init_dialog(3)

💖 init_dialog(3) — the Allegro manual, but make it cute 💖

okay bestie, we're in the Allegro manual and this one is init_dialog(3) — low level initialisation of a dialog, from the Allegro game programming library. yes it's the "I'll do it myself" version of a dialog. main character energy fr fr 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

init_dialog — low level initialisation of a dialog. Allegro game programming library. that's it, that's the vibe 💅

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

#include <allegro.h>

DIALOG_PLAYER *init_dialog(DIALOG *dialog, int focus_obj);

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so listen. this function gives you lower level access to the exact same functionality as do_dialog(), but — and this is the slay part — it lets you combine a dialog box with your own program control structures. you're not trapped in do_dialog's little world anymore, you're driving. 🚗💨

it initialises a dialog and returns a pointer to a player object, and that player object is what you feed to update_dialog() and shutdown_dialog(). that's the whole trio, they work together, no cap.

and like, with these functions you could literally implement your own version of do_dialog() with these lines:

DIALOG_PLAYER *player = init_dialog(dialog, focus_obj);

while (update_dialog(player))
   ;

return shutdown_dialog(player);

look at that. iconic. you built a do_dialog() from scratch and it's giving DIY queen ✨

💀 not me forgetting this part: you are responsible for showing and hiding the mouse cursor, which do_dialog would otherwise do for you. and also for saving and restoring the screen contents, as popup_dialog would do for you. like, nobody's doing that for you here. that's your job now bestie. you wanted low level access, you got low level access 🙈

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• update_dialog(3)
• shutdown_dialog(3)
• do_dialog(3)

go read those, they're the rest of the girl group 🫶

and that's the page!! this was brought to you by Allegro, version 4.4.3, and by init_dialog(3) itself being an absolute legend. mwah 💖🌸🦋 stay slaying in your dialog loops, bestie 💅✨