al_get_mouse_state(3)

💖 al_get_mouse_state(3) 💖

okay so this one's from the Allegro reference manual (the Library Functions Manual girlies, you know the vibe) and honestly? it's a little baddie of a function. let's get into it 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

al_get_mouse_state — literally the Allegro 5 API, that's the whole name, no notes 👑

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

#include <allegro5/allegro.h>

void al_get_mouse_state(ALLEGRO_MOUSE_STATE *ret_state)

bestie it takes one pointer and returns void. that's it. that's the whole function signature. she's lowkey minimalist 💅

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so what she does: she saves the state of the mouse into the structure you hand her — and it's the state at the exact moment the function is called, so it's like a little snapshot, a freeze-frame, a polaroid of your mouse's whole life at that instant 📸 no cap.

🦋 the example (yes we're doing this, it's iconic)

ALLEGRO_MOUSE_STATE state;

al_get_mouse_state(&state);
if (state.buttons & 1) {
    /* Primary (e.g. left) mouse button is held. */
    printf("Mouse position: (%d, %d)\n", state.x, state.y);
}
if (state.buttons & 2) {
    /* Secondary (e.g. right) mouse button is held. */
}
if (state.buttons & 4) {
    /* Tertiary (e.g. middle) mouse button is held. */
}

so the way this works — you do a bitwise AND on state.buttons and the flags are 1, 2, and 4. 1 is the Primary (e.g. left) button, 2 is the Secondary (e.g. right) button, and 4 is the Tertiary (e.g. middle) button. that's the main character energy of bit flags right there 🔥 and notice the position print out lives inside the first if — state.x and state.y and a printf("Mouse position: (%d, %d)\n", state.x, state.y) — so she only gossips about coordinates when the primary button is held, periodt 💀

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👀 SEE ALSO 👀

• ALLEGRO_MOUSE_STATE(3) — the struct herself, go read her
• al_get_mouse_state_axis(3) — the axis bestie, one-number-at-a-time vibes
• al_mouse_button_down(3) — if you just wanna know if a button is pressed, she's right there

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💜 reminder bestie: the structure gets the state as of the moment you call the function, so don't be out here assuming it updates by itself. you call, you get the snapshot, you move on. iykyk ✨

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and that's the whole page! 🌈 brought to you by the Allegro reference manual — al_get_mouse_state(3), signing off, mwah 🎀🧚💖