Setting up SDL Extension Libraries in Code::Blocks
Last Updated 8/5/08
In this tutorial you're going to learn to set up SDL_image. If you know how to set up this extension, you can set any of them up.SDL_image is located on this page.
1)Scroll down to the Binary section and download the Windows development
library
Every extension libary has 3 essential parts:
Open up the zip archive and there should be a folder inside.
Open the folder and it'll contain 2 subfolders.
2)First, open the include subfolder in the archive and extract the header file that's inside the include directory. Put that header file in the directory with all the other header files in the SDL folder you extracted in lesson 1.
For example, I extracted the SDL version 1.2.12 folder to "C:\", so I put the SDL_image (or SDL_ttf or SDL_mixer) header in C:\SDL-1.2.12\include\SDL\.
3)Next extract the lib file that's inside of lib subfolder of the archive to you SDL lib folder. In my case it was at C:\SDL-1.2.12\lib\.
4)Now extract all of the *.dll file(s) from the archive and put them in the same directory as your exe.
Like before, you can copy them to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 so your SDL app will find the *.dll(s) even if they're not in the same directory. The problem with this method is if you have multiple SDL apps that use different versions of SDL, you'll have version conflicts. If you have an old version in SYSTEM32 when the app uses the new version you're going to run into problems. Generally you want to have your the *.dll(s) in the same directory as your executable developing and you'll always want to have *.dll(s) in the same directory as the exe when distributing your app.
5)Now open up your SDL project and go to the Compiler and Deubgger settings.
6)Go to the Compiler and Debugger settings again and under the Linker Settings tab paste:
If you were linking SDL_ttf you'd put
7)To use SDL_image make sure to include the header file.
Every extension libary has 3 essential parts:
- The header file.
- The lib file.
- The *.dll file(s)
Open up the zip archive and there should be a folder inside.
Open the folder and it'll contain 2 subfolders.
2)First, open the include subfolder in the archive and extract the header file that's inside the include directory. Put that header file in the directory with all the other header files in the SDL folder you extracted in lesson 1.
For example, I extracted the SDL version 1.2.12 folder to "C:\", so I put the SDL_image (or SDL_ttf or SDL_mixer) header in C:\SDL-1.2.12\include\SDL\.
3)Next extract the lib file that's inside of lib subfolder of the archive to you SDL lib folder. In my case it was at C:\SDL-1.2.12\lib\.
4)Now extract all of the *.dll file(s) from the archive and put them in the same directory as your exe.
Like before, you can copy them to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 so your SDL app will find the *.dll(s) even if they're not in the same directory. The problem with this method is if you have multiple SDL apps that use different versions of SDL, you'll have version conflicts. If you have an old version in SYSTEM32 when the app uses the new version you're going to run into problems. Generally you want to have your the *.dll(s) in the same directory as your executable developing and you'll always want to have *.dll(s) in the same directory as the exe when distributing your app.
5)Now open up your SDL project and go to the Compiler and Deubgger settings.
6)Go to the Compiler and Debugger settings again and under the Linker Settings tab paste:
-lSDL_image
in Other Linker Options after -lmingw32 -lSDLmain -lSDL.-lSDL_ttf
if you were linking SDL_mixer you'd put-lSDL_mixer
etc, etc.7)To use SDL_image make sure to include the header file.
#include "SDL/SDL_image.h"
If you were setting up SDL_ttf you'd put
Now the extension library is all set up.
#include "SDL/SDL_ttf.h"
If you were setting up SDL_mixer you'd put#include "SDL/SDL_mixer.h"
etc, etc.Now the extension library is all set up.
Now you can use SDL_image functions.
The main one you want to know about is IMG_Load().
The main one you want to know about is IMG_Load().
SDL_Surface *load_image( std::string filename )
{
//The image that's loaded
SDL_Surface* loadedImage = NULL;
//The optimized image that will be used
SDL_Surface* optimizedImage = NULL;
//Load the image using SDL_image
loadedImage = IMG_Load( filename.c_str() );
//If the image loaded
if( loadedImage != NULL )
{
//Create an optimized image
optimizedImage = SDL_DisplayFormat( loadedImage );
//Free the old image
SDL_FreeSurface( loadedImage );
}
//Return the optimized image
return optimizedImage;
}
Here is a revised version of the image loading function from the previous tutorial.
As you can see IMG_Load() functions exactly the same as SDL_LoadBMP(), but there's one big exception:
IMG_Load() can load BMP, PNM, XPM, LBM, PCX, GIF, JPEG, TGA and PNG files.
From this tutorial on, PNG image files will be the primary image format used. PNGs have excellent lossless compression.
From this tutorial on, PNG image files will be the primary image format used. PNGs have excellent lossless compression.