SDL_CreateWindow(3)

NAME
SDL_CreateWindow - Create a window with the specified dimensions and flags.

SYNOPSIS
#include <SDL3/SDL_video.h>

SDL_Window * SDL_CreateWindow(const char *title, int w, int h, SDL_WindowFlags flags);

DESCRIPTION
The window size is a request and may be different than expected based on the desktop layout and window manager policies. Your application should be prepared to handle a window of any size.

flags may be any of the following OR'd together:

• SDL_WINDOW_FULLSCREEN: fullscreen window at desktop resolution

• SDL_WINDOW_OPENGL: window usable with an OpenGL context

• SDL_WINDOW_OCCLUDED: window partially or completely obscured by another window

• SDL_WINDOW_HIDDEN: window is not visible

• SDL_WINDOW_BORDERLESS: no window decoration

• SDL_WINDOW_RESIZABLE: window can be resized

• SDL_WINDOW_MINIMIZED: window is minimized

• SDL_WINDOW_MAXIMIZED: window is maximized

• SDL_WINDOW_MOUSE_GRABBED: window has grabbed mouse focus

• SDL_WINDOW_INPUT_FOCUS: window has input focus

• SDL_WINDOW_MOUSE_FOCUS: window has mouse focus

• SDL_WINDOW_EXTERNAL: window not created by SDL

• SDL_WINDOW_MODAL: window is modal

• SDL_WINDOW_HIGH_PIXEL_DENSITY: window uses high pixel density back buffer if possible

• SDL_WINDOW_MOUSE_CAPTURE: window has mouse captured (unrelated to MOUSE_GRABBED)

• SDL_WINDOW_ALWAYS_ON_TOP: window should always be above others

• SDL_WINDOW_UTILITY: window should be treated as a utility window, not showing in the task bar and window list

• SDL_WINDOW_TOOLTIP: window should be treated as a tooltip and does not get mouse or keyboard focus, requires a parent window

• SDL_WINDOW_POPUP_MENU: window should be treated as a popup menu, requires a parent window

• SDL_WINDOW_KEYBOARD_GRABBED: window has grabbed keyboard input

• SDL_WINDOW_VULKAN: window usable with a Vulkan instance

• SDL_WINDOW_METAL: window usable with a Metal instance

• SDL_WINDOW_TRANSPARENT: window with transparent buffer

• SDL_WINDOW_NOT_FOCUSABLE: window should not be focusable

The SDL_Window is implicitly shown if SDL_WINDOW_HIDDEN is not set.

On Apple's macOS, you must set the NSHighResolutionCapable Info.plist property to YES, otherwise you will not receive a High-DPI OpenGL canvas.

The window pixel size may differ from its window coordinate size if the window is on a high pixel density display. Use SDL_GetWindowSize() to query the client area's size in window coordinates, and SDL_GetWindowSizeInPixels() or SDL_GetRenderOutputSize() to query the drawable size in pixels. Note that the drawable size can vary after the window is created and should be queried again if you get an SDL_EVENT_WINDOW_PIXEL_SIZE_CHANGED event.

If the window is created with any of the SDL_WINDOW_OPENGL or SDL_WINDOW_VULKAN flags, then the corresponding LoadLibrary function (SDL_GL_LoadLibrary or SDL_Vulkan_LoadLibrary) is called and the corresponding UnloadLibrary function is called by SDL_DestroyWindow().

If SDL_WINDOW_VULKAN is specified and there isn't a working Vulkan driver, SDL_CreateWindow() will fail, because SDL_Vulkan_LoadLibrary() will fail.

If SDL_WINDOW_METAL is specified on an OS that does not support Metal, SDL_CreateWindow() will fail.

If you intend to use this window with an SDL_Renderer, you should use SDL_CreateWindowAndRenderer() instead of this function, to avoid window flicker.

On non-Apple devices, SDL requires you to either not link to the Vulkan loader or link to a dynamic library version. This limitation may be removed in a future version of SDL.

FUNCTION PARAMETERS

title
    the title of the window, in UTF-8 encoding.

w   the width of the window.

h   the height of the window.

flags
    0, or one or more SDL_WindowFlags OR'd together.

RETURN VALUE
Returns the window that was created or NULL on failure; call SDL_GetError() for more information.

THREAD SAFETY
This function should only be called on the main thread.

AVAILABILITY
This function is available since SDL 3.2.0.

SEE ALSO
SDL_CreateWindowAndRenderer(3), SDL_CreatePopupWindow(3), SDL_CreateWindowWithProperties(3), SDL_DestroyWindow(3)