compiler error gtk+3 undefined reference on windows - windows

Question

I am trying to create a GUI program using gtk3 but I am unable to compile a program that utilize the gtk library! I am running windows 8 and I installed gtk using msys via the following method:
I have dowloaded and installed MSYS2 from msys2 website. I am running the msys2 mingw-w64 64 bits version. I updated everything using pacman -Syu and executed pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-gtk3 base-devel mingw-w64-toolchain.
Then I added ;C:\msys64\mingw64\bin to my path via Control Panel -> System and Security -> System -> Advanced system settings -> Environment Variables and under the System variables I modified the variable Path and appended ;C:\msys64\mingw64\bin at the end.
I then installed Code::Blocks mingw setup, 64 bit successfully
I created a console application -> c project -> GNU GCC compiler -> create project.
I pasted in the following code into the main.c file, overriding whatever was there as default, with this piece of code
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <gtk/gtk.h>
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
gtk_init(&argc, &argv);
printf("Hello world!\n");
return 0;
}
I opened the compiler settings via Settings -> Compiler... -> Other compiler options and appended pkg-config gtk+-3.0 --cflags with '`' on each side (cannot add this here because that is the format for code...
Then I added pkg-config gtk+-3.0 --libs (again with the ´ but in the other direction on each side of the argument) in Linker settings -> Other linker options:
When I try to compile and run the project I get this
Build messages
||=== Build: Debug in gtkdev (compiler: GNU GCC Compiler) ===|
c:\mingw\bin..\lib\gcc\mingw32\8.2.0........\mingw32\bin\ld.exe: obj\Debug\main.o||in function main':|
C:\Users\name\Documents\development\gtkdev\main.c|7|undefined reference togtk_init_abi_check'|
||error: ld returned 1 exit status|
||=== Build failed: 2 error(s), 0 warning(s) (0 minute(s), 0 second(s)) ===|
error: ld returned 1 exit status
Build log
mingw32-g++.exe -o bin\Debug\gtkdev.exe obj\Debug\main.o -LC:/msys64/mingw64/lib -lgtk-3 -lgdk-3 -lz -lgdi32 -limm32 -lshell32 -lole32 -Wl,-luuid -lwinmm -ldwmapi -lsetupapi -lcfgmgr32 -lpangowin32-1.0 -lpangocairo-1.0 -lpango-1.0 -latk-1.0 -lcairo-gobject -lcairo -lgdk_pixbuf-2.0 -lgio-2.0 -lgobject-2.0 -lintl -lglib-2.0 -LC:/msys64/mingw64/lib -lgtk-3 -lgdk-3 -lz -lgdi32 -limm32 -lshell32 -lole32 -Wl,-luuid -lwinmm -ldwmapi -lsetupapi -lcfgmgr32 -lpangowin32-1.0 -lpangocairo-1.0 -lpango-1.0 -latk-1.0 -lcairo-gobject -lcairo -lgdk_pixbuf-2.0 -lgio-2.0 -lgobject-2.0 -lintl -lglib-2.0
c:/mingw/bin/../lib/gcc/mingw32/8.2.0/../../../../mingw32/bin/ld.exe: obj\Debug\main.o: in function main':
C:/Users/name/Documents/development/gtkdev/main.c:7: undefined reference togtk_init_abi_check'
collect2.exe: error: ld returned 1 exit status
Process terminated with status 1 (0 minute(s), 0 second(s))
2 error(s), 0 warning(s) (0 minute(s), 0 second(s))
Output of pkg-config gtk+-3.0 --cflags in msys
-pthread -mms-bitfields -IC:/msys64/mingw64/include/gtk-3.0 -IC:/msys64/mingw64/include/cairo -IC:/msys64/mingw64/include -IC:/msys64/mingw64/include/pango-1.0 -IC:/msys64/mingw64/include/fribidi -IC:/msys64/mingw64/include -IC:/msys64/mingw64/include/atk-1.0 -IC:/msys64/mingw64/include/cairo -IC:/msys64/mingw64/include/pixman-1 -IC:/msys64/mingw64/include -IC:/msys64/mingw64/include/freetype2 -IC:/msys64/mingw64/include -IC:/msys64/mingw64/include/harfbuzz -IC:/msys64/mingw64/include/libpng16 -IC:/msys64/mingw64/include/gdk-pixbuf-2.0 -IC:/msys64/mingw64/include/libpng16 -IC:/msys64/mingw64/include -IC:/msys64/mingw64/lib/libffi-3.2.1/include -IC:/msys64/mingw64/include/glib-2.0 -IC:/msys64/mingw64/lib/glib-2.0/include -IC:/msys64/mingw64/include
Output of pkg-config gtk+-3.0 --libs in msys
-LC:/msys64/mingw64/lib -lgtk-3 -lgdk-3 -lz -lgdi32 -limm32 -lshell32 -lole32 -Wl,-luuid -lwinmm -ldwmapi -lsetupapi -lcfgmgr32 -lpangowin32-1.0 -lpangocairo-1.0 -lpango-1.0 -latk-1.0 -lcairo-gobject -lcairo -lgdk_pixbuf-2.0 -lgio-2.0 -lgobject-2.0 -lintl -lglib-2.0
Using the flags instead of relying on pkg-config does not change anything. Compiling main.c from windows Command Propt using gcc and said flags results in the same error as in Code::Blocks. Moving the order of the options/flags in different ways does not change the error. For example having the libraries last and the cflags directly after gcc or main.c does not change the output, I have seen a "solutions" where there has to be a specific order to compile and link everything correctly, which does not work in the windows Command prompt nor in Code::Blocks apparently. Further more adding the compiler and linker options in Build Options for the project in Code::Blocks does not change anything either. Still the same error.
NOTE: When I compile the above program using msys2 console and compile it with gcc main.c -o run_me pkg-config --cflags --libs gtk+-3.0 I get errors about -ldwmapi but I get a run_me.exe file that works just as expected. I have pasted in some different example gtk c code into the main.c file and compiled it with the msys console and it compiles & links an exe file perfectly, even manages to create gtk windows flawlessly. This is not sustainable because it is awful to code in nano inside a console that does not have auto completion.