I've created a C++ class (myPixmap
) to encapsulate the work performed by the OpenGL GLUT toolkit. The display()
member function of the class contains most of the code required to set up GLUT.
void myPixmap::display()
{
// open an OpenGL window if it hasn't already been opened
if (!openedWindow)
{
// command-line arguments to appease glut
char *argv[] = {"myPixmap"};
int argc = 1;
glutInit(&argc, argv);
glutInitDisplayMode(GLUT_SINGLE | GLUT_RGB);
glutInitWindowSize(640, 480);
glutInitWindowPosition(30, 30);
glutCreateWindow("Experiment");
glutDisplayFunc(draw);
glClearColor(0.9f, 0.9f, 0.9f, 0.0);
glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT);
glutMainLoop();
openedWindow = true;
}
}
The display function passed to glutDisplayFunc()
is another member function of the class:
void myPixmap::draw(void)
{
glDrawPixels( m,n,GL_RGB,GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, pixel );
}
However, gcc 4.2.1 on Mac OS X 10.6.4 refuses to compile this code, claiming that:
argument of type 'void (myPixmap::)()' does not match 'void (*)()'
Is there a way to use the GLUT toolkit inside a member function of a class, or must I call all GLUT functions within the main
function of the program?
The problem is that a pointer to an instance bound member function has to include the this
pointer. OpenGL is a C API, and knows nothing about this
pointers. You'll have to use a static member function (which doesn't require an instance, and thus no this
), and set some static data members (to access the instance) in order to use glutDisplayFunc
.
class myPixmap
{
private:
static myPixmap* currentInstance;
static void drawCallback()
{
currentInstance->draw();
}
void setupDrawCallback()
{
currentInstance = this;
::glutDisplayFunc(myPixmap::drawCallback);
}
};
You may also have problems with C linkage vs C++ linkage, in which case you'll have to play around with extern "C"
. If so, you might have to use a global function, rather than a static member function as your callback, and have that call myPixmap::draw
. Something like:
class myPixmap
{
public:
void draw();
private:
void setupDrawCallback();
};
myPixmap* g_CurrentInstance;
extern "C"
void drawCallback()
{
g_CurrentInstance->draw();
}
void myPixmap::setupDrawCallback();
{
::g_CurrentInstance = this;
::glutDisplayFunc(::drawCallback);
}
With all of this, try to make as few changes as possible, since this is really kind of a kludge to deal w/ OpenGL being a C API.
If you want multiple instances (I don't think most people using GLUT make multiple instances, but maybe you are), you'll have to figure out a solution using a std::map to retrieve the instance:
static std::map<int, myPixmap> instanceMap;
Where you'd get the int
to resolve which instance, I am not sure :)
FYI, you should define functions that take no parameters this way:
void some_function() { }
not
void some_function(void) { }
Please check this tutorial, I think this is what you are looking for:
http://paulsolt.com/2010/08/glut-object-oriented-framework-on-github/
Merlyn solution didnt work for me, so I made a little modification by bringing currentInstance outside of class and it worked:
Class myPixmap;
static myPixmap* currentInstance;
Class myPixmap {
...
}
I had trouble in understanding the correct answer from Merlyn, so here it is the simplified version:
In myPixmap.h, change display function to static member function. Should work.
class myPixmap
{
//...
static void display();
//...
};