#QuickFAST: Getting Started

In addition to the source code downloaded from GitHub, you will need:

• BOOST V 1.57.0 or later. (http://www.boost.org/)

  • Boost needs to be built using the --layout=versioned option. |

• Xerces V3.0 or later. (http://xerces.apache.org/xerces-c/)

• MPC V 3.6 or later. (http://www.ociweb.com/products/mpc)

• Perl to run MPC. Active State Perl (for MPC) V5.x or later is strongly recommended. (http://www.activestate.com/)

Visual Studio 2012 or later should be installed. The express version should be sufficient to build the C++ code although this is not tested. The Professional Edition will be needed to support .NET because it mixes C++ and C# code.

• gcc version 4.1.1 or later
• gmake 3.80 or later

These instructions assume you have checked the QuickFAST project out into a directory named QuickFAST. .../QuickFAST means whatever path information is necessary to get to this directory.

Make QuickFAST your current working directory:

> cd ...\QuickFAST

Edit the setup.cmd file with your choice of text editor

Set the following values in setup.cmd to point to the directories in which the corresponding tools are installed:

• MPC_ROOT
• XERCESROOT
• BOOST_ROOT

You may set these as environment variables if you prefer, but you should still run setup.cmd

Save the edited file, then run it:

> setup.cmd

If this is successful, you can now run MPC to generate Visual Studio Solution and Project files. The "m.cmd" file included in the QuickFAST download does this:

> m

You are now ready to load the newly-generated solution into Visual Studio. If Visual Studio is registered to handle .sln files, you can run from the command line by typing:

> QuickFAST.sln

IMPORTANT: If you start Visual Studio from the Start menu rather than from the command line prompt, it will not have the environment variables defined by the setup.cmd command. Because of this your build is likely to fail in odd ways. If you would prefer to start from the menu rather than from the command line, you should define the necessary environment variables in your system's control panel. Details are left as an exercise for the reader.

The "Build|Rebuild Solution" menu choice will build the QuickFAST library -- ready to be linked with your application.

For Windows builds, all compiled output files are placed in the following directories: Output/Debug and Output/Release. These directories correspond to debug and release project configurations respectively.

Move to the directory where you checked out QuickFAST

• cd .../QuickFAST

• edit the setup.sh file
  • Correct exports in the file for
    • MPC_ROOT
      • BOOST_ROOT
      • BOOST_VERSION (should look like boost_1_NN)
      • BOOST_CFG (should look like gccXX_mt)
      • XERCES_ROOT
      • XERCES_LIBNAME
  • for non-standard installations these exports may also need to be set:
    • BOOST_ROOT_LIB
    • XERCES_LIBPATH
    • XERCES_INCLUDE
• Source the setup.sh file to incorporate variables into your environment:
  • . ./setup.sh * Run MPC to generate Makefiles using the m.sh script: > ./m.sh * Make the project: > make

Run the QuickFASTTest application to verify that QuickFAST built correctly.

A good way to get familiar with QuickFAST is to generate and read the Doxygen documentation.

Doxygen is downloadable from here: http://www.stack.nl/~dimitri/doxygen/

Once it is installed and on your path you can generate the documentation by: ```

• cd ...QuickFAST/src
• doxygen

This will generate documentation in both HTML and LaTeX. Both versions contain the same information.

• HTML documentation is in .../QuickFAST/Doc/html/index.html This web page is viewable with any web browser & LaTeX documentation is in .../QuickFAST/Doc/latex. The LaTeX documentation needs to be further processed by LaTeX which is available here: http://www.latex-project.org/

OCI provides commercial support for QuickFAST. Contact sales@ociweb.com for details.

OCI offers a training course that covers the basics of FAST and guides you through creating applications that take full advantage of QuickFAST. You can find more information about OCI's training here: http://www.ociweb.com/training/

OCI also has a team of experienced developers who can work with you to create a solution custom tailored to your particular needs. In addition to QuickFAST expertise (obviously!) we have experience in a wide variety of other technologies that are extremely valuable to those wishing to get started quickly and build a solid foundation for future growth. Information about OCI's consulting services is available here: http://www.ociweb.com/consulting/

And of course, you can always find help from the QuickFAST developers and from experienced QuickFAST users by subscribing to the QuickFAST Users mailing list