Using Visual Studio to compile Cell2Fire for windows

Table of contents
  1. Preparation
  2. Setup the solution project
  3. Compile
    1. Debug phase
    2. Build Release
  4. Distribute
  5. test run

Tested on Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2022 (64-bit) - Version 17.6.5

Preparation

Get Visual Studio (Community), install Visual C++ Workflow

Get these libraries (download & un7zip them into any desired location like c:\dev):

  • dirent-1.23.2 : https://github.com/tronkko/dirent/releases
  • boost 1.81.0 : https://boostorg.jfrog.io/artifactory/main/release/1.81.0/source/
  • eigen 3.4.0 : https://gitlab.com/libeigen/eigen/-/releases

Setup the solution project

  1. Open Visual Studio

  2. If not found repo/Cell2FireC/Cell2fire.sln:

    • Menu > File > New > Project from existing code
    • Type : Visual C++
    • Project file location: Cell2FireC
    • Project name: Cell2Fire

Open Cell2Fire.sln that should placed be next to .h and .cpp files

  1. MenuBar : Project > Properties
  2. ComboBox : Configuration : Release (then repeat with Debug)

  3. Configuration Properties

    • General > Target Name : $(ProjectName)
    • C/C++ > AdditionalIncludeDirectories : C:\dev\dirent-1.23.2\include;C:\dev\boost_1_81_0\;C:\dev\eigen-3.4.0
    • C/C++ > Preprocessor > PreprocessorDefinitions : _USE_MATH_DEFINES
    • Debugging > Command Arguments : --input-instance-folder C:/...repos/C2FSB/data/Hom_Fuel_101_40x40/ --output-folder C:/.../results/
    • Linker > System > Subsystem : Console (/SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE)

Adjust if they are not located at C:\dev?

Compile

Debug phase

You can skip debug and go right to release if you haven’t made any changes.
Press play on Local Windows Debugger, if any correct mistakes until you see a command window with:

------ Command line values ------
InFolder: C:\Users\ferna\source\fire2a\C2FSB\data\Hom_Fuel_101_40x40\
OutFolder: C:\Users\ferna\source\fire2a\C2FSB\data\Hom_Fuel_101_40x40\results
------------------Forest Data ----------------------

Forest DataFrame from instance C:\Users\ferna\source\fire2a\C2FSB\data\Hom_Fuel_101_40x40\Data.csv
Number of cells: 1600

Build Release

  1. Change Debug to Release (two comboboxes to the left from play button)
  2. MenuBar : Build > Configuration Manager
    - Project contexts (check the project configuration to build or deploy)
    - Configuration : Debug
    - Close
  3. MenuBar : Build > Clean Solution
  4. MenuBar : Build > Build Solution

Distribute

Move back the created .exe in x64/Release to original solution directory.
Backup the original file.

test run

Open a command prompt, input:

> cd C2F
> python main.py --input-instance-folder data\Homogeneous --output-folder data\Homogeneous\results --grids --final-grid --verbose --nsims 333

Should see the process Cell2Fire using various CPUs on the monitor app.