SDL2 pointerless basic project

This is a one-file C SDL2 project. It is meant for beginners to let them create SDL-based projects without any pointer specific knowledge. It offers a micro-library that help create any grid-based user interface.
The only dependency of this project is the SDL2 library.

For those who can deal with pointers and multi-file project with CMake, it is recommended to use the Basic C SDL2 game as a base for any grid-based project/game and the Flying plane SDL2 animation for more sophisticated projects/games.

A list of examples, projects and tutorials could be found at SDL/SDL2 samples and projects

Getting started

You can use any IDE with C/C++ and SDL2 support like Code::Blocks.
You can follow the following tutorial: How to setup SDL2 with Code::Blocks on Windows
Just copy all the content of src/main.c and put it in place of any code in your default main.c or main.cpp.
Try to execute the code as it is to check that it is running successfully.

You can now start editing the draw function (at line #1725).
The micro-library offers some basic functions to start coding the UI:

set_background_color(color)
    Set the background color to one of the predefined colors

set_cell_color(x, y, color)
    Set the color of the cell at coordinates (x, y)

set_grid_border_color(color)
    Set the grid (and cells) border color

delay(ms)
    Wait a specified number of milliseconds

get_key()
    Get the pressed key

draw_char(c, at_x, at_y, color)
    Write a character at position (at_x, at_y) with a specific color

draw_text(text, at_x, at_y, space, color)
    Write a text at position (at_x, at_y) with a specific color
    The space parameter represents the spacing between characters

The dimensions and the colors of the screen and the grid could be modified.
You have just to update the values of the following (main.c, line 2):

// Define screen dimensions
#define SCREEN_WIDTH        (800)
#define SCREEN_HEIGHT       (600)

// Max grid dimension
#define GRID_MAX_X_CELLS    (10)
#define GRID_MAX_Y_CELLS    (10)

#define GRID_DEFAULT_MARGIN         (20)
#define GRID_DEFAULT_COLOR          COLOR_WHITE
#define GRID_DEFAULT_BORDER_SIZE    (2)
#define GRID_DEFAULT_BORDER_COLOR   COLOR_GRAY

The full list of features can be found in the src/main.c documentation section.

Examples

Draw a red dot at coordinates x = 1, y = 2 :

void draw(int x_cells, int y_cells)
{
    set_cell_color(1, 2, COLOR_RED);
}

Draw a horizontal blue line:

void draw(int x_cells, int y_cells)
{
    for(int x = 0; x < x_cells; x++)
    {
        set_cell_color(x, 1, COLOR_BLUE);
    }
}

Draw a horizontal blue line animated:

void draw(int x_cells, int y_cells)
{
    for(int x = 0; x < x_cells; x++)
    {
        set_cell_color(x, 1, COLOR_BLUE);
        delay(100);
    }
}

Implement a simple/interactive animation:

See the branch example/animation.

Display text:

void draw(int x_cells, int y_cells)
{
    draw_text("Hello world", 1, 1, 1, COLOR_RED);
}

See the branch example/display-text.

Implement a calculator:

See the branch example/calculator.

Implement a simple text editor:

See the branch example/text-editor.

Implement a simple painting app:

See the branch example/paint.

Implement mouse hover:

See the branch example/mouse-hover.

Build on linux

Dependencies

• Git
• C Compiler (gcc, ...)
• CMake
• SDL2 library

On Debian/Ubuntu based distributions, use the following command:

sudo apt install git build-essential pkg-config cmake cmake-data libsdl2-dev

Build instructions

# Clone this repo
git clone https://gitlab.com/aminosbh/sdl2-pointerless.git
cd sdl2-pointerless

# Create a build folder
mkdir build
cd build

# Build
cmake ..
make

# Run
./sdl2-pointerless

Open the project with an IDE under Linux

See IDE_USAGE.md for details.

License

Author: Amine B. Hassouna @aminosbh

This project is distributed under the terms of the MIT license <LICENSE>.