CompuCell3D Windows can enhance their simulations by developing customized plugins in C++. In this document we will explain how to set up build system using Cmake and Visual Studio necessary to build additional CompuCell3D plugins.

We assume that you have Visual Studio 2005 and CMake installed on your machine. CMake is free (www.cmake.org) but Visual Studion is not and you might need to purchase appropriate license. Some universities have access to educational licenses for Visual Studion which are either free or have reduced price so you might want to check this before paying full price.

OK, let’s get started. Make sure you have CompuCell3D version on your machine that contains a directory called DeveloperZone. There you will find all the CMake files necessary to develop plugins There are also examples of plugins that you might study and reuse to build your own modules.

I have copied the DeveloperZone directory c:\cmake_programs\cc3d_plugin and this directory will be my work directory.
First thing you want to do is to open Cmake on your machine and setup source and build directories: notice that I put as a path to the source code c:\cmake_programs\cc3d_plugin – this is precisely the location where I copied the content of Developer_Zone directory Next you need to choose the the directory where Cmake and Visual Studio will store various build files.

Download pdf Developing CompUCell3D plugins under Windows using Cmake and MS Visual Studio 2005