MiniLibX(3)

NAME
MiniLibX - Simple X-Window Interface Library for students

SYNOPSYS
#include <mlx.h>
void *
mlx_init ();

DESCRIPTION
MiniLibX is an easy way to create graphical software, without any X-Window programming knowledge. It provides simple window creation, a drawing tool, image and basic events management.

X-WINDOW CONCEPT
X-Window is a network-oriented graphical system for Unix. It is based on two main parts:
On one side, your software wants to draw something on the screen and/or get keyboard & mouse entries.
On the other side, the X-Server manages the screen, keyboard and mouse (It is often refered to as a "display").
A network connection must be established between these two entities to send drawing orders (from the software to the X-Server), and keyboard/mouse events (from the X-Server to the software).

INCLUDE FILE
mlx.h should be included for a correct use of the MiniLibX API. It only contains function prototypes, no structure is needed.

LIBRARY FUNCTIONS

First of all, you need to initialize the connection between your software and the display. Once this connection is established, you'll be able to use other MiniLibX functions to send the X-Server messages, like "I want to draw a yellow pixel in this window" or "did the user hit a key?".

The mlx_init function will create this connection. No parameters are needed, ant it will return a void * identifier, used for further calls to the library routines.

All other MiniLibX functions are described in the following man pages:

mlx_new_window
    : manage windows

mlx_pixel_put
    : draw inside window

mlx_new_image
    : manipulate images

mlx_loop
    : handle keyboard or mouse events

LINKING MiniLibX
To use MiniLibX functions, you'll need to link your software with several libraries, including the MiniLibX library itself. To do this, simply add the following arguments at linking time: -lmlx -lXext -lX11 You may also need to specify the path to these libraries, using the -L flag.

RETURN VALUES
If mlx_init() fails to set up the connection to the X server, it will return NULL, otherwise a non-null pointer is returned as a connection identifier.

SEE ALSO
mlx_new_window(3), mlx_pixel_put(3), mlx_new_image(3), mlx_loop(3)

AUTHOR
Copyright ol@ - 2002-2014 - Olivier Crouzet