al_is_compatible_bitmap(3)

💅 al_is_compatible_bitmap(3) — the Allegro 5 API glow-up

okay so bestie, this one lives in the Library Functions Manual (Allegro 5 API, obvs) and it's the vibe check for whether your bitmap can actually hang with the display you're on right now. let's get into it 🫶

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <allegro5/allegro.h>

bool al_is_compatible_bitmap(ALLEGRO_BITMAP *bitmap)

that's it, that's the whole signature. one ALLEGRO_BITMAP *bitmap arg, returns a bool. iconic. 🎀

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so here's the tea: D3D and OpenGL lowkey allow sharing a texture in a way so it can be used for multiple windows. no cap. but here's the catch — each ALLEGRO_BITMAP(3) you create with al_create_bitmap(3) is usually tied to a single ALLEGRO_DISPLAY. like, it's got main character energy but only for one window 💀

this function? it's the one that tells you if the bitmap is compatible with the given display, even if it's a different display to the one it was created with. fr fr, that's the whole point.

it returns true if the bitmap is compatible (so things like a cached texture version can be used) and false otherwise (and if it's false, bestie... blitting in the current display will be slow 😭).

heads up: the only time this function is useful is if you're using multiple windows and need accelerated blitting of the same bitmaps to both. that's literally the only scenario. iykyk.

and for the return value, one more time with feeling: it returns true if the bitmap is compatible with the current display, false otherwise. and — important — if there is no current display, false is returned. no display, no slay. 🙈

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🌈 that's the whole page, short and sweet, just like it should be. this was pulled straight from the Allegro reference manual, and the footer date/source is al_is_compatible_bitmap(3) — go off, Allegro reference manual, you ate. 👑💖