GLFW
Contents |
1 About
This is a Haskell module for GLFW OpenGL framework. It provides an alternative to GLUT for OpenGL based Haskell programs.
2 Status
The library is being used by the Haskell School of Expression (SOE) code to render Graphics in a cross-platform manner. It currently interfaces with GLFW version 2.6, works on Windows, Linux (i386) and Mac OS X (both intel and ppc).
GLFW itself is well documented (see GLFW website), and the Haskell module API is documented via Haddock.
Not all functions are fully tested, and there are still a few GLFW C functions missing from the Haskell module, namely the image loading functions. They are excluded because image handling is a separate issue, and low level buffer manipulation would obscure their use further. Texture loading from TGA format is supported both from file and from memory (via a string buffer)..
The Haskell module also provides basic text rendering while GLFW doesn't. It comes from a free 8x16 font which is made into a TGA texture, stored as a Haskell string in the file GLFW.hs. Text rendering is only possible with Alpha enabled. Again, see SOE.hs from the SOE package for sample usage.
GLFW doesn't work well with GHC threads, forkIO or threadDelay. So avoid them if you can.
3 Download
Current version is GLFW-0.3. It's a repackage to work with Cabal 1.2 or later. It now compiles GLFW C source code as part of the building process, please report to the package maintainer if you have build problems.
4 Sample Program
To demonstrate the usage of GLFW for OpenGL based Haskell applications, here is a sample program that allows user to draw lines by holding the left mouse button and move the mouse.
import Graphics.Rendering.OpenGL as GL import Graphics.UI.GLFW as GLFW import Graphics.Rendering.OpenGL (($=)) import Data.IORef
Because the program needs to process user input, i.e., mouse button and movements, we'll use a continuation like structure for this purpose. The Action type represents an IO operation that returns the next Action to continue execution.
data Action = Action (IO Action)
The main program is mostly book-keeping such as initializing OpenGL and GLFW, creating window, setting up viewport, etc.
main = do GLFW.initialize -- open window GLFW.openWindow (GL.Size 400 400) [GLFW.DisplayAlphaBits 8] GLFW.Window GLFW.windowTitle $= "GLFW Demo" GL.shadeModel $= GL.Smooth -- enable antialiasing GL.lineSmooth $= GL.Enabled GL.blend $= GL.Enabled GL.blendFunc $= (GL.SrcAlpha, GL.OneMinusSrcAlpha) GL.lineWidth $= 1.5 -- set the color to clear background GL.clearColor $= Color4 0 0 0 0 -- set 2D orthogonal view inside windowSizeCallback because -- any change to the Window size should result in different -- OpenGL Viewport. GLFW.windowSizeCallback $= (\ size@(GL.Size w h) -> do GL.viewport $= (GL.Position 0 0, size) GL.matrixMode $= GL.Projection GL.loadIdentity GL.ortho2D 0 (realToFrac w) (realToFrac h) 0) -- keep all line strokes as a list of points in an IORef lines <- newIORef [] -- invoke the active drawing loop active lines -- finish up GLFW.closeWindow GLFW.terminate
There are usually two ways to structure the main loop of GLFW programs. One is by actively polling events before processing them. The screen buffer is usually redrawn every time before swapBuffers is called. This is the simplest main loop often seen in game applications, and may waste CPU cycles even when there is no visual update. Note that swapBuffers by default calls pollEvents implicitly, so there is no need to do a separate poll.
-- we start with waitForPress action active lines = loop waitForPress where loop action = do -- draw the entire screen render lines -- swap buffer GLFW.swapBuffers -- check whether ESC is pressed for termination p <- GLFW.getKey GLFW.ESC case p of GLFW.Press -> return () _ -> do -- perform action Action action' <- action -- sleep for 1ms to yield CPU to other applications GLFW.sleep 0.001 -- only continue when the window is not closed windowOpenStatus <- get $ windowParam Opened if windowOpenStatus == 0 then return () else loop action' -- loop with next action waitForPress = do b <- GLFW.getMouseButton GLFW.ButtonLeft case b of GLFW.Release -> return (Action waitForPress) GLFW.Press -> do -- when left mouse button is pressed, add the point -- to lines and switch to waitForRelease action. (GL.Position x y) <- GL.get GLFW.mousePos modifyIORef lines (((x,y):) . ((x,y):)) return (Action waitForRelease) waitForRelease = do -- keep track of mouse movement while waiting for button -- release (GL.Position x y) <- GL.get GLFW.mousePos -- update the line with new ending position modifyIORef lines (((x,y):) . tail) b <- GLFW.getMouseButton GLFW.ButtonLeft case b of -- when button is released, switch back back to -- waitForPress action GLFW.Release -> return (Action waitForPress) GLFW.Press -> return (Action waitForRelease)
Another way to structure the main loop is to register event callbacks and use waitEvents. This way we don't have to put the program to sleep every 1ms because it'll not be using any CPU cycle when there is no event to handle.
One reminder in this approach is that swapBuffers must be handled with care, because it by default invokes pollEvents, which in turn invokes all callback functions. So if swapBuffers is used inside a callback, it'll create infinite loop and hang the program. To avoid it, we should disable the AutoPollEvent behavior using disableSpecial.
Another optimization we can do is to use a dirty marker to remember whether the screen really needs to be redrawn. This'll not only save CPU cycles but also speed up event processing to avoid piling up events in the event queue. Similar tricks can be done to optimize the active polling approach.
passive lines = do -- disable auto polling in swapBuffers GLFW.disableSpecial GLFW.AutoPollEvent -- keep track of whether ESC has been pressed quit <- newIORef False -- keep track of whether screen needs to be redrawn dirty <- newIORef True -- mark screen dirty in refresh callback which is often called -- when screen or part of screen comes into visibility. GLFW.windowRefreshCallback $= (modifyIORef dirty (\_ -> True)) -- use key callback to track whether ESC is pressed GLFW.keyCallback $= (\k s -> if fromEnum k == fromEnum GLFW.ESC && s == GLFW.Press then modifyIORef quit (\_ -> True) else return ()) -- by default start with waitForPress waitForPress dirty loop dirty quit where loop dirty quit = do GLFW.waitEvents -- redraw screen if dirty d <- readIORef dirty if d then (render lines >> GLFW.swapBuffers) else return () modifyIORef dirty (\_ -> False) -- check if we need to quit the loop q <- readIORef quit if q then return () else loop dirty quit waitForPress dirty = do GLFW.mousePosCallback $= (\_ -> return ()) GLFW.mouseButtonCallback $= (\b s -> if b == GLFW.ButtonLeft && s == GLFW.Press then do -- when left mouse button is pressed, add the point -- to lines and switch to waitForRelease action. (GL.Position x y) <- GL.get GLFW.mousePos modifyIORef lines (((x,y):) . ((x,y):)) waitForRelease dirty else return ()) waitForRelease dirty = do GLFW.mousePosCallback $= (\ (Position x y) -> do -- update the line with new ending position modifyIORef lines (((x,y):) . tail) -- mark screen dirty modifyIORef dirty (\_ -> True)) GLFW.mouseButtonCallback $= (\b s -> -- when left mouse button is released, switch back to -- waitForPress action. if b == GLFW.ButtonLeft && s == GLFW.Release then waitForPress dirty else return ())
Just replace active with passive in the main function to run the second approach.
The rest of the program goes below.
render lines = do l <- readIORef lines GL.clear [GL.ColorBuffer] GL.color $ color3 1 0 0 GL.renderPrimitive GL.Lines $ foldr (>>) (return ()) (map (\ (x, y) -> GL.vertex (vertex3 (fromIntegral x) (fromIntegral y) 0)) l) vertex3 :: Float -> Float -> Float -> GL.Vertex3 Float vertex3 = GL.Vertex3 color3 :: Float -> Float -> Float -> GL.Color3 Float color3 = GL.Color3