OpenBGI library

About

Features

Download

Documentation

Help is welcome!

About

This library is intended to replace the old DOS library that was included Borland C (called BGI, which stands for Borland Graphics Interface). which provides functions for DOS graphics mode. It was extremely slow and it's API wasn't perfect (from modern point of view) but it was very simple to use, so it very well suits for teaching programming basis, where graphics output is needed. Although all it's lacks, it is used even now, because of it's simplicity for teaching purpose.

So, OpenBGI library is intended to replace that old library, by implementing just the same interface but implementing on Microsoft Windows system for use with Visual Studio (6.0, .NET, 2003, 2005, 2008) or MinGW compiler. It has practically the same API as <graphics.h> (that was included in Borland C for DOS) with some extensions (described in Features). That is, it let's simply to switch from old legacy Borland C to modern compilers/IDEs ( Visual Studio 2005 Express Edition, for example) practically without code changing.

There is also some other Windows implementation of that old library (Winbgi, for example), but OpenBGI implementation differs from them in good debug mode support

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Features

• Great compatibility with old BGI library . It mimics even old getch() & delay() behavior so it is very even, when program have to be changed to run properly using OpenBGI.

• Some useful extensions: mouse handling, custom graphics mode, etc.

• Can be used with various compilers : it is written using ANSI C, so can be used with practically all Win32 compilers.
  Tested with:

  • MinGW (3.4.5 version tested, but should also work with older version)

  • Visual Studio 6, .NET, 2003, 2005 (To compile library, VS 2005 Express Edition must have Win32 SDK)

• Good debugging support:

  • The graphics output window is repainted debug mode, so you can see all your graphics output during stepped debugging (window is not 'erased' like it happens when you debug windowed application).

  • 'Invisible' page can be optionally shown, which is very useful for debugging application that uses double-buffering.

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Download

Library's source can be downloaded from sourceforge's site : download link.

Binaries are not officially provided, but there is Makefile in library directory that will build it for MinGW. For Visual Studio you have to manually create project and compile it.

Please, see readme.txt bundled with sources before using. Incompatibilities with old DOS version described there!

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Documentation

Sorry, there is no documentation for now. See Help is welcome

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Help is welcome!

As for now, there is no documentation or commented samples for this library, so when you use it you have to stick with Borland C with it's documentation. Everybody is welcome to help the project by adding documentation (you can just comment several functions from graphics.h (comments must be in doxygen format) or write small, well-commented sample to demostrate several functions from graphics.h). Send it to daniil_guit@users.sourceforge.net

The project is not at an early stage, so it is practically useful (most annoying bugs are, imho, cleaned up). But if you have found out that some function works improperly, you are welcomed to submit bugs.

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