SDL_VideoInit

Use this function to initialize the video subsystem, optionally specifying a video driver.

Syntax

int SDL_VideoInit(const char* driver_name)

Function Parameters

Return Value

Returns 0 on success or a negative error code on failure; call SDL_GetError() for more information.

Code Examples

#include "SDL.h"
#include <stdio.h> /* for printf() */
#include <stdlib.h> /* for atexit() */

SDL_bool videoinit = SDL_FALSE;

void OnQuit(void) {
  if (videoinit)
    SDL_VideoQuit();
  SDL_Quit();
}

int main(int argc, char** argv) {
  if (SDL_Init(0) != 0) {
    printf("Error initializing SDL:  %s\n", SDL_GetError());
    return 1;
  }
  atexit(OnQuit);
  
  if (SDL_VideoInit(NULL) != 0) {
    printf("Error initializing SDL video:  %s\n", SDL_GetError());
    return 2;
  }
  videoinit = SDL_TRUE;
  
  /* ... */
  
  return 0;
}

Remarks

This function initializes the video subsystem, setting up a connection to the window manager, etc, and determines the available display modes and pixel formats, but does not initialize a window or graphics mode.

If you use this function and you haven't used the SDL_INIT_VIDEO flag with either SDL_Init() or SDL_InitSubSystem(), you should call SDL_VideoQuit() before calling SDL_Quit().

It is safe to call this function multiple times. SDL_VideoInit() will call SDL_VideoQuit() itself if the video subsystem has already been initialized.

You can use SDL_GetNumVideoDrivers() and SDL_GetVideoDriver() to find a specific driver_name.

Related Functions

• SDL_GetNumVideoDrivers

• SDL_GetVideoDriver

• SDL_InitSubSystem

• SDL_VideoQuit

CategoryAPI, CategoryVideo