Trouble Setting Up SDL

I just started a new project, following exact instructions and it works. Still don't know what I did though.

I'm not very familiar with Visual Studio. I suggest you use Dev-C++. It's a free C++ IDE written in Delphi, which uses the GCC as a compiler. It's quite good; I use it for most of my projects.

I've only used Visual Studio 2005 once before, but the general opinion of alot of people on this forum say Dev C++ is very buggy. (Alot of people recommend Code::Blocks or Visual Studio 2008 instead) As someone who uses Dev C++ alot, and has used it for 3 1/2 years, I can confirm that it is indeed buggy.

This wouldn't be such a big thing if there were plans to fix them, but the company that makes Dev C++ stopped supporting it, so those bugs wont ever be fixed. I've enjoyed Dev C++, but I'm not comfortable recommending a piece of software to someone, when I know it has some serious bugs in it.

By 'serious' bugs, I mean the entire IDE crashes every so often, sometimes it just freezes up, and I've several times now encountered a bug where it wont let you type anything into the file you have open, or make any changes to it, until you close the IDE, shutdown the computer, and start everything back up.

These aren't the only bugs I've encountered, but they are the most annoying. They sometimes occur several times a day, and other times I can go a week or so without encountering any crashes.

I'm very comfortable with Dev C++, because it has a nice 'friendly' feel about it, and not confusing me with more features that a japenese cell-phone like other IDEs do, but these bugs are serious enough that I am forcing myself to use another IDE once I finish my current project. I wouldn't recommend Dev C++ to anyone.

Here is a tutorial that shows you how to set up SDL under the major IDEs. You may need to make a new project and import your old files if you've messed with settings and you can't recall how to undo them.

I'm currently using Code::Blocks for my current project. I really wished I switched away from Dev C++ sooner.

I'm not sure, but it sounds like you were compiling a library, not an executable. Is that right? Check it at Project->Properties->General->Configuration Type. If it doesn't say "Application (.exe)", then you were making a library, not an executable, which you probably don't want to do.

Or just check the output in the Debug folder and see if there's a .exe, .lib, or .dll of your project name there.