examples-api-use

Getting started with the API

This gives you some starting point to get started with the API.

Network destination

Your programs connect to the display over the network. If you give NULL as the location in the OpenFlaschenTaschenSocket() API call, the hostname is determined from the environment variable FT_DISPLAY. If that is empty, it falls back to the Noisebridge installation ft.noise.

So if you are working with a particular instance of FlaschenTaschen (e.g. a local terminal), just set the environment variable for ease of playing.

export FT_DISPLAY=localhost

Example Code

Coding content for FlaschenTaschen is trivial as you just need to send it UDP packets with the content. Any language of your choice that supports networking will do.

For C++, there is a simple implementation of such a 'client display', the simple-example.cc helps to get started.

#include "udp-flaschen-taschen.h"

#define DISPLAY_WIDTH  45
#define DISPLAY_HEIGHT 35

int main() {
    // Open socket and create our canvas.
    const int socket = OpenFlaschenTaschenSocket("ft.noise");  // hostname.
    UDPFlaschenTaschen canvas(socket, DISPLAY_WIDTH, DISPLAY_HEIGHT);

    const Color red(255, 0, 0);
    canvas.SetPixel(0, 0, red);              // Sample with color variable.
    canvas.SetPixel(5, 5, Color(0, 0, 255)); // or just use inline (here: blue).

    canvas.Send();                           // Send the framebuffer.
}

Next step, try a simple-animation.cc