versions of code::blocks automatically link SDL in your project. Older versions require you to .

Also, In the archive you just downloaded there's a subfolder called "docs". It contains the SDL documentation.

I highly recommend that you extract them somewhere and keep it for reference.