#pragma section-numbers off
#pragma disable-camelcase

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

<<TableOfContents()>>

== Syntax ==
{{{#!highlight cpp
int SDL_VideoInit(const char* driver_name)
}}}

== Function Parameters ==
||'''driver_name'''||the name of a video driver to initialize, or NULL for the default driver||

== Return Value ==
Returns 0 on success or a negative error code on failure; call [[SDL_GetError]]() for more information.

== Code Examples ==
{{{#!highlight cpp
#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]]