SDL_Init

Use this function to initialize the SDL library. This must be called before using any other SDL function.

Syntax

int SDL_Init(Uint32 flags)

Function Parameters

flags

subsystem initialization flags; see Remarks for details

Return Value

Returns 0 on success or -1 on failure; call SDL_GetError() for more information.

Code Examples

C

#include "SDL.h"

int main(int, char**)  {
    if (SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_VIDEO|SDL_INIT_TIMER) != 0) {
        fprintf(stderr, 
                "\nUnable to initialize SDL:  %s\n", 
                SDL_GetError()
               );
        return 1;
    }
    atexit(SDL_Quit);
  
    /* ... */
  
    return 0;
}

C++

#include <exception>
#include <string>
#include "SDL.h"

class InitError: public std::exception {
    public:
        InitError();
        InitError(const std::string&);
        virtual ~InitError() throw();
        virtual const char* what() const throw();
    private:
        std::string msg;
};

InitError::InitError():
  exception(), msg(SDL_GetError()) {}
InitError::InitError(const std::string& m):
  exception(), msg(m) {}
InitError::~InitError() throw() {}
const char* InitError::what() const throw() {
    return msg.c_str();
}

class SDL {
    public:
        SDL(Uint32 flags = 0) throw(InitError);
        virtual ~SDL();
};

SDL::SDL(Uint32 flags) throw(InitError) {
    if (SDL_Init(flags) != 0)
        throw InitError();
}

SDL::~SDL() {
    SDL_Quit();
}

/* ... */

#include <iostream>

int main(int argc, char **argv) {
    try {
        SDL sdl(SDL_INIT_VIDEO|SDL_INIT_TIMER);

        /* ... */

        return 0;
    }

    catch (const InitError& err) {
        std::cerr
            << "Error while initializing SDL:  " 
            << err.what() << std::endl;
    }
    
    return 1;
}

Remarks

The Event Handling, File I/O, and Threading subsystems are initialized by default. You must specifically initialize other subsystems if you use them in your application.

flags may be any of the following OR'd together:

SDL_INIT_TIMER

timer subsystem

SDL_INIT_AUDIO

audio subsystem

SDL_INIT_VIDEO

video subsystem

SDL_INIT_JOYSTICK

joystick subsystem

SDL_INIT_HAPTIC

haptic (force feedback) subsystem

SDL_INIT_EVERYTHING

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)

Unless the SDL_INIT_NOPARACHUTE flag is set, it will install cleanup signal handlers for some commonly ignored fatal signals (like SIGSEGV).

Note that the event system is actually started by the video subsystem, so using SDL_INIT_EVENTTHREAD without SDL_INIT_VIDEO is pointless.

If you want to initialize subsystems separately you would call SDL_Init(0) followed by SDL_InitSubSystem() with the desired subsystem flag.


CategoryAPI, CategoryInit

SDL_Init (last edited 2010-08-22 23:05:13 by SheenaSmith)