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Installing the Marmalade SDK

The following sections will show you how to get your PC set up for development using Marmalade, from installing a suitable development environment through to licensing, downloading, and installing your copy of Marmalade.

Installing a development environment

Before we can start coding, we will first need to install a version of Microsoft’s Visual C++, which is the Windows development environment that Marmalade uses. If you don’t already have a version installed, you can download a copy for free. At the time of writing, the Express 2012 version had just been released but the most recent, free version directly supported by Marmalade was still Visual C++ 2010 Express, which can be downloaded from the following URL:

http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products/2010-editions/visual-cpp-express

Follow the instructions on this web page to download and install the product.

For the Apple Mac version of Marmalade, the supported development environment is Xcode, which is available as a free download from the Mac App Store. In this article, we will be assuming that the Windows version of Marmalade will be used, unless specifically stated otherwise.

Choosing your Marmalade license type

With a suitable development environment in place, we can now get on to downloading Marmalade itself. First, you need to head over to the Marmalade website using the following URL:

http://www.madewithmarmalade.com

At the top of the website are two buttons labeled Buy and Free Trial. Click on one of these (it doesn’t matter which, as they both go to the same place!) and you’ll see a page explaining the licensing options, which are also described in the following table:

License type

Description

Evaluation

This is free to use but is time limited (currently 45 days), and while you can deploy it to all supported platforms, you are not allowed to distribute the applications built with this version.

Community

This is the cheapest way of getting started with Marmalade, but you are limited to only being able to release it on iOS and Android, and your application will also feature a Marmalade splash screen on startup.

Indie

This version removes the limitations of the basic license, with no splash screen and the ability to target any supported platform.

Professional

This version adds dedicated support from Marmalade should you face any issues during development, and provides early access to the new versions of Marmalade.

When you have chosen the license level, you will first need to register with the Marmalade website by providing an e-mail address and password.

The e-mail address you register will be linked to your license and will be used to activate it later. Make sure you use a valid e-mail address when registering.

Once you are registered, you will be taken to a web page where you can choose the level of license you require. After confirming payment, you will be sent an e-mail that allows you to activate your license and download the Marmalade installer.

Downloading and installing Marmalade

Now that you have a valid license, head back to the Marmalade website using the same URL we used earlier.

  1. If you are not already logged on to the website, do so using the Login link at the top-right corner of the web page.

  2. Click on the Download button, and you will be taken to a page where you can download both the most recent and previous releases of the Marmalade installer. Click on the button for the version you require, to start downloading it. Once the download is complete, run the installer and follow the instructions. The installer will first ask you to accept the End User License Agreement by selecting a radio button, and will then ask for an installation location.

  3. Next, enter the file location you want to install to. The default installation directory drops the minor revision number (so version 6.1.1 will be installed into a subdirectory called 6.1). You may want to add the minor revision number back in, to make it easier to have multiple versions of Marmalade installed at the same time.

  4. Once the installer has finished copying the files to your hard drive, it will then display the Marmalade Configuration Utility, which is described in greater detail in the next section. Once the Configuration Utility has been closed, the installer will then offer you the option of launching some useful resources, such as the SDK documentation, before it exits.

It is possible to have more than one version of the Marmalade SDK installed at a time and switch between versions as you need, hence the advice regarding the installation directory. This becomes very useful when device-specific bugs are fixed in a new version of Marmalade, but you still need to support an older project that requires a different version of Marmalade.

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