Build Environments: Getting started with Win32
Embedded Wizard GUI application as Win32 executable.
The following article explains all necessary steps to create an Embedded Wizard UI application as Win32 executable suitable for a Windows platform.
Please follow these instructions carefully and step by step in order to ensure that you will get everything up and running on your target. In case you are not familiar with Embedded Wizard, please read first the chapter basic concepts and the Quick Tour tutorial to understand the principles of Embedded Wizard and the GUI development workflow. Moreover, this article assumes that you are familiar with Windows.
Prerequisites
First, make sure you have all of the following items:
Hardware components
★x86 based Windows PC
Software components
★Embedded Wizard Studio
You can download Embedded Wizard Studio directly from the following link:
EmbeddedWizard_Studio_x64-V15.00.msi
Customers can also find all their licensed software packages in the Embedded Wizard Download Center (login required).
★Embedded Wizard Build Environment for Win32
You can download the suitable Build Environment from the following link:
Win32-BuildEnvironment-V15.00.00.00.zip
Customers can also find the latest version of the Build Environment and their licensed Platform Package source codes in the Embedded Wizard Download Center (login required).
★Optional: Microsoft Visual Studio
Installing Tools and Software
★Step 1: Install the latest version of Embedded Wizard Studio.
★Step 2: Unpack the provided Embedded Wizard Build Environment for Win32 into a new directory, e.g. C:\Win32.
Exploring the Build Environment
The provided Embedded Wizard Build Environment for Win32 contains everything you need to create, compile and link an Embedded Wizard UI application for Win32 devices. After unpacking, you will find the following subdirectories and files:
•\Application - This folder contains a ready-to-use project to compile and link an Embedded Wizard generated UI application. It is used for all provided examples and it can be used to build your own UI applications.
•\GeneratedCode - This folder is used to receive the generated code from an Embedded Wizard UI project. The template project is building the UI application out of this folder. You can create your own UI project and generate the code into the subdirectory \GeneratedCode without the need to adapt the project.
•\Project - This folder contains the prepared projects for GCC (make) and Microsoft Visual Studio (MSVC).
•\Source - This folder contains the Win32 main application and the file ewmain.c. There you will find the initialization of the system and the main loop to drive an Embedded Wizard GUI application. The file ewconfig.h contains general configuration settings for the target system, like memory ranges and display parameter and configuration settings for the Embedded Wizard Graphics Engine and Runtime Environment.
•\Examples\<ScreenSize> - These folders contain a set of demo applications prepared for a dedicated screen size of 480x272 pixel, 800x480 pixel and 1280x720 pixel. Each example is stored in a separate folder containing the entire Embedded Wizard UI project. Every project contains the necessary profile settings for the Windows target. For a complete overview and detailed descriptions of all available examples, including their features and usage, see Examples.
•\PlatformPackage - This folder contains the necessary source codes and/or libraries of the Windows Platform Package: Several Graphics Engines for the different color formats (RGBA8888, RGB888, RGBA4444, RGB565, Index8 and LumA44) and the Runtime Environment (in the subdirectory \RTE).
•\TargetSpecific - This folder contains all configuration files and platform specific source codes. The different ew_bsp_xxx files implement the bridge between the Embedded Wizard UI application and the underlying Windows system in order to access the display (via Windows API) and the touch driver.
Creating the UI Examples
For the first bring up of your system, we recommend to use the example 'HelloWorld':
Example 'HelloWorld' within Embedded Wizard Studio.
The following steps are necessary to generate the source code of this sample application:
★On your PC, navigate to the directory \Examples\<ScreenSize>\HelloWorld.
★Open the project file HelloWorld.ewp with your previously installed Embedded Wizard Studio. The entire project is well documented inline. You can run the UI application within the Prototyper by pressing Ctrl+F5.
★To start the code generator, select the menu items - or simply press F8. Embedded Wizard Studio generates now the sources files of the example project into the directory \Application\GeneratedCode.
Compiling, Linking and Executing
The following steps are necessary to build the Embedded Wizard UI sample application as Win32 executable suitable for a Windows platform:
★Navigate to the top level of the Build Environment.
★Open StartGccBuildEnvironment.bat - as a result, a windows command line window should open. In case there are error messages, please edit the file and double-check the path settings.
★Now start building the executable:
make
★Finally, you can start the executable
EmbeddedWizard-Win32.exe
This is the resulting application on your Windows system:
Example 'HelloWorld' running as Win32 executable.
All other examples can be created in the same way: Just open the desired example with Embedded Wizard Studio, generate code and rebuild the whole executable.
Creating your own UI Applications
In order to create your own UI project suitable for the Win32 device, you can create a new project and select the Windows Software project template:
As a result you get a new Embedded Wizard project - please adapt the Profile attributes suitable for the Win32 target:
The following profile settings are important:
★The attribute PlatformPackage should refer to the Windows Software Platform Package.
★The attribute ScreenSize should correspond to the desired application size of your GUI.
★The attribute OutputDirectory should refer to the \Application\GeneratedCode directory within your Build Environment. By using this template, it will be very easy to build the UI project for your target.
★The attribute CleanOutputDirectories should be set to true to ensure that unused source code within the output directory \Application\GeneratedCode will be deleted.
★The attribute PostProcess should refer to \Application\Project\MSVC\MSVC_ew_post_process.cmd if you are working with Microsoft Visual Studio. In case of the GCC toolchain leave it blank
Now you can use the template project in the same manner as it was used for the provided examples to compile and link the executable.
Most of the project settings are taken directly out of the generated code, like the color format or the screen orientation. All other settings can be made directly within the file ewconfig.h, which contains general configuration settings for the target system.
Console output
Debug or trace messages from your Embedded Wizard UI application are monitored directly in the console where you start the executable. In case you start the executable from Windows Explorer, an additional console window will be opened automatically.
During a successful application startup, the console displays the following information:
Initialize Display... [OK] Initialize Keyboard Driver... [OK] Initialize Touch Driver... [OK] Initialize Mouse Driver... [OK] Initialize Memory Manager... [OK] Initialize Platform Package... [OK] Initialize Invocation Queue... [OK] Create Embedded Wizard Root Object... [OK] Create Embedded Wizard Viewport... [OK] Starting Embedded Wizard main loop - press <p> to shutdown application... --------------------------------------------- Embedded Wizard System Info --------------------------------------------- Target system Windows 32bit Color format RGBA8888 Build Environment version V15.00.00.00 Runtime Environment (RTE) version V15.00 Graphics Engine (GFX) version V15.00 MemoryPool address 0x0048A0A0 MemoryPool size 33554432 bytes Display size 800 x 480 Viewport size 800 x 480 Surface rotation 0 EwScreenSize 800 x 480 Graphics accelerator none Warp function support enabled Vector graphics support enabled Gradients support enabled Blur support enabled Mask support enabled Tint support enabled Bidirectional text support enabled Compression support enabled Index8 bitmap resource support enabled RGB565 bitmap resource support enabled Native bitmap resource support enabled Max surface cache size 8388608 bytes Glyph cache size 512 x 512 Max issue tasks 512 Operating system Microsoft Windows Toolchain GCC C-Compiler version 13.2.0 Build date and time Dec 5 2025, 16:53:10 ---------------------------------------------
It can be used for all trace statements from your Embedded Wizard UI applications or for all debug messages from your C code.
Using Microsoft Visual Studio
If you want to use the Microsoft Visual Studio instead of the GCC toolchain, please follow these instructions:
The subdirectory \Application\Project\MSVC contains a template project that is commonly used for all provided Embedded Wizard examples. All Embedded Wizard examples will store the generated code within the common \Application\GeneratedCode folder.
The generated code of an Embedded Wizard example is imported automatically to the Microsoft Visual Studio.
The following steps are needed to establish this automatic project import:
★Open the desired Embedded Wizard example project.
★If you are using your own GUI project, select the Profile and set the attribute PostProcess to the file \Application\Project\MSVC\MSVC_ew_post_process.cmd.
After the Embedded Wizard code generation the post process will adapt the MSVC project. All necessary libraries and include paths (depending on the color format and screen rotation) will be set automatically.
★Start Microsoft Visual Studio and open the provided project \Application\Project\MSVC\EmbeddedWizard-Win32.sln.
★Now you can build, debug and execute the Win32 executable.
In case you generate code of your Embedded Wizard GUI application, while Microsoft Visual Studio is opened, a dialog appears that informs you about the project modification. After confirming to reload, the latest generated code and the suitable Embedded Wizard Platform Package will be used (depending on the color format and the screen orientation selected in the Embedded Wizard Profile).
Release notes
The following section contains the version history of the Build Environment (including Graphics Engine and Runtime Environment) for Win32. These release notes describe only the platform specific aspects - for all general improvements and enhancements please see the Embedded Wizard release notes.
Version 15.00.00.00
★Using Graphics Engine (GFX) and Runtime Environment (RTE) V15.00.