SDL Window Not Showing Up at all - c++

Question

I am just now learning SDL and have downloaded the libraries and added them to my linker, etc with MinGW and I am trying to run a simple demo program to display a window and it will not show up at all. I get no errors at all, the window just doesn't show up.
#include "SDL.h"
#include <stdio.h>
int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
SDL_Window *window; // Declare a pointer
SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_VIDEO); // Initialize SDL2
// Create an application window with the following settings:
window = SDL_CreateWindow(
"An SDL2 window", // window title
SDL_WINDOWPOS_UNDEFINED, // initial x position
SDL_WINDOWPOS_UNDEFINED, // initial y position
640, // width, in pixels
480, // height, in pixels
SDL_WINDOW_OPENGL // flags - see below
);
// Check that the window was successfully created
if (window == NULL) {
// In the case that the window could not be made...
printf("Could not create window: %s\n", SDL_GetError());
return 1;
}
// The window is open: could enter program loop here (see SDL_PollEvent())
SDL_Delay(3000); // Pause execution for 3000 milliseconds, for example
// Close and destroy the window
SDL_DestroyWindow(window);
// Clean up
SDL_Quit();
return 0;
}

Answer 1

I just tested this on Linux and MinGW. It may be a problem with SDL_Delay blocking before the window gets a chance to show. Try adding a basic main loop to see if it works. This will create an empty window.
#include "SDL.h"
#include <stdio.h>
int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
SDL_Window *window; // Declare a pointer
SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_VIDEO); // Initialize SDL2
// Create an application window with the following settings:
window = SDL_CreateWindow(
"An SDL2 window", // window title
SDL_WINDOWPOS_UNDEFINED, // initial x position
SDL_WINDOWPOS_UNDEFINED, // initial y position
640, // width, in pixels
480, // height, in pixels
SDL_WINDOW_OPENGL // flags - see below
);
// Check that the window was successfully created
if (window == NULL) {
// In the case that the window could not be made...
printf("Could not create window: %s\n", SDL_GetError());
return 1;
}
// A basic main loop to prevent blocking
bool is_running = true;
SDL_Event event;
while (is_running) {
while (SDL_PollEvent(&event)) {
if (event.type == SDL_QUIT) {
is_running = false;
}
}
SDL_Delay(16);
}
// Close and destroy the window
SDL_DestroyWindow(window);
// Clean up
SDL_Quit();
return 0;
}