Sonic Visualiser

h1. Building SV v3.0 installers on Windows

Version 3.0 of Sonic Visualiser now has a 64-bit version for Windows. The 32-bit version is also still supported.

* The *64-bit version* is built using Qt Creator with the *Microsoft Visual C++ compiler*. Install 64-bit Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 Community Edition and then Qt 5.7 (or latest 5.x).

* The *32-bit version* is built using Qt Creator with the *MinGW compiler*. Install Qt 5.7 (or latest 5.x) with Qt Creator and ensure that the 32-bit MinGW option is available.

* The official 64-bit installer also includes some helper binaries from the 32-bit build, enabling it to use 32-bit Vamp plugins as well as 64-bit ones. So to make a 64-bit installer, we actually have to complete both builds.

* The installers are built using "WiX":http://wixtoolset.org/, so you must have that installed. The path to WiX is hardcoded in our @build.cmd@ script and at the time of writing it assumes WiX v3.9.

In both cases (32 and 64 bit) the dependent libraries we use are found in the @sv-dependency-builds@ subrepo which is now checked out as a matter of course with the SV repo. There should be no other external dependencies besides Qt and the runtime libraries it needs.

h2. Which SV branch to use

Currently 3.0 release preparation is happening in the @3.0-integration@ branch, but when 3.0 is actually released, it will be merged to the @default@ branch.

h2. 32-bit build and installer

h4. Build

This process is similar to that introduced in v2.1 (see [[here|WindowsBuild21]]), except that we now *do* use a shadow build.

* Check out the correct branch (@3.0-integration@ or @default@ as described above)
* Open the main @sonic-visualiser.pro@ project in Qt Creator
* Set up a *release build* using *Desktop Qt 5.7.0 MinGW 32-bit* as a *shadow build*
* "Run qmake" and "Rebuild All"

There is still one unresolved manual step before you can run Sonic Visualiser:

* Go to the build directory (e.g. @build-sonic-visualiser-Desktop_Qt_5_7_0_MinGW_32bit-Release@) and copy the file @checker\release\vamp-plugin-load-checker.exe@ to the top-level @release@ directory

If the build was successful, you should now be able to run Sonic Visualiser from within the IDE. (You can't yet run the binary from the Windows Explorer, as Qt and other dependencies won't be found.)

You can also run individual unit test suites by selecting them as target executable in Qt Creator.

h4. Installer

The principle here is:

# Copy dependent libraries into the @release@ directory within the build dir, so that Sonic Visualiser can be run directly without IDE support
# Package up the installer using the @build.cmd@ script that runs WiX

For the Qt 5.7 installation I'm currently using, this means:

* From @C:\Qt57\5.7\mingw53_32\bin@, copy the following files into the @release@ directory: @Qt5Core.dll@ @Qt5Gui.dll@ @Qt5Network.dll@ @Qt5Svg.dll@ @Qt5Widgets.dll@ @Qt5Xml.dll@ @libgcc_s_dw2-1.dll@ @libstdc++-6.dll@ @libwinpthread-1.dll@
* From @C:\Qt57\5.7\mingw53_32\plugins\platforms@, copy the following files: @qminimal.dll@ @qwindows.dll@
* Check that the Sonic Visualiser executable in that directory starts up properly when double-clicked
* In a command prompt window, cd to the @deploy\win32@ directory in the Sonic Visualiser source tree and run @.\build.cmd@

Note that the @build.cmd@ script has the path to the shadow build folder hardcoded, so you may need to tweak that.

h2. 64-bit build and installer

h4. Build

* Check out the correct branch (@3.0-integration@ or @default@ as described above)
* Open the main @sonic-visualiser.pro@ project in Qt Creator
* Set up a *release build* using *Desktop Qt 5.7.0 MSVC 64-bit* as a *shadow build*
* "Run qmake" and "Rebuild All"

If the code is already checked out for a 32-bit build, then it should be possible to add or select the 64-bit MSVC "kit" as a target in Qt Creator and then build that from the same directory as a separate shadow build, rather than having to check out the code again.

And we have the same unresolved manual step as for the 32-bit build:

* Go to the build directory (e.g. @build-sonic-visualiser-Desktop_Qt_5_7_0_MSVC2015_64bit-Release@) and copy the file @checker\release\vamp-plugin-load-checker.exe@ to the top-level @release@ directory

If the build was successful, you should now be able to run Sonic Visualiser from within the IDE. (You can't yet run the binary from the Windows Explorer, as Qt and other dependencies won't be found.)

You can also run individual unit test suites by selecting them as target executable in Qt Creator.



h4. Installer

The 64-bit installer needs files from both the 64- and 32-bit builds.