This is a quickstart guide how to build and debug Toby's Photoshop plugin
with Open Watcom.


Prerequisites:
=======================

1)Adobe Photoshop 6.0 SDK. 
Thats available on any Photoshop 6.0 CD.
I did not check with prior or later versions, these might work out of the box or not.

Install the sdk to your disk, preferrably to the root of your drive.
Rename the directory to a name without spaces,Watcom doesnt like spaces in filenames.

2)Watcom 1.6 beta or later.
Prior Versions might work, but then you must use another resource compiler and disable the 
Autodepend feature.
Get Watcom 1.6beta RC1 from http://www.openwatcom.org/ftp/devel/

3)SVN client
After installing Watcom get the command line svn client:
http://subversion.tigris.org/files/documents/15/34093/svn-1.4.0-setup.exe
After installing reboot, or set the environment manually

How to get countcolours:
===========================

Make a directory anywhere for telegraphics plugins, remember, no spaces in pathname
cd into the directory.
type
svn checkout http://www.telegraphics.com.au/svn/common/trunk common
svn checkout http://www.telegraphics.com.au/svn/countcolours/trunk countcolours

How To Build:
================

cd into countcolours\wpj\
type "ide countcolours.wpj"
The watcom IDE opens. Click menu File->Before...
The window contains one Command: set PSSDK=E:\Adobe_Photoshop_6.0_SDK
Update this to reflect the location of your Photoshop SDK, close window.

Click Actions->Make All
The project should build cleanly now. The makefile, all intermediate files and 
countcolour.dll should be built. countcolours.dll is copied to countcolours.8bf.
All these files are stored in the wpj projectdirectory.

How to debug:
================

*.8bf plugins are dlls.
Dlls cannot be debugged in the ide, so go back to console.
type wdw <Path to your Plugin Host>
The debugger opens.
Click the menu: Break->On Image Load.
Type countcolours, Press enter.
Press F5 repeatedly, until the Host runs.
Configure your host to find the countcolours plugin.
(Alternatively you can copy countcolours.8bf to your plugin directory)
Open an image and invoke the plugin.
The debugger becomes active when the plugin loads and you can set breakpoints 
or everything else and debug the plugin.
If you dont see the source, open the modules window and doubleclick onto the
countcolours module.
Of course the plugin has no bugs, if you find any, report them :-)

Enjoy!

Remarks for compiler and linker options:
It is essential to use stack based calling conventions and default (1 byte) structure alignment.
It is recommended to use embedded debugging symbols rather than separate symbolfiles.
(It is possible to use symbol files, but it is tricky for dlls, requires other precautions)

This is preset in the supplied project.

You can contact me for beginner's questions on peter dot heckert at arcor dot de
I'm a beginner too, I dont know everything! :-)
If you are new to watcom visit also
http://www.openwatcom.org
and subscribe news://news.openwatcom.org