The Non-Programmer's Quick Start to using Visual Studio Express Edition

From NeoAxis Engine Wiki

If you've never programmed anything before then don't bother reading this until you read this first: http://www.freewebs.com/campelmxna/tutorials.htm because anything written from this point forward will be useless to you.

If you've worked with other scripting languages but have yet to take the plunge into C# this is a quick start for getting you into editing code. It assumes you are already familiar with another scripting language like php, perl, actionscript or javascript.

Installing Visual C# Express Edition 2008

Go to the Microsoft site (http://www.microsoft.com/express/vcsharp/) download the software, it's free, and then run the install. It takes a while, and you will have to restart your machine once to get it fully installed. Cut and dry.

Editing Neo Axis Source Code

Once you're installed, open Visual C# and then go to File > Open Project... Look in your C:\Program Files\NeoAxis Engine Indie SDK 0.59\Game\Src\ for IndieLicense.sln

• When you first open the project the software will ask you to convert the existing neo axis source code to visual c# 2008's file format. Say yes to this, it wont break anything.

When you open that project all of the different classes that make the engine work are all listed in the Solution Explorer on the right side of the screen.. Double click a .cs file to open it into the editing area. Now you're good to go :-D

Beginner Tips

• When you make changes to the source code the error box at the bottom of the editing area will notify you of obvious mistakes in your code. It wont tell you if your code is going to work the way you intended, it will just know if your code isn't formatted correctly.

• Once you're made some changes to the code you will need to build it to see those changes in your game. Choose Build from main options bar or press F6. If your code has errors in it then your build will not be successful, you will need to fix the errors first. Once they are fixed the words Build Succeeded will show in the bottom left hand corner of the screen.

Note: You don't need to make any changes to any settings in Visual C# for your changes to show up in the sdk.

• In order to add a new class to neo axis, you go to the Solution Explorer, Right click on a folder in which you want to add the new class choose Add > New Item. Then choose Class from the list of templates, then name it.

• You must have the neo axis sdk tools closed when you do a build of an existing project or your build will fail.

• This is also the approach to compile scripts into the NA environment.