How to render text in SDL2?
Asked Answered
D

7

60

I'm using an SDL_Window and SDL_Renderer.

Is it possible to use SDL_TTF with SDL_Render/SDL_Window? If so, how?

Devout answered 5/4, 2014 at 20:39 Comment(0)
P
83

Yep, it is possible, given that you have a renderer and a window plus you don't really have any thoughts on dabbling with surfaces then you might want to mind on creating texture, here is a sample code

//this opens a font style and sets a size
TTF_Font* Sans = TTF_OpenFont("Sans.ttf", 24);

// this is the color in rgb format,
// maxing out all would give you the color white,
// and it will be your text's color
SDL_Color White = {255, 255, 255};

// as TTF_RenderText_Solid could only be used on
// SDL_Surface then you have to create the surface first
SDL_Surface* surfaceMessage =
    TTF_RenderText_Solid(Sans, "put your text here", White); 

// now you can convert it into a texture
SDL_Texture* Message = SDL_CreateTextureFromSurface(renderer, surfaceMessage);

SDL_Rect Message_rect; //create a rect
Message_rect.x = 0;  //controls the rect's x coordinate 
Message_rect.y = 0; // controls the rect's y coordinte
Message_rect.w = 100; // controls the width of the rect
Message_rect.h = 100; // controls the height of the rect

// (0,0) is on the top left of the window/screen,
// think a rect as the text's box,
// that way it would be very simple to understand

// Now since it's a texture, you have to put RenderCopy
// in your game loop area, the area where the whole code executes

// you put the renderer's name first, the Message,
// the crop size (you can ignore this if you don't want
// to dabble with cropping), and the rect which is the size
// and coordinate of your texture
SDL_RenderCopy(renderer, Message, NULL, &Message_rect);

// Don't forget to free your surface and texture
SDL_FreeSurface(surfaceMessage);
SDL_DestroyTexture(Message);

I tried to explain the code line by line, you don't see any window right there since I already assumed that you knew how to initialize a renderer which would give me an idea that you also know how to initialize a window, then all you need is the idea on how to initialize a texture.

Minor questions here, did your window open? was it colored black? if so then my thoughts were right, if not, then you can just ask me and I could change this code to implement the whole section which consists of a renderer and a window.

Pros answered 6/4, 2014 at 3:0 Comment(15)
Could you please free your surface?Deadwood
Message_rect.w = 100; //is the programmer supposed to know how wide his text will end up being?Bifarious
you have to free both surface and textureBrayton
It's a three year old answer, I only pointed out how to create them, freeing them should be on a different topic- though they should really free it.Pros
Can't help much since I already forgot about SDL's various syntaxes, stopped using SDL the year this was posted. To those reading this, always free/destroy/delete things you create like surface, texture, and events - since C++ does not have a garbage collector.Pros
@Bifarious You can alter it to be relative to the amount of text or window. The code shown here is the simplest one for demonstration purposes.Pros
@Bifarious you can get dimensions of rendered text with TTF_SizeText(TTF_Font *font, const char *text, int *w, int *h)Engeddi
TTF_Font & TTF_OpenFont undefined ...would be great to explain where these come fromProfant
@fdsfdsfdsfds libsdl.org/projects/SDL_ttf/docs/SDL_ttf_14.html I'm not sure if it's this but are you sure that the filename (Sans.ttf in the example) is accessible?Pros
would the correct way be: SDL_FreeSurface(surfaceMessage); SDL_DestroyTexture(Message);Peristalsis
@Peristalsis to free surface and destroy texture? yep.Pros
If this doesn't work try running TTF_Init() before this code.Bestride
What if I want to do not intend to use SDL_ttf library ?Goggle
Also don't forget to close the font with TTF_CloseFont(Sans)Mcrae
You need to initialize SDL_TTF first before writing this code, call TTF_Init() before the code and TTF_Quit() when you are done.Khanate
P
27

SDL_ttf minimal runnable example

enter image description here

Not super efficient, but easy to integrate. For efficiency see: How to render fonts and text with SDL2 efficiently?

Kept in a separate repo than the main SDL source, but hosted on the same official server, so should be fine: http://hg.libsdl.org/SDL_ttf/

Newlines won't work. You have to work with line heights.

Compile and run:

sudo apt-get install -y libsdl2-dev
gcc -lSDL2 -lSDL2_ttf -o ttf ttf.c
./ttf /usr/share/fonts/truetype/freefont/FreeMonoOblique.ttf

You must pass the path of a TTF font file to the program.

ttf.c

#include <stdlib.h>

#include <SDL2/SDL.h>
#include <SDL2/SDL_ttf.h>

#define WINDOW_WIDTH 300
#define WINDOW_HEIGHT (WINDOW_WIDTH)

/*
- x, y: upper left corner.
- texture, rect: outputs.
*/
void get_text_and_rect(SDL_Renderer *renderer, int x, int y, char *text,
        TTF_Font *font, SDL_Texture **texture, SDL_Rect *rect) {
    int text_width;
    int text_height;
    SDL_Surface *surface;
    SDL_Color textColor = {255, 255, 255, 0};

    surface = TTF_RenderText_Solid(font, text, textColor);
    *texture = SDL_CreateTextureFromSurface(renderer, surface);
    text_width = surface->w;
    text_height = surface->h;
    SDL_FreeSurface(surface);
    rect->x = x;
    rect->y = y;
    rect->w = text_width;
    rect->h = text_height;
}

int main(int argc, char **argv) {
    SDL_Event event;
    SDL_Rect rect1, rect2;
    SDL_Renderer *renderer;
    SDL_Texture *texture1, *texture2;
    SDL_Window *window;
    char *font_path;
    int quit;

    if (argc == 1) {
        font_path = "FreeSans.ttf";
    } else if (argc == 2) {
        font_path = argv[1];
    } else {
        fprintf(stderr, "error: too many arguments\n");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }

    /* Inint TTF. */
    SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_TIMER | SDL_INIT_VIDEO);
    SDL_CreateWindowAndRenderer(WINDOW_WIDTH, WINDOW_WIDTH, 0, &window, &renderer);
    TTF_Init();
    TTF_Font *font = TTF_OpenFont(font_path, 24);
    if (font == NULL) {
        fprintf(stderr, "error: font not found\n");
        exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
    }
    get_text_and_rect(renderer, 0, 0, "hello", font, &texture1, &rect1);
    get_text_and_rect(renderer, 0, rect1.y + rect1.h, "world", font, &texture2, &rect2);

    quit = 0;
    while (!quit) {
        while (SDL_PollEvent(&event) == 1) {
            if (event.type == SDL_QUIT) {
                quit = 1;
            }
        }
        SDL_SetRenderDrawColor(renderer, 0, 0, 0, 0);
        SDL_RenderClear(renderer);

        /* Use TTF textures. */
        SDL_RenderCopy(renderer, texture1, NULL, &rect1);
        SDL_RenderCopy(renderer, texture2, NULL, &rect2);

        SDL_RenderPresent(renderer);
    }

    /* Deinit TTF. */
    SDL_DestroyTexture(texture1);
    SDL_DestroyTexture(texture2);
    TTF_Quit();

    SDL_DestroyRenderer(renderer);
    SDL_DestroyWindow(window);
    SDL_Quit();
    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

GitHub upstream.

Tested in Ubuntu 16.04, SDL 2.0.4.

Provisional answered 3/7, 2016 at 10:28 Comment(0)
B
15

Yes it is. You create a surface with the text you want and then convert it to a texture that you can render.

Some sample code from one of my projects:

std::string score_text = "score: " + std::to_string(score);        
SDL_Color textColor = { 255, 255, 255, 0 };
SDL_Surface* textSurface = TTF_RenderText_Solid(font, score_text.c_str(), textColor);
SDL_Texture* text = SDL_CreateTextureFromSurface(renderer, textSurface);
int text_width = textSurface->w;
int text_height = textSurface->h;
SDL_FreeSurface(textSurface);
SDL_Rect renderQuad = { 20, win_height - 30, text_width, text_height };
SDL_RenderCopy(renderer, text, NULL, &renderQuad);
SDL_DestroyTexture(text);

This assumes you've properly initialized SDL_ttf and loaded a font. In the example scoreis an int. The screen gets cleared and rendered to somewhere else (I didn't include that part).

For a full working example, check out the tutorial for SDL_ttf in SDL2 at Lazy Foo.

Bast answered 5/4, 2014 at 20:47 Comment(4)
This throws an unhandled memory exception for some reason?Devout
@EthanWebster Oh, the code was merely meant as an (non-working) example, as it lacks important stuff to run, like the init code, error checking et cetera.Bast
Is this efficient even if the text will change every frame?Lydialydian
not really compatible with my existing code that uses SDL_BlitScaled and the font is badly renderedProfant
C
5

Edited to make it easier to follow along, to use Roboto.ttf (https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Roboto) instead of Verdana.ttf and to add not2qubit suggestion. Please keep in mind that this doesn't follow any C++ class convention at all. I just wanted to be sure that this would be easy enough to copy/paste and run.

To build this you need to add the library SDL_ttf (https://www.libsdl.org/projects/SDL_ttf/).

g++ demo.cpp -o demo -Wall -I include -lsdl2 -lsdl2_ttf

Since there are some people struggling with more complex code, I've included my own snippet here to help some beginners like myself. This will just show a red screen with a black hello world. Don't forget to add -lsdl2 and -lsdl2_ttf on your build and include the Verdana.ttf font on the same folder.

#include <iostream>
#include <SDL2/SDL.h>
#include <SDL2/SDL_ttf.h> //This is an sample library not included with stock SDL2. https://www.libsdl.org/projects/SDL_ttf/release-1.2.html

const char* WINDOW_TITLE = "Hello World SDL2 + TTF";
const char* FONT_NAME = "roboto.ttf";
const int FONT_SIZE = 128;
const int WINDOW_WIDTH = 1280, WINDOW_HEIGHT = 720;

SDL_Window* Window; // Window created by SDL.
SDL_Renderer* Renderer; // The renderer that shows our textures.
SDL_Event WindowEvent; // Event capturer from SDL Window.
SDL_Color TextColor = { 255, 0, 0, 255}; // Red SDL color.
TTF_Font* Font; // The font to be loaded from the ttf file.
SDL_Surface* TextSurface; // The surface necessary to create the font texture.
SDL_Texture* TextTexture; // The font texture prepared for render.
SDL_Rect TextRect; // Text rectangle area with the position for the texture text.

void CreateWindow() {
    Window = SDL_CreateWindow(WINDOW_TITLE, SDL_WINDOWPOS_CENTERED, SDL_WINDOWPOS_CENTERED, WINDOW_WIDTH, WINDOW_HEIGHT, SDL_WINDOW_ALLOW_HIGHDPI);
    if (!Window)
        std::cout << "There was a problem creating the window.";
    Renderer = SDL_CreateRenderer(Window, -1, 0);
    if (!Renderer)
        std::cout << "There was a problem creating the renderer.";
}

void CreateText(const char* Message) {
    TTF_Init();
    TTF_Font *font = TTF_OpenFont(FONT_NAME, FONT_SIZE);
    if (!font)
        std::cout << "Couldn't find/init open ttf font." << std::endl;
    TextSurface = TTF_RenderText_Solid(font, Message, TextColor);
    TextTexture = SDL_CreateTextureFromSurface(Renderer, TextSurface);
    TextRect.x = WINDOW_WIDTH - TextSurface->w * 0.5; // Center horizontaly
    TextRect.y = WINDOW_HEIGHT - TextSurface->h * 0.5; // Center verticaly
    TextRect.w = TextSurface->w;
    TextRect.h = TextSurface->h;
    // After you create the texture you can release the surface memory allocation because we actually render the texture not the surface.
    SDL_FreeSurface(TextSurface);
    TTF_Quit();
}

bool IsPollingEvent() {
    while(SDL_PollEvent(&WindowEvent)) {
        switch (WindowEvent.type) {
            case SDL_QUIT: return false;
        }
    }
    return true;
}

void RenderText() {
    SDL_SetRenderDrawColor(Renderer, 0, 0, 0, 255); // Make window bg black.
    SDL_RenderClear(Renderer); // Paint screen black.
    SDL_RenderCopy(Renderer, TextTexture, NULL, &TextRect); // Add text to render queue.
    SDL_RenderPresent(Renderer); // Render everything that's on the queue.
    SDL_Delay(10); // Delay to prevent CPU overhead as suggested by the user `not2qubit`
}

void ClearMemory() {
    SDL_DestroyTexture(TextTexture);
    SDL_DestroyRenderer(Renderer);
    SDL_DestroyWindow(Window);
    SDL_Quit();
    std::cout << "Clear proccess done." << std::endl;
}

int main() {
    CreateWindow();
    CreateText("Hello SDL_Ttf");
    while (IsPollingEvent()) {
        RenderText();
    }
    ClearMemory();
    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}
Commeasure answered 28/2, 2020 at 17:57 Comment(0)
G
1

For Powershell on Windows

If you're trying to do this from Powershell on Windows, you'll soon find out that this is a real PITA. Until now...

I've just spent the hours to debug all the details to get this to work, when you want to insist using Clang++ and SDL2 to render a native Windows window with text.

There are 3 things you need to install; LLVM, SDL2, SDL2_ttf. Then you have to ensure your program will find your libraries, headers and fonts. This is basically summarized in the following program here:

//---------------------------------------------------------------------
//  Name:       HelloSDL2.cpp
//  Author:     EAML
//  Date:       2021-05-16
// 
//  Description:    
//      A minimal PoC for producing a native SDL2 Windows app that can
//      be ran from either Windows Explorer or from Powershell console.
//      It's designed to use minimal command line, compiler options, 
//      and dependencies... It will display a gray window for 2 sec's.
//
//  Dependencies:
//      [1] LLVM Clang++ compiler package
//      [2] SDL2 Libraries (DLL's) and Header files (*.h)
//      [3] TTF Libraries (DLL's) and Header files (*.h)
// 
//  Notes: 
//      There is a slight variation in the bahaviour, depending on: 
//      (a) if you compile as a Windows GUI:  the text will not show.
//      (b) if you compile as a console CLI:  text will show in both terminal and/or in a 2nd new window
//      (c) You may need to use "main()" for console and "WinMain()" for GUI...
//      (c) to install on Linux, use packages:  clang, libsdl2-dev
//      (d) Someone said: #define SDL_MAIN_HANDLED ...
//
//  To Run: 
//      cp .\SDL2\lib\x64\SDL2.dll C:\Windows\.     # For SDL2
//      cp .\SDL2_ttf\lib\x64\*.dll C:\Windows\.    # For SDL2 TTF
//      cp C:\Windows\Fonts\arial.ttf .             # Get a font...
// 
//  For a CLI version, with console output in 2nd Window:
//  # clang++.exe -std=c++11 main.cpp -o main.exe -L .\SDL2\lib\x64\ -L .\SDL2_ttf\lib\x64\ -I .\SDL2_ttf\include\ -I .\SDL2\include\ -lShell32 -lSDL2main -lSDL2 -lSDL2_ttf -Wno-narrowing -Xlinker /subsystem:console
//
//  For a GUI version, without any console output:
//  # clang++.exe -std=c++11 main.cpp -o main.exe -L .\SDL2\lib\x64\ -L .\SDL2_ttf\lib\x64\ -I .\SDL2_ttf\include\ -I .\SDL2\include\ -lShell32 -lSDL2main -lSDL2 -lSDL2_ttf -Wno-narrowing -Xlinker /subsystem:windows
// 
//  References:
//      [1] https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/releases
//      [2] http://www.libsdl.org/release/SDL2-devel-2.0.14-VC.zip
//      [3] https://www.libsdl.org/projects/SDL_ttf/release/SDL2_ttf-devel-2.0.15-VC.zip
//      [4] https://www.libsdl.org/projects/SDL_ttf/docs/SDL_ttf.html
//      [5] http://www.sdltutorials.com/sdl-ttf
//---------------------------------------------------------------------
//#include <SDL2/SDL.h>
#include "SDL2/include/SDL.h"
#include "SDL2_ttf/include/SDL_ttf.h"
#include <stdio.h>

#define SCREEN_WIDTH    640
#define SCREEN_HEIGHT   480

#define WINDOW_TITLE    "Hello SDL2!"
//#define WINDOW_TEXT   "Hello World!"

void drawText ( SDL_Surface* screen, char* string, int size, int x, int y, SDL_Color fgC, SDL_Color bgC) {
    // Remember to call TTF_Init(), TTF_Quit(), before/after using this function.
    TTF_Font* font = TTF_OpenFont("arial.ttf", size);
    if(!font) {
        printf("[ERROR] TTF_OpenFont() Failed with: %s\n", TTF_GetError());
        exit(2);
    }
    TTF_SetFontStyle(font, TTF_STYLE_BOLD);
    //SDL_Surface* textSurface = TTF_RenderText_Solid(font, string, fgC);
    SDL_Surface* textSurface = TTF_RenderText_Shaded(font, string, fgC, bgC);
    SDL_Rect textLocation = { x, y, 0, 0 };
    SDL_BlitSurface(textSurface, NULL, screen, &textLocation);
    SDL_FreeSurface(textSurface);
    TTF_CloseFont(font);
    //printf("Oh My Goodness, an error : %s\n", TTF_GetError()); return 1;
}

int main(int argc, char* args[]) {
    SDL_Window* window = NULL;                      // The window we are rendering to
    SDL_Surface* screenSurface = NULL;              // The surface contained by the window
    if (SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_VIDEO) < 0) {
        printf( "SDL could not initialize! SDL Error: %s\n", SDL_GetError());
        return 1;
    }
    
    window = SDL_CreateWindow(WINDOW_TITLE, SDL_WINDOWPOS_UNDEFINED, SDL_WINDOWPOS_UNDEFINED,SCREEN_WIDTH, SCREEN_HEIGHT, SDL_WINDOW_SHOWN);
    if (window == NULL) {
        printf( "Window could not be created! SDL Error: %s\n", SDL_GetError());
        return 1;
    }
    
    screenSurface = SDL_GetWindowSurface(window);
    SDL_FillRect(screenSurface, NULL, SDL_MapRGB(screenSurface->format, 0x80, 0x80, 0x80)); // Set a gray background canvas
    SDL_UpdateWindowSurface(window);

    //-----------------------------------------------------
    // Draw the Text
    //-----------------------------------------------------
    if(TTF_Init() == -1) {
        printf("[ERROR] TTF_Init() Failed with: %s\n", TTF_GetError());
        exit(2);
    }
    SDL_Color fgC1 = { 0xff,0xff,0xff }, bgC1 = {0x00,0x00,0xa0};                               // white text on blue background
    SDL_Color fgC2 = { 0x00,0x00,0x00 }, bgC2 = {0xff,0x00,0xff};                               // black text on magenta background
    drawText( screenSurface, (char*) "Hello World! @ (x=50, y=100)", 18,  50,100, fgC1, bgC1);  // 18 pt @ (x=100,y=150)
    drawText( screenSurface, (char*) "arial.ttf @ (x=200, y=150)",   16, 200,150, fgC2, bgC2);  // 16 pt @ (x=100,y=150)
    SDL_UpdateWindowSurface(window);
    TTF_Quit();
    
    //-----------------------------------------------------
    // Get some info...
    //-----------------------------------------------------
    SDL_version compiled;
    SDL_version linked;
    SDL_version ttfv;

    SDL_VERSION(&compiled);
    SDL_GetVersion(&linked);
    SDL_TTF_VERSION(&ttfv);
    
    printf("Compiled using SDL version  : %d.%d.%d \n", compiled.major, compiled.minor, compiled.patch);
    printf("and linked with SDL version : %d.%d.%d \n", linked.major, linked.minor, linked.patch);
    printf("and using SDL_TTF version   : %d.%d.%d \n", ttfv.major, ttfv.minor, ttfv.patch);

    SDL_Delay(3000);  // Wait 3 seconds
    SDL_DestroyWindow(window);
    SDL_Quit();
    return 0;
}

The result of running the code above is this:

enter image description here


How to get to this point?

  1. Install LLVM for Windows:

    • Check the box for [x] add to Windows PATH.
  2. If you didn't add LLVM to your Windows PATH, then at least add it temporarily and manually.

    • Open a Powershell and type: $env:path += ";C:\Program Files\LLVM\bin"
  3. Install SDL2 for Windows: Download and extract the SDL2 & SDL2_ttf runtime binaries (*.dll) and header libraries (found in [2,3]) and put them into separate SDL folder(s) in the same directory as your C++ file.

    You should now have something like:

# tree --dirsfirst ./SDL2{,_ttf} -P *.h
./SDL2
├── include
│   ├── begin_code.h
│   ├── close_code.h
│   ├── SDL.h
│   ├── SDL_assert.h
...
│   ├── SDL_version.h
│   ├── SDL_video.h
│   └── SDL_vulkan.h
└── lib

./SDL2_ttf
└── include
    └── SDL_ttf.h

# tree --dirsfirst ./SDL2{,_ttf}/lib -P *.dll
./SDL2/lib
├── x64
│   └── SDL2.dll
└── x86
    └── SDL2.dll
./SDL2_ttf/lib
├── x64
│   ├── libfreetype-6.dll
│   ├── SDL2_ttf.dll
│   └── zlib1.dll
└── x86
    ├── libfreetype-6.dll
    ├── SDL2_ttf.dll
    └── zlib1.dll

  1. Copy all the relevant downloaded DLL's into the C:\Windows\, unless you know how to make clang++.exe able to find them. (I wasn't able...)
cd C:\path\to\main.cpp
cp .\SDL2\lib\x64\SDL2.dll C:\Windows\.     # For SDL2
cp .\SDL2_ttf\lib\x64\*.dll C:\Windows\.    # For SDL2 TTF
cp C:\Windows\Fonts\arial.ttf .             # Get a font...
  1. Download the above SDL2 "Hello World" Windows program.

    • Use the Minimal PoC code from here.
  2. Compile the program with:

clang++.exe -std=c++11 main2.cpp -o main.exe -L .\SDL2\lib\x64\ -L .\SDL2_ttf\lib\x64\ -I .\SDL2_ttf\include\ -I .\SDL2\include\ -lShell32 -lSDL2main -lSDL2 -lSDL2_ttf -Wno-narrowing -Xlinker /subsystem:windows

The order of how the libraries are placed, seem to have an importance. Make sure it's like above.

Also, notice the two different -Xlinker options:

/subsystem:windows   # This give you only one window but no console output
/subsystem:console   # This give you console output, but in a 2nd window when in GUI

To see other linker optins, use:

link.exe /link
link.exe /lib

# The most relevant are:
    /DLL
    /ENTRY:symbol
    /LIBPATH:dir
    /MACHINE:{ARM|ARM64|EBC|X64|X86}
    /SUBSYSTEM:{CONSOLE | NATIVE | POSIX | WINDOWS | WINDOWSCE |...}
    /VERBOSE

You are now good to go!


Download References

Goldeneye answered 16/5, 2021 at 5:57 Comment(0)
T
1

If you want it to do with class:

// Include somewhere
#include <SDL2/SDL_ttf.h>

// Do not forget to init TTF once somewhere main.cpp
if (TTF_Init()==-1) {
    printf("Failed to TTF: %s", SDL_GetError());
    return 1;
}

// Have a font instance ready
TTF_Font* font = TTF_OpenFont("assets/fonts/ugly.ttf", 72);
if (font==NULL){
    printf("Failed to load font: %s", SDL_GetError());
}

// Have a Text instance ready
// (Class file is below this code)
// Also you need to provide SDL_Renderer* renderer to init
Text* fps_tracker = new Text(renderer, font);

// Somewhere in while true
fps_tracker.setText("FPS: 232");

// Render it
fps_tracker.render();

Here is the class:

using namespace std;
#include <string>
#include <SDL2/SDL_image.h>
#include <SDL2/SDL_ttf.h>

class Text {
    SDL_Texture* texture = NULL;
    SDL_Rect position;
    TTF_Font* font;
    SDL_Renderer* renderer;
    SDL_Color color;
    string text;
    public: 
    Text(SDL_Renderer* renderer, TTF_Font* font, string text="", int x=0, int y=0, SDL_Color color={255, 255, 255}) {
        position.x = x;
        position.y = y;
        this->color = color;
        this->font = font;
        this->renderer = renderer;
    }

    void setText(string text) {
        if (this->text==text){
            return;
        }
        this->text = text;
        SDL_DestroyTexture(texture);
        SDL_Surface* surface = TTF_RenderText_Solid(font, text.c_str(), color);
        if (surface==NULL) {
            printf("Failed to render text: %s", SDL_GetError());            
        }
        position.w = surface->w;
        position.h = surface->h;
        texture = SDL_CreateTextureFromSurface(renderer, surface);
        SDL_FreeSurface(surface);
    }
    
    void render() {
        SDL_RenderCopy(renderer, texture, NULL, &position);
    }  

    ~Text() {
        SDL_DestroyTexture(texture);
    }
    
};
Thea answered 1/6, 2022 at 23:33 Comment(0)
J
0

If you don't want to or can't use the SDL2 TTF library, you can easily implement it yourself with just the freetype library.

Include freetype

#include <ft2build.h>
#include FT_FREETYPE_H

Create texture class

class texture
{
public:
    texture() : t{nullptr} {}

    texture(const texture &) = delete;
    texture &operator=(const texture &) = delete;

    texture(texture &&o) : t{o.t}
    {
        o.t = nullptr;
    }

    inline texture &operator=(texture &&o)
    {
        release();
        t = o.t;
        o.t = nullptr;
        return *this;
    }

    inline texture(SDL_Renderer *renderer, void *image, int width, int height, int depth, int pitch, uint32_t rmask, uint32_t gmask, uint32_t bmask, uint32_t amask) : t{nullptr}
    {
        attach_image(renderer, image, width, height, depth, pitch, rmask, gmask, bmask, amask);
    }

    inline void attach_image(SDL_Renderer *renderer, void *image, int width, int height, int depth, int pitch, uint32_t rmask, uint32_t gmask, uint32_t bmask, uint32_t amask)
    {
        release();

        SDL_Surface *s = SDL_CreateRGBSurfaceFrom(image, width, height, depth, pitch, rmask, gmask, bmask, amask);

        t = SDL_CreateTextureFromSurface(renderer, s);

        SDL_FreeSurface(s);
    }

    inline void draw(SDL_Renderer *renderer, const SDL_Rect *src, const SDL_Rect *dest) const
    {
        if (t)
            SDL_RenderCopyEx(renderer, t, src, dest, 0, nullptr, SDL_FLIP_NONE);
    }

    int width() const
    {
        if(!t) return 0;

        int w;

        SDL_QueryTexture(t, nullptr, nullptr, &w, nullptr);

        return w;
    }

    int height() const {
        if(!t) return 0;
        
        int h;

        SDL_QueryTexture(t, nullptr, nullptr, nullptr, &h);

        return h;
    }

    ~texture()
    {
        release();
    }

private:
    SDL_Texture *t;

    inline void release()
    {
        if (t)
            SDL_DestroyTexture(t);
        t = nullptr;
    }
};

Create glyph class

struct character : texture
{
    using texture::texture;
    unsigned int advance;
    int bearing_x;
    int bearing_y;
};

Determine endianness and set up masks

#if SDL_BYTEORDER == SDL_BIG_ENDIAN

#define rmask 0x000000ff
#define gmask 0x0000ff00
#define bmask 0x00ff0000
#define amask 0xff000000

#else

#define rmask 0xff000000
#define gmask 0x00ff0000
#define bmask 0x0000ff00
#define amask 0x000000ff

#endif

Create converter from free type's 8bit pixel depth to 32bit for SDL2

void convert_8_to_32_depth(std::vector<uint32_t> &res, unsigned char *image, int width, int height)
{
    res.clear();
    res.reserve(width * height);
    for (int y = 0; y < height; ++y)
    {
        for (int x = 0; x < width; ++x)
        {
            if (image[y * width + x])
                res.push_back(amask);
            else
                res.push_back(0);
        }
    }
}

Create font storage texture class

struct lib
{
    lib() = default;

    lib(SDL_Renderer *renderer, int height)
    {
        init(renderer, height);
    }

    void init(SDL_Renderer *renderer, int height)
    {
        FT_Library ft;
        if (FT_Init_FreeType(&ft))
        {
            std::cout << "Can't init freetype lib\n";
        }

        FT_Face face;

        //use if you have font data in array
        // if (FT_New_Memory_Face(ft, font_array, std::size(font_array), 0, &face))
        // {
        //  std::cout << "Failed to load font\n";
        // }

        if (FT_New_Face(ft, "location/to/my/font.ttf", 0, &face))
        {
            std::cout << "Failed to load font\n";
        }

        //set size of future glyphs
        FT_Set_Pixel_Sizes(face, 0, height);

        std::vector<uint32_t> image;

        for (unsigned int c = 0; c < 256; ++c)
        {
            //load freetype glyph
            if (FT_Load_Char(face, c, FT_LOAD_RENDER))
            {
                std::cout << "failed to load glyph\n";
            }

            if (face->glyph->bitmap.width)
            {
                ///get image data that works for sdl2
                convert_8_to_32_depth(image, face->glyph->bitmap.buffer, face->glyph->bitmap.width, face->glyph->bitmap.rows);
                chars[c].attach_image(renderer, image.data(), face->glyph->bitmap.width, face->glyph->bitmap.rows,
                                      32, face->glyph->bitmap.width * sizeof(decltype(image)::value_type),
                                      rmask, gmask, bmask, amask);
            }

            chars[c].bearing_x = face->glyph->bitmap_left;
            chars[c].bearing_y = face->glyph->bitmap_top;
            chars[c].advance = face->glyph->advance.x;
        }

        FT_Done_Face(face);
        FT_Done_FreeType(ft);
    }
    character chars[256];
};

Print text function

void print_text(SDL_Renderer *renderer, int x, int y, int height, std::string_view text)
{
    static constexpr int default_height = 50;
    
    //store map of each renderer used to avoid creating more libs than neccesary
    static std::map<SDL_Renderer *, lib> l;
    const lib& ts = l.try_emplace(renderer, renderer, default_height).first->second;

    float scale = height / default_height;

    SDL_Rect dest;

    for (auto c : text)
    {

        dest.x = x + ts.chars[c].bearing_x * scale;
        dest.y = y - ts.chars[c].bearing_y * scale;

        dest.w = ts.chars[c].width() * scale;
        dest.h = ts.chars[c].height() * scale;

        ts.chars[c].draw(renderer, nullptr, &dest);

        x += (ts.chars[c].advance >> 6) * scale;
    }
}
Jamilla answered 16/1, 2022 at 21:55 Comment(0)

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