OpenGL v2.0 Shaders with Dev-C++ and SDL?

Question

I was about to rebuild my library in Dev-C++, under Windows; however, the shader functionality I've added in the meantime is not supported, the compiler could not find the related functions (::glCreateShader(), ::glCreateProgram(), etc.)

Digging around the internet and the Dev-C++ folder, I've found that the OpenGL implementation (gl.h) is only v1.1. I've found recommendations to download the latest headers from SGI. I have found gl3.h, however, after closer scrutiny I have realized that gl.h is not included in my project anyway, and I should be looking at SDL/SDL_opengl.h.

EDIT: SDL_opengl.h does include gl.h and declares prototypes of the functions in question. So the question is, why ame I given compile-time errors rather than linker errors?

(My library only links against mingw32, libOpenGL32, libSDL, libSDL_Image and libSDL_Mixer, much like under OSX (except for mingw32, of course) where I didn't have any problem.)

How can I use OpenGL v2.0 shaders with Dev-C++ and SDL?

Answer 1

gl.h is only for OpenGL 1.1 (and in some cases up to 1.3 depending on which version of the file you are using and which operating system). For everything else you additionally need glext.h and probably glxext.h (Linux/Unix) or wglext.h (Windows).

All functions from newer versions of OpenGL must be linked at runtime. So in order to use them you must get the right function address and assign it to a function pointer. The easiest way to do this is by using something like GLEW.

The manual way would be something like this:

PFNGLCREATESHADERPROC glCreateShader = NULL;
glCreateShader = (PFNGLCREATESHADERPROC) wglGetProcAddress("glCreateShader");

or for Linux:

PFNGLCREATESHADERPROC glCreateShader = NULL;
glCreateShader = (PFNGLCREATESHADERPROC) glXGetProcAddress((GLubyte*) "glCreateShader");

If you define GL_GLEXT_PROTOTYPES before including glext.h you can omit the first line.

EDIT: SDL_opengl.h looks like it contains a copy of glext.h (not up to date though). So if you use that the above should still be valid. If you want to use a seperate glext.h you must define NO_SDL_GLEXT before including SDL_opengl.h. Also, the function prototypes aren't available as long as GL_GLEXT_PROTOTYPES isn't defined or you write them yourself.

EDIT2: Apparently SDL has its own GetProcAddress function called SDL_GL_GetProcAddress.