MASM 7, wont compile.

I figured that it is time for learning some x86 Assembly tonight. However, when I installed MASM 7 and tried compiling an example of using MessageBoxA API the compiler brings up a console screen and says:

Code:

 Assembling: F:\Assembly.asm
MASM : fatal error A1000: cannot open file : F:\Assembly.asm
_
Assembly Error
Press Any Key To Continue. . .

So I tried saving, then reloading the asm example... but that didnt work either. So then I went to File>>Set Current Directory, and tried setting that Directory to the MASM folder, and the then the directory containing the asm file that I had saved. This is really annoying me, if anyone knows why the d*mn thing would do that please give me a hand.

Seems a problem with the setting up of your editor.....

Try this

Code:

.386
.model flat,stdcall
option casemap:none
include \masm32\include\windows.inc
include \masm32\include\user32.inc
includelib \masm32\lib\user32.lib          
include \masm32\include\kernel32.inc
includelib \masm32\lib\kernel32.lib

WinMain proto :DWORD,:DWORD,:DWORD,:DWORD

; -------------------------------
; literal string MACRO
; -------------------------------
      literal MACRO quoted_text:VARARG
        LOCAL local_text
        .data
          local_text db quoted_text,0
        .code
        EXITM <local_text>
      ENDM
; --------------------------------
; string address in INVOKE format
; --------------------------------
      SADD MACRO quoted_text:VARARG
        EXITM <ADDR literal(quoted_text)>
      ENDM

;#####################################################
;#####################################################

.DATA   

;#####################################################
;#####################################################

.DATA?      

hInstance HINSTANCE ?       
CommandLine LPSTR ?

;#####################################################
;#####################################################

; STARTUP

.CODE              
start:
invoke GetModuleHandle, NULL  

mov hInstance,eax
invoke GetCommandLine                 

mov CommandLine,eax
invoke WinMain, hInstance,NULL,CommandLine, SW_SHOWDEFAULT 
invoke ExitProcess, eax   

;#####################################################
;#####################################################

WinMain proc hInst:HINSTANCE,hPrevInst:HINSTANCE,CmdLine:LPSTR,CmdShow:DWORD
   
   invoke MessageBoxA, NULL,SADD("From MASM"),SADD("Hello World"),MB_OK
   mov    eax,NULL                                          
   ret
WinMain endp
end start

Save as Hello.asm......

Now open a command prompt and direct it to the folder in which this file resides. Type this

C:\masm32\BIN\ML.EXE /c /coff /Cp Hello.asm

Assuming ML is indeed in C:\masm32\BIN (this is the default install folder anyway)

Now this should exit and in the folder, you will find a new file called Hello.obj. Now type

C:\masm32\BIN\LINK.EXE /SUBSYSTEM:WINDOWS /LIBPATH:c:\masm32\lib Hello

Again I'm assuming the lib folder and bin folder are in those places...if not, change the paths

This should now produce Hello.exe....run it and see

Oh and make sure the "include" statements at the top of the code point to the right directories also

Yes, that worked. Thank you for your help.