al_open_video_f(3alleg5)

💖 al_open_video_f — Allegro 5 API 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the 3alleg5 section of the Allegro reference manual — this is where the video girlies live ✨

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✨ NAME ✨

al_open_video_f — Allegro 5 API. that's it, that's the name, she's lowkey iconic 💅

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

#include <allegro5/allegro_video.h>

ALLEGRO_VIDEO* al_open_video_f(ALLEGRO_FILE *fp, const char *ident)

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

So. You've got a video. And you've got an ALLEGRO_FILE* already sitting there. This function is the matchmaker 🫶 — it opens a video file from an existing ALLEGRO_FILE* using the Allegro file interface system.

Why is this a big deal? Because it means your videos can come from anywhere, not just some boring disk path. Custom sources like:

• memory streams 💭
• virtual file systems 🌐
• archives 📦
• or literally any other source supported by a custom ALLEGRO_FILE_INTERFACE

custom file systems girlies, this one's for you. no cap.

Parameters:

• file — a pointer to an ALLEGRO_FILE object. And listen, this is the important part: ownership of this file is transferred to the video object. so the file gets closed automatically when al_close_video is called. you don't have to do anything, she handles it 💅

Returns: a pointer to a brand new ALLEGRO_VIDEO object if it worked, or NULL on failure 😭

Remarks:

• the function does not require the file to be seeked or rewound — it just reads from the current position. wherever the cursor is at, that's where we start, periodt ✨
• after calling al_open_video_f, you must not manually close the ALLEGRO_FILE. like, don't. call al_close_video to free all associated resources instead. trust 🙈
• this function mirrors the behavior of the other _f variants in the Allegro API, which is what enables video streaming from custom file systems. consistent queen behavior 👑

Example:

ALLEGRO_FILE *f = al_fopen("video.ogv", "rb");
if (f) {
    ALLEGRO_VIDEO *vid = al_open_video_f(f);
    if (vid) {
        float fps = al_get_video_fps(vid);
        // ... use the video ...
        al_close_video(vid); // also closes f
    }
}

see how al_close_video(vid) also closes f? that's the ownership transfer doing its thing. ate. no crumbs. 🍓

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

• al_open_video(3alleg5)

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🌸 SINCE 🌸

5.2.11 — she's been serving since 5.2.11 💜

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okay that's the whole page bestie!! 💖 this was the al_open_video_f(3alleg5) page from the Allegro reference manual — go forth and stream your videos from custom sources, you absolute main character 🌈✨💅