Building TMC Suite — overview

This documentation section describes how to build (compile) the entire package of TMC Suite programs and libraries from source, from scratch.

TMC Suite is a scientific package for electrodynamic computations (planar structures, H-polarization and X-mode, scattering matrices, radiation patterns, fields). It is written in C++ / MFC / OpenGL and built in Microsoft Visual Studio.

The main point: there are TWO separate builds — win32 and win64

The package is built for two platforms:

The source code is a single shared set in the src\ folder. The platforms differ only in the output folder dist\. Never duplicate the sources for different platforms.

Why there are two SEPARATE guides

Historically the code was built for win16 and win32 (this is old legacy code from early Visual C++ versions). The win64 build is a new task: it required targeted changes in the code related to bitness (the pointer size became 8 bytes, the signatures of several MFC functions changed). That is why the guides are split:

• win32/ — the base, self-contained guide for the 32-bit build.
• win64/ — a self-contained guide for the 64-bit build. It additionally contains the file 08-porting-changes.md — a log of ALL code changes made for 64-bit, with a justification for each.

Each of the two guides is read on its own: someone building only win32 does not have to look into win64, and vice versa.

Two ways to build: phased or all at once

The package can be built in two ways:

1. Phased — open the projects in turn (libraries → viewers → kernels → FieldView), separately for win32 and win64. This is the main, fully detailed method (files 01…08). It is illustrative and convenient for training, debugging and rebuilding a single component.
2. All at once from a single solution — src\tamic.slnx gathers all 12 projects with their dependencies; open it, pick a platform (Win32 or x64) — build the whole package. A fast "get everything" method. See the 09-solution-all.md section ("Building everything at once via the solution").

Both methods produce the same result in dist\win32\… and dist\win64\…. The phased order is described below.

Which build to start with

The recommended order (if you are doing this for the first time):

1. First, fully build win32. It is closer to what already worked before, so it is simpler. You will get 6 working programs and 6 libraries.
2. Then switch to win64. All the necessary code changes have already been made and are described in the log win64/08-porting-changes.md — the build can be reproduced reliably.

Do not try to build win64 in parallel with win32 until win32 works — otherwise it is unclear whether an error is due to "64-bit" or due to the environment not being set up yet.

What the package contains

6 libraries (static .lib):

6 programs (executable .exe):

Build order — 4 phases

The build is strictly phased. Within each guide (both win32 and win64) the phases go in this order:

PHASE 1 — all 6 libraries        → file 03-build-libs.md
PHASE 2 — 3 viewers              → file 04-build-viewers.md
PHASE 3 — 2 compute kernels      → file 05-build-kernels.md (X-mode: 6 macros)
PHASE 4 — FieldView (OpenGL)     → file 06-build-fieldview.md

Do not build the programs until ALL 6 libraries are ready. The order among the libraries themselves does not matter — each .lib compiles independently. But all 6 must be ready before Phase 2 begins.

Link dependencies (what links against what):

• Viewers ← sfile95, complex, exprint
• Compute kernels ← sfile95, prepr, exprint, TMCIndan, TMCLibError
• FieldView ← opengl32, glu32 + sfile95, prepr, exprint, TMCIndan, TMCLibError

Structure of the guide files

docs/build-guide/
├── 00-overview.md            ← this file
├── win32/
│   ├── 01-requirements.md    ← what to install
│   ├── 02-setup-paths.md     ← property sheets and output folders
│   ├── 03-build-libs.md      ← Phase 1: libraries
│   ├── 04-build-viewers.md   ← Phase 2: viewers
│   ├── 05-build-kernels.md   ← Phase 3: kernels (X-mode — 6 macros)
│   ├── 06-build-fieldview.md ← Phase 4: FieldView (OpenGL)
│   └── 07-troubleshooting.md ← troubleshooting
└── win64/
    ├── 01-requirements.md
    ├── 02-setup-paths.md      ← + adding the x64 platform
    ├── 03-build-libs.md
    ├── 04-build-viewers.md
    ├── 05-build-kernels.md
    ├── 06-build-fieldview.md
    ├── 07-troubleshooting.md
    └── 08-porting-changes.md  ← log of all 64-bit code changes

Where to get test data

To verify the compiled programs, use the test sets from the samples\SAMPLE_R folder.