SDL_PenDeviceType(3type)

💖 SDL_PenDeviceType 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the SDL_PenDeviceType(3type) page — it's part of the SDL3 DATATYPES collection, and it's literally just a little enum that tells you what kind of pen you're dealing with. tiny page, big vibes. let's go 🖊️✨

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✨ NAME ✨

SDL_PenDeviceType — an enum that describes the type of a pen device.

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <SDL3/SDL_pen.h>

typedef enum SDL_PenDeviceType
{
    SDL_PEN_DEVICE_TYPE_INVALID = -1, /**< Not a valid pen device. */
    SDL_PEN_DEVICE_TYPE_UNKNOWN,      /**< Don't know specifics of this pen. */
    SDL_PEN_DEVICE_TYPE_DIRECT,       /**< Pen touches display. */
    SDL_PEN_DEVICE_TYPE_INDIRECT      /**< Pen touches something that isn't the display. */
} SDL_PenDeviceType;

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so the tea is this: a "direct" device is a pen that touches a graphic display — think an Apple Pencil straight-up poking an iPad's screen. very touch-the-pixels, very main character energy 💅

an "indirect" device is the opposite vibe — it touches an external tablet surface that's plugged into the machine but is not a display. like a lower-end Wacom tablet chillin' over USB. you draw over there, the cursor moves over here. iykyk 🎀

and the way apps use this?? they can decide whether to draw a cursor at all. if the pen is touching the screen directly, a cursor doesn't make sense and is lowkey just in the way 🙈. but for indirect devices it becomes necessary, because otherwise you'd have no idea where on the display you're interacting. cursor = the blueprint. periodt.

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⭐ AVAILABILITY ⭐

this enum is available since SDL 3.4.0. not a day earlier, no cap.

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🫶 reminder bestie: SDL_PEN_DEVICE_TYPE_INVALID is -1 and it means not a valid pen device, and SDL_PEN_DEVICE_TYPE_UNKNOWN means we genuinely don't know the specifics. don't go treating either of those as a real pen, okay??

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that's the whole page, babe — short and iconic, like a good caption. this was brought to you by Simple Directmedia Layer 🌈, version SDL 3.4.18, and yeah the page itself is SDL_PenDeviceType(3type). mwah 💋 go touch grass (or a tablet surface, indirect girlies) 🧚💜