directfb.org | Projects

DFB++

This is a C++ binding for DirectFB providing a much easier usage.

One advantage is that the 'thiz' pointer doesn't need to be passed as the first argument of every interface function, e.g.

     dfb->SetVideoMode (dfb, 640, 480, 16);

As C++ provides "this" you simply call:

     dfb->SetVideoMode (640, 480, 16);

Another feature is the usage of exceptions. It's annoying having these error checking stuff with growing deinitialization stacks. Most functions are 'void'. As soon as a DirectFB function returns an error a DFBException is thrown. This also means that all functions that return only one argument return it directly. Another example:

     IDirectFB             *dfb;
     DFBResult              ret;
     DFBSurfaceDescription  dsc;

     [... set dsc ...]

     ret = dfb->CreateSurface (dfb, &dsc, &surface);
     if (ret) {
          DirectFBError ("IDirectFB::CreateSurface", ret);
          [...deinit stuff...]
          return;
     }

The DFB++ version:

     IDirectFB *dfb;

     try {
          DFBSurfaceDescription dsc;

          [... set dsc ...]

          surface = dfb->CreateSurface (dsc);
     }
     catch (DFBException *ex) {
          cerr << "Caught exception: " << ex << endl;
          [...deinit stuff...]
     }

You may also notice that some arguments (e.g. 'dsc') that have been pointers are references now where applicable.

The DFBException has some useful functions like 'GetAction()' and 'GetResult()' both returning a string. The example above uses the "<<" operator which produces output like this:

     Caught exception: DirectFB::Create() -> General initialization failure!

Please have a look at the example(s) within the distribution for a more sophisticated demonstration.