Compiling code from "Designing Audio Objects"

I don't have a Windows system to test this, but I would start fresh with the latest Max/MSP SDK (6.1.4), and first try compiling the audio examples that come with the SDK. Once that works, you can use the new Visual Studio projects as a model to create new projects for the code from my book. (It is expected that projects will regularly become obsolete due to changes in the SDK and/or IDE, unfortunately.) Also, see this update to the book's code:

https://cycling74.com/forums/for-readers-of-designing-audio-objects-for-maxmsp-and-pd/

-Eric

** Ignore this - see my post later in the thread with a full fix for my issues **

I have exactly the same issue on Vis Studio 2010 express
The first issue is because target file extension is set to .dll
Go to properties for the project, go to "target extension" under "general" and change .dll to .mxe

the issue with mirror~.def has me puzzled though
Restarting with the latest sdk won't work for me as I can't afford max 6 - I'm working through this on max 5

If anyone has any advice that'd be appreciated - otherwise it's time for a crash course in Vis Studio. Already pining for the ultraminimal approach of bash, Makefile and gcc.
(Another voice added to the "port Max to Linux please!" chorus)

ok .def requirement comes from :
Project Properties -> Configuration Properties -> Linker -> Input -> Module Definition File.

remove the reference to the nonexistent {projectname}.def (leave it blank) under "module definition file" and you should be ok. Or at least I was.

It's not that easy to find this because the mirror~.def doesn't actually appear anywhere as a text string in the solution (at least not exposed to vis studio's text search function).
This is what I dislike about learning on IDEs, and particularly Microsoft products (and I earn my a good part of my living coding using Microsoft products) - you have to learn 100 exceptional cases rather than learn a handful of (admittedly less handholding) approaches that you can then apply to solve anything.

Ignore this, see my post below beginnig *FIX FOUND*

Ignore - fix below

... only when I open in Max5 I get:invalid external mirror~, undefined main

I may try with Cygwin and Notepad++ rather than try to learn vis studio's nooks and crannies. Given that I'm already going to have to fiddle with the provided projects, is there any reason to persist with Vis Studio rather than go with Cygwin - am I making life painful for myself later on?

* FIX FOUND *

Ignore my posts above. I came back to this with fresh eyes after working on other things for a while.
The changes required to make the Lyons projects work for me on Windows under Visual Studio 2010 were as follow:

1) The first issue is that the target file extension for the project is set to .dll, which is incorrect
FIX: Go to properties for the project, go to General>target extension and change ".dll" to ".mxe"

2) The project requires a .def file to tell it which parts of the code to export. A .def file is defined in the project (.def) but the defined file does not exist.
FIX: Add a file (eg. depending on project name) mirror~.def to the project (in the Solution Explorer pane right click the emboldened "mirror~" beneath "Solution 'mirror~' and click "add". Select "C++ file" and type name as (eg.) mirror~.def (suffix will override .cpp)).
Open this file, and add the following code (again changing "mirror~" to relevant project name)

;mirror~.def

LIBRARY mirror~.mxe

EXPORTS
    main

Greetings people. I am facing for some time now an issue concerning a code I am formulating in VS 2013. I try to build my code in order to get a dll file, which I can later use to a simulation programm to get some results. The point is that the build isn't successful and an error apperas, which I don't know how to eliminate. That's why I need your help. The situation is as follows. Several messages appear, all of the same origin, one of which says the following:

1>C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft.Cpp\v4.0\V120\Microsoft.CppBuild.targets(1186,5): error MSB4018: The "VCMessage" task failed unexpectedly.

Can you tell me how to fix this? I can't continue with my work, because I have stuck with this. Thank you in advance.

I see that it has to do somehow with what you people are referring in this post, so I thought to put the post right after your answers.

no problem for compiling c but i've an another problem for change the extension .exe by .mxe;
"simplemax.o" and "simplemax.def" are the linker input. The .def file is necessary to ensure that the function main will be exported.

"-L../../c74support/max-includes" specifies an additional directory where library files will be found.

"-lMaxAPI" means link to the MaxAPI.lib linker library for MaxAPI.dll

cygwin is perhaps better than visual studio, i think this version of max is transitional for the extension but you can compile your object in 64 bit.

simplemax.vcproj

Name="Release|x64"
ConfigurationType="2"
InheritedPropertySheets="$(VCInstallDir)VCProjectDefaults\UpgradeFromVC71.vsprops;..\..\..\c74support\max- includes\max_extern_common.vsprops;..\..\..\c74support\max-includes\max_extern_x64.vsprops"
UseOfMFC="0"
ATLMinimizesCRunTimeLibraryUsage="false"
CharacterSet="2"
WholeProgramOptimization="1"
>
Name="VCPreBuildEventTool"
/>
Name="VCCustomBuildTool"
/>
Name="VCXMLDataGeneratorTool"
/>
Name="VCWebServiceProxyGeneratorTool"
/>
Name="VCMIDLTool"
PreprocessorDefinitions="NDEBUG"
MkTypLibCompatible="true"
SuppressStartupBanner="true"
TargetEnvironment="3"
GenerateTypeLibrary="false"
TypeLibraryName=""
HeaderFileName=""
DLLDataFileName=""
/>
Name="VCCLCompilerTool"
Optimization="2"
InlineFunctionExpansion="2"
EnableIntrinsicFunctions="true"
FavorSizeOrSpeed="1"
OmitFramePointers="true"
WholeProgramOptimization="true"
AdditionalIncludeDirectories="$(C74SUPPORT)\max-includes,$(C74SUPPORT)\msp-includes"
PreprocessorDefinitions="WIN_VERSION;WIN32;NDEBUG;_WINDOWS;_USRDLL;WIN_EXT_VERSION;"
StringPooling="true"
ExceptionHandling="0"
RuntimeLibrary="2"
BufferSecurityCheck="false"
EnableFunctionLevelLinking="false"
EnableEnhancedInstructionSet="2"
UsePrecompiledHeader="0"
PrecompiledHeaderFile="$(IntDir)$(ProjectName).pch"
AssemblerListingLocation="$(IntDir)$(TargetName).asm"
ObjectFile="$(IntDir)"
ProgramDataBaseFileName="$(IntDir)$(ProjectName).pdb"
WarningLevel="3"
SuppressStartupBanner="true"
Detect64BitPortabilityProblems="false"
DebugInformationFormat="3"
CompileAs="1"
/>

Sorry to jump in here. There has been weird stuff going on with the formatting in the forums, which I've been working to address.

If anything looks off to you guys, do let me know.

Carry on!