            DirectX 7.0 Development Headers
             Copyright (c) Microsoft Corp.

            -------------------------------


[What is DirectX?]
------------------

Quote from Microsoft's DirectX site:

"Microsoft® DirectX® is a group of technologies
designed by Microsoft to make Windows-based computers
an ideal platform for running and displaying
applications rich in multimedia elements such as
full-color graphics, video, 3-D animation, and surround
sound. Built directly into the Microsoft® Windows®
family of operating systems, DirectX is an integral
part of Windows 98 and Windows 2000, as well as
Microsoft® Internet Explorer. DirectX components may
also be automatically installed on your system by
advanced multimedia games and applications written for
Windows 95. (Early releases of Windows 95 may not
include DirectX. If you think your Windows 95 operating
system does not include DirectX, you can download it
from this Web site.)

Microsoft's goal in developing DirectX was to provide
developers with a common set of instructions and
components that would allow developers to be confident
that their multimedia applications would run on any
Windows-based PC, no matter what the hardware, and at
the same time ensure that their products take full
advantage of high-performance hardware capabilities to
achieve the best possible performance.

DirectX provides developers with new opportunities for
creativity and innovation by allowing them to focus on
building unique features for their application without
having to worry about which display adapter, sound card,
or 3-D accelerator chip is installed in your PC. And
because DirectX was designed to support future innovations
in software and hardware, developers and consumers can be
confident that they will continue to get the best possible
performance from their applications as technology
advances.

DirectX gives developers a single set of APIs (application
programming interfaces) that provides them with improved
access to the advanced features of high-performance
hardware such as 3-D graphics acceleration chips and sound
cards. These APIs control what are called "low-level
functions," including 2-D graphics acceleration; support
for input devices such as joysticks, keyboards, and mice;
and control of sound mixing and sound output. The low-level
functions are supported by the components that make up the
DirectX Foundation layer: Microsoft DirectDraw®, Microsoft
Direct3D®, Microsoft DirectInput®, Microsoft DirectSound®,
Microsoft DirectPlay®, and Microsoft DirectMusic®.

Before DirectX, developers creating multimedia
applications for Windows machines had to customize their
products so that they would work well on the wide variety
of hardware devices and configurations available on Windows
machines. DirectX provides something called a "hardware
abstraction layer" (HAL for short) that uses software
drivers to communicate between game software and computer
hardware. As a result, developers can write a single
version of their product that utilizes DirectX without
worrying about the wide range of hardware devices and
configurations in existence. 

DirectX also provides developers with tools that help you
get the best possible performance from the machine you're
using. It automatically determines the hardware capabilities
of your computer and then sets the application's parameters
to match. DirectX also allows you to run multimedia
applications that require support for features that their
system doesn't offer by simulating certain hardware devices
through a "hardware emulation layer" (called HEL) that
provides software-based drivers that act like hardware. For
example, a DirectX game that makes use of 3-D imagery can
run on a machine that doesn't have a 3-D acceleration card
because DirectX simulates the services of a 3-D card.

The components that make up DirectX also provide hardware
makers with a flexible platform that is designed to get the
most out of advances in technology. Because DirectX accesses
a computer's hardware through software drivers, hardware
developers can create special DirectX drivers that ensure you
get the most out of advances in hardware technology -- now
and in the future."

(source: http://www.microsoft.com/directx/homeuser/aboutdx.asp)


[How to compile]
----------------
Create a new project and choose "DirectX" from the "Graphics" tab.
Yes, it's that easy!


[Internet]
----------

Here's the DirectX 7.0 homepage:
- http://www.microsoft.com/directx
and the DirectX Developer Center (documentation, tutorial,
examples etc.):
- http://msdn.microsoft.com/directx

And the documentation is here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?URL=/library/psdk/directx/dxstart_1x2d.htm