SDL_Init
Name
SDL_Init -- Initializes SDL
Synopsis
#include "SDL.h" int SDL_Init (Uint32 flags);
Description
This function loads the SDL dynamically linked library and initializes the subsystems specified by 'flags' (and those satisfying dependencies). Unless the SDL_INIT_NOPARACHUTE flag is set, it will install cleanup signal handlers for some commonly ignored fatal signals (like SIGSEGV).
These are the flags which may be passed to SDL_Init() -- you should specify the subsystems which you will be using in your application:
SDL_INIT_TIMER |
Initialize timer subsystem |
SDL_INIT_AUDIO |
Initialize audio subsystem |
SDL_INIT_VIDEO |
Initialize video subsystem |
SDL_INIT_CDROM |
Initialize CD-ROM subsystem |
SDL_INIT_JOYSTICK |
Initialize joystick subsystem |
SDL_INIT_HAPTIC |
Initialize haptic (force feedback) subsystem |
SDL_INIT_EVERYTHING |
Initialize all of the above subsystems |
SDL_INIT_NOPARACHUTE |
Don't catch fatal signals |
SDL_INIT_EVENTTHREAD |
Run the event loop in a separate thread (not supported by all OSs) |
SDL_Init initializes the SDL library. This must be called before using any other SDL function.
You can call SDL_Init(0) or SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_NOPARACHUTE) to initialize SDL without initializing any subsystems.
Note that the event system is actually started by the video subsystem, so using SDL_INIT_EVENTTHREAD without SDL_INIT_VIDEO is pointless.
Return Value
Returns 0 if successful, -1 otherwise.
If this function fails, you can usually get an error message through SDL_GetError(), but not always. Specifically, if pth_init() fails, no error message is set.
Example
1 if (SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_VIDEO|SDL_INIT_TIMER) != 0) {
2 fprintf(stderr, "\nUnable to initialize SDL: %s\n", SDL_GetError());
3 return 1;
4 }
1 #include <exception>
2 #include <string>
3 #include <SDL.h>
4
5 class InitError: public std::exception {
6 public:
7 InitError();
8 InitError(const std::string&);
9 virtual ~InitError() throw();
10 virtual const char* what() const throw();
11 private:
12 std::string msg;
13 };
14
15 InitError::InitError():
16 exception(), msg(SDL_GetError()) {}
17 InitError::InitError(const std::string& m):
18 exception(), msg(m) {}
19 InitError::~InitError() throw() {}
20 const char* InitError::what() const throw() {
21 return msg.c_str();
22 }
23
24 class SDL {
25 public:
26 SDL(Uint32 flags = 0) throw(InitError);
27 virtual ~SDL();
28 };
29
30 SDL::SDL(Uint32 flags) throw(InitError) {
31 if (SDL_Init(flags) != 0)
32 throw InitError();
33 }
34
35 SDL::~SDL() {
36 SDL_Quit();
37 }
38
39 /* ... */
40
41 #include <iostream>
42
43 int main(int argc, char **argv) {
44 try {
45 SDL sdl(SDL_INIT_VIDEO|SDL_INIT_TIMER);
46
47 /* ... */
48
49 return 0;
50 }
51
52 catch (const InitError& err) {
53 std::cerr << "Error while initializing SDL: " << err.what() << std::endl;
54 }
55
56 return 1;
57 }
See Also
SDL_InitSubSystem, SDL_WasInit, SDL_Quit