[SDL] SDL Surface Array

[David Olofson]

On Saturday 21 February 2004 19.18, Brønnum-Hansen wrote:
[...]
> > So, use arrays of *pointers* to SDL_Surfaces instead.
>
> Okay, I've read about pointers and understand them.
> But I still don't understand how I should use them here.
> Because, the pointers needs a type, don't they?

A pointer *has* a type; it's a pointer. Actually, it's also a pointer 
to something; in this case a pointer to an SDL_Surface struct - or 
"SDL_Surface *", expressed in C/C++.


> Please, could I get a short example?

//The surfaces
SDL_Surface *surfaces[8];

//Load graphics
surfaces[0] = IMG_Load("picture1.png");
surfaces[1] = IMG_Load("picture2.png");
surfaces[2] = IMG_Load("picture3.png");
...
surfaces[7] = IMG_Load("picture8.png");
//(Add error checking!)

//Do kewl stuff
...

//Free surfaces
for(int i = 0; i < 8; ++i)
	SDL_FreeSurface(surfaces[i]);


[...]
> I really hope you don't consider this as off-topic because I really
> need this help and don't know where I'm supposed to get it, if not
> here.

It *is* off-topic, as it's not specific to SDL in any way whatsoever. 
We're talking about very basic C/C++ stuff. If you've read something 
that actually explains pointers in a comprehensible way, this stuff 
should be quite obvious.

Google comes up with countless hits on books and stuff about C and C++ 
for beginners, and I guess there are a few on-line resources as well, 
though I didn't find one right away. I'd recommend getting one of 
those books anyway, though I don't know which ones are best. (The one 
I learnt C from was in swedish, and has no translations AFAIK. Not 
*that* far form danish, but you have to be pretty much fluent in the 
language for this kind of litterature.)


//David Olofson - Programmer, Composer, Open Source Advocate

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