VIRTUAL_W(3)

✨ VIRTUAL_W(3) — the Allegro manual, but make it make sense ✨

okay bestie, so this is a page from the Allegro game programming library manual, and it's about two lil global defines that tell you how big your virtual screen is. yes, VIRTUAL_W and VIRTUAL_H. that's it. that's the whole assignment. but they're so useful, i promise. 🫶

🌸 NAME 🌸

VIRTUAL_W, VIRTUAL_H — global defines that get you the virtual size of the screen. part of the Allegro game programming library, mwah 💅

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

#include <allegro.h>

#define VIRTUAL_W;

#define VIRTUAL_H;

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so listen. these are global defines that hand you back the width and height of the virtual screen. that's VIRTUAL_W for the width, VIRTUAL_H for the height, in case the names weren't giving it away 💀

⚠️ real talk though: if the screen hasn't been initialised yet, they both just return zero. no screen, no numbers, no drama. so don't go using them before you've set things up, or you'll be out here measuring a screen that doesn't exist. 🙈

and here's the vibe in code form, the example straight from the page:

char buf[100];
...
uszprintf(buf, sizeof(buf),
          "The virtual screen size is %d x %d pixels",
          SCREEN_W, SCREEN_H);

yeah, note that the example prints with SCREEN_W and SCREEN_H — iconic of it, honestly. the whole family is out here being useful. ⭐

💖 SEE ALSO 💖

• screen(3)
• set_gfx_mode(3)
• SCREEN_W(3)
• SCREEN_H(3)

go read those next, they're literally the friend group of this page 🧚

and that's the whole thing, bestie!! Allegro, version 4.4.3, no cap. this page was brought to you by the letter W (and H) and by a manual that is lowkey doing the most with the least. stay slaying, and remember to init your screen before you ask it how big it is 💜✨🎀