OpenGL Red Book with Mac OS X

Question

I would like to work through the OpenGL Red Book, The OpenGL Programming Guide, 8th edition, using Xcode on Mac OS X.

I am unable to run the first code example, triangles.cpp. I have tried including the GLUT and GL frameworks that come with Xcode and I have searched around enough to see that I am not likely to figure this out on my own.

Assuming that I have a fresh installation of Mac OS X, and I have freshly installed Xcode with Xcode command-line tools, what are the step-by-step instructions to be able to run triangles.cpp in that environment?

Unlike this question, my preference would be not to use Cocoa, Objective-C or Swift. My preference would be to stay in C++/C only. An answer is only correct if I can follow it step-by-step and end up with a running triangles.cpp program.

My preference is Mac OS X 10.9, however a correct answer can assume 10.9, 10.10 or 10.11.

Thank you.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
//
// triangles.cpp
//
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

#include "vgl.h"
#include "LoadShader.h"

enum VAO_IDs { Triangles, NumVAOs };
enum Buffer_IDs { ArrayBuffer, NumBuffers };
enum Attrib_IDs { vPosition = 0 };

GLuint  VAOs[NumVAOs];
GLuint  Buffers[NumBuffers];

const GLuint  NumVertices = 6;

//---------------------------------------------------------------------
//
// init
//

void
init(void)
{
    glGenVertexArrays(NumVAOs, VAOs);
    glBindVertexArray(VAOs[Triangles]);

    GLfloat  vertices[NumVertices][2] = {
        { -0.90, -0.90 },  // Triangle 1
        {  0.85, -0.90 },
        { -0.90,  0.85 },
        {  0.90, -0.85 },  // Triangle 2
        {  0.90,  0.90 },
        { -0.85,  0.90 }
    };

    glGenBuffers(NumBuffers, Buffers);
    glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, Buffers[ArrayBuffer]);
    glBufferData(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, sizeof(vertices),
                 vertices, GL_STATIC_DRAW);

    ShaderInfo  shaders[] = {
        { GL_VERTEX_SHADER, "triangles.vert" },
        { GL_FRAGMENT_SHADER, "triangles.frag" },
        { GL_NONE, NULL }
    };

    GLuint program = LoadShaders(*shaders);
    glUseProgram(program);

    glVertexAttribPointer(vPosition, 2, GL_FLOAT,
                          GL_FALSE, 0, BUFFER_OFFSET(0));
    glEnableVertexAttribArray(vPosition);
}

//---------------------------------------------------------------------
//
// display
//

void
display(void)
{
    glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT);

    glBindVertexArray(VAOs[Triangles]);
    glDrawArrays(GL_TRIANGLES, 0, NumVertices);

    glFlush();
}

//---------------------------------------------------------------------
//
// main
//

int
main(int argc, char** argv)
{



     glutInit(&argc, argv);
     glutInitDisplayMode(GLUT_RGBA);
     glutInitWindowSize(512, 512);
     glutInitContextVersion(4, 3);
     glutInitContextProfile(GLUT_CORE_PROFILE);
     glutCreateWindow(argv[0]);

     glewExperimental = GL_TRUE;

     if (glewInit()) {
         cerr << "Unable to initialize GLEW ... exiting" << endl;
         exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
     }

     init();

     glutDisplayFunc(display);

     glutMainLoop();
}

Edit 1: In response to the first comment, here is the naive effort.

• Open Xcode 5.1.1 on Mac OS X 10.9.5
• Create a new C++ Command-line project.
• Paste over the contents of main.cpp with the contents of triangles.cpp.
• Click on the project -> Build Phases -> Link Binary with Libraries
• Add OpenGL.framework and GLUT.framework

Result: "/Users/xxx/Desktop/Triangles/Triangles/main.cpp:10:10: 'vgl.h' file not found"

Edit 2: Added the vgh translation unit and LoadShaders translation unit, also added libFreeGlut.a and libGlew32.a to my projects compilation/linking. Moved all of the OpenGL Book's Include contents to my projects source directory. Had to change several include statements to use quoted includes instead of angled includes. It feels like this is closer to working but it is unable to find LoadShader.h. Note that the translation unit in the OpenGL download is called LoadShaders (plural). Changing triangles.cpp to reference LoadShaders.h fixed the include problem but the contents of that translation unit don't seem to match the signatures of whats being called from triangles.cpp.

Answer 1

There are some issues with the source and with the files in oglpg-8th-edition.zip:

triangles.cpp uses non-standard GLUT functions that aren't included in glut, and instead are only part of the freeglut implementation (glutInitContextVersion and glutInitContextProfile). freeglut doesn't really support OS X and building it instead relies on additional X11 support. Instead of telling you how to do this I'm just going to modify the source to build with OS X's GLUT framework.

The code depends on glew, and the book's source download apparently doesn't include a binary you can use, so you'll need to build it for yourself.

Build GLEW with the following commands:

git clone git://git.code.sf.net/p/glew/code glew
cd glew
make extensions
make

Now:

• Create a C++ command line Xcode project

• Set the executable to link with the OpenGL and GLUT frameworks and the glew dylib you just built.

• Modify the project "Header Search Paths" to include the location of the glew headers for the library you built, followed by the path to oglpg-8th-edition/include

• Add oglpg-8th-edition/lib/LoadShaders.cpp to your xcode project

• Paste the triangles.cpp source into the main.cpp of your Xcode project

• Modify the source: replace #include "vgl.h" with:

  #include <GL/glew.h>
  #include <OpenGL/gl3.h>
  #include <GLUT/glut.h>
  #define BUFFER_OFFSET(x)  ((const void*) (x))
  

  Also make sure that the typos in the version of triangle.cpp that you include in your question are fixed: You include "LoadShader.h" when it should be "LoadShaders.h", and LoadShaders(*shaders); should be LoadShaders(shaders). (The code printed in my copy of the book doesn't contain these errors.)

• Delete the calls to glutInitContextVersion and glutInitContextProfile.

• Change the parameter to glutInitDisplayMode to GLUT_RGBA | GLUT_3_2_CORE_PROFILE

At this point the code builds, links, and runs, however running the program displays a black window for me instead of the expected triangles.

Answer 2

about fixing the black window issue as mentioned in Matthew and Bames53 comments

1. Follow bames53's answer

2. Define shader as string

   const char *pTriangleVert = "#version 410 core\n\ layout(location = 0) in vec4 vPosition;\n\ void\n\ main()\n\ {\n\ gl_Position= vPosition;\n\ }";

   const char *pTriangleFrag = "#version 410 core\n\ out vec4 fColor;\n\ void\n\ main()\n\ {\n\ fColor = vec4(0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0);\n\ }";

OpenGl 4.1 supported on my iMac so i change version into 410

ShaderInfo  shaders[] = {
    { GL_VERTEX_SHADER, pTriangleVert},
    { GL_FRAGMENT_SHADER, pTriangleFrag },
    { GL_NONE, NULL }
};

3. Modify the ShaderInfo struct slightly change

typedef struct { GLenum type; const char* filename; GLuint shader; } ShaderInfo;

into

typedef struct { GLenum type; const char* source; GLuint shader; } ShaderInfo;

4. Modify loadShader function slightly comment the code about reading shader from file

       /*
   const GLchar* source = ReadShader( entry->filename );
   if ( source == NULL ) {
       for ( entry = shaders; entry->type != GL_NONE; ++entry ) {
           glDeleteShader( entry->shader );
           entry->shader = 0;
       }
   
       return 0;
   }
   
   
   glShaderSource( shader, 1, &source, NULL );
   delete [] source;*/
   

   into

   glShaderSource(shader, 1, &entry->source, NULL);

you'd better turning on DEBUG in case some shader compiling errors

Answer 3

you can use example from this link. It's almost the same. It uses glfw instead of glut.

http://www.tomdalling.com/blog/modern-opengl/01-getting-started-in-xcode-and-visual-cpp/

/*
 main

 Copyright 2012 Thomas Dalling - http://tomdalling.com/

 Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 You may obtain a copy of the License at

     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

 Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 limitations under the License.
 */

//#include "platform.hpp"

// third-party libraries
#include <GL/glew.h>
#include <GLFW/glfw3.h>
#include <glm/glm.hpp>

// standard C++ libraries
#include <cassert>
#include <iostream>
#include <stdexcept>
#include <cmath>

// tdogl classes
#include "Program.h"

// constants
const glm::vec2 SCREEN_SIZE(800, 600);

// globals
GLFWwindow* gWindow = NULL;
tdogl::Program* gProgram = NULL;
GLuint gVAO = 0;
GLuint gVBO = 0;


// loads the vertex shader and fragment shader, and links them to make the global gProgram
static void LoadShaders() {
    std::vector<tdogl::Shader> shaders;
    shaders.push_back(tdogl::Shader::shaderFromFile("vertex-shader.txt", GL_VERTEX_SHADER));
    shaders.push_back(tdogl::Shader::shaderFromFile("fragment-shader.txt", GL_FRAGMENT_SHADER));
    gProgram = new tdogl::Program(shaders);
}


// loads a triangle into the VAO global
static void LoadTriangle() {
    // make and bind the VAO
    glGenVertexArrays(1, &gVAO);
    glBindVertexArray(gVAO);

    // make and bind the VBO
    glGenBuffers(1, &gVBO);
    glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, gVBO);

    // Put the three triangle verticies into the VBO
    GLfloat vertexData[] = {
        //  X     Y     Z
         0.0f, 0.8f, 0.0f,
        -0.8f,-0.8f, 0.0f,
         0.8f,-0.8f, 0.0f,
    };
    glBufferData(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, sizeof(vertexData), vertexData, GL_STATIC_DRAW);

    // connect the xyz to the "vert" attribute of the vertex shader
    glEnableVertexAttribAxrray(gProgram->attrib("vert"));
    glVertexAttribPointer(gProgram->attrib("vert"), 3, GL_FLOAT, GL_FALSE, 0, NULL);

    // unbind the VBO and VAO
    glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, 0);
    glBindVertexArray(0);
}


// draws a single frame
static void Render() {
    // clear everything
    glClearColor(0, 0, 0, 1); // black
    glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT);

    // bind the program (the shaders)
    glUseProgram(gProgram->object());

    // bind the VAO (the triangle)
    glBindVertexArray(gVAO);

    // draw the VAO
    glDrawArrays(GL_TRIANGLES, 0, 3);

    // unbind the VAO
    glBindVertexArray(0);

    // unbind the program
    glUseProgram(0);

    // swap the display buffers (displays what was just drawn)
    glfwSwapBuffers(gWindow);
}

void OnError(int errorCode, const char* msg) {
    throw std::runtime_error(msg);
}

// the program starts here
void AppMain() {
    // initialise GLFW
    glfwSetErrorCallback(OnError);
    if(!glfwInit())
        throw std::runtime_error("glfwInit failed");

    // open a window with GLFW
    glfwWindowHint(GLFW_OPENGL_FORWARD_COMPAT, GL_TRUE);
    glfwWindowHint(GLFW_OPENGL_PROFILE, GLFW_OPENGL_CORE_PROFILE);
    glfwWindowHint(GLFW_CONTEXT_VERSION_MAJOR, 3);
    glfwWindowHint(GLFW_CONTEXT_VERSION_MINOR, 2);
    glfwWindowHint(GLFW_RESIZABLE, GL_FALSE);
    gWindow = glfwCreateWindow((int)SCREEN_SIZE.x, (int)SCREEN_SIZE.y, "OpenGL Tutorial", NULL, NULL);
    if(!gWindow)
        throw std::runtime_error("glfwCreateWindow failed. Can your hardware handle OpenGL 3.2?");

    // GLFW settings
    glfwMakeContextCurrent(gWindow);

    // initialise GLEW
    glewExperimental = GL_TRUE; //stops glew crashing on OSX :-/
    if(glewInit() != GLEW_OK)
        throw std::runtime_error("glewInit failed");

    // print out some info about the graphics drivers
    std::cout << "OpenGL version: " << glGetString(GL_VERSION) << std::endl;
    std::cout << "GLSL version: " << glGetString(GL_SHADING_LANGUAGE_VERSION) << std::endl;
    std::cout << "Vendor: " << glGetString(GL_VENDOR) << std::endl;
    std::cout << "Renderer: " << glGetString(GL_RENDERER) << std::endl;

    // make sure OpenGL version 3.2 API is available
    if(!GLEW_VERSION_3_2)
        throw std::runtime_error("OpenGL 3.2 API is not available.");

    // load vertex and fragment shaders into opengl
    LoadShaders();

    // create buffer and fill it with the points of the triangle
    LoadTriangle();

    // run while the window is open
    while(!glfwWindowShouldClose(gWindow)){
        // process pending events
        glfwPollEvents();

        // draw one frame
        Render();
    }

    // clean up and exit
    glfwTerminate();
}


int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
    try {
        AppMain();
    } catch (const std::exception& e){
        std::cerr << "ERROR: " << e.what() << std::endl;
        return EXIT_FAILURE;
    }

    return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

Answer 4

I have adapted the project for MAC here: https://github.com/badousuan/openGLredBook9th

The project can build successfully and most demo can run as expected. However the original code is based on openGL 4.5，while MAC only support version 4.1，some new API calls may fail. If some target not work well, you should consider this version issue and make some adaptation

Answer 5

I use the code from this tutorial: http://antongerdelan.net/opengl/hellotriangle.html, and it works on my mac. Here is the code I run.

#include <GL/glew.h> // include GLEW and new version of GL on Windows
#include <GLFW/glfw3.h> // GLFW helper library
#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    // start GL context and O/S window using the GLFW helper library
    if (!glfwInit()) {
        fprintf(stderr, "ERROR: could not start GLFW3\n");
        return 1;
    }

    // uncomment these lines if on Apple OS X
    glfwWindowHint(GLFW_CONTEXT_VERSION_MAJOR, 3);
    glfwWindowHint(GLFW_CONTEXT_VERSION_MINOR, 2);
    glfwWindowHint(GLFW_OPENGL_FORWARD_COMPAT, GL_TRUE);
    glfwWindowHint(GLFW_OPENGL_PROFILE, GLFW_OPENGL_CORE_PROFILE);

    GLFWwindow* window = glfwCreateWindow(640, 480, "Hello Triangle", NULL, NULL);
    if (!window) {
        fprintf(stderr, "ERROR: could not open window with GLFW3\n");
        glfwTerminate();
        return 1;
    }
    glfwMakeContextCurrent(window);

    // start GLEW extension handler
    glewExperimental = GL_TRUE;
    glewInit();

    // get version info
    const GLubyte* renderer = glGetString(GL_RENDERER); // get renderer string
    const GLubyte* version = glGetString(GL_VERSION); // version as a string
    printf("Renderer: %s\n", renderer);
    printf("OpenGL version supported %s\n", version);

    // tell GL to only draw onto a pixel if the shape is closer to the viewer
    glEnable(GL_DEPTH_TEST); // enable depth-testing
    glDepthFunc(GL_LESS); // depth-testing interprets a smaller value as "closer"

    /* OTHER STUFF GOES HERE NEXT */

    float points[] = {
        0.0f,  0.5f,  0.0f,
        0.5f, -0.5f,  0.0f,
        -0.5f, -0.5f,  0.0f
    };

    GLuint vbo = 0; // vertex buffer object
    glGenBuffers(1, &vbo);
    glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, vbo);
    glBufferData(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, 9 * sizeof(float), points, GL_STATIC_DRAW);

    GLuint vao = 0; // vertex array object
    glGenVertexArrays(1, &vao);
    glBindVertexArray(vao);
    glEnableVertexAttribArray(0);
    glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, vbo);
    glVertexAttribPointer(0, 3, GL_FLOAT, GL_FALSE, 0, NULL);

    const char* vertex_shader =
    "#version 400\n"
    "in vec3 vp;"
    "void main() {"
    "  gl_Position = vec4(vp, 1.0);"
    "}";

    const char* fragment_shader =
    "#version 400\n"
    "out vec4 frag_colour;"
    "void main() {"
    "  frag_colour = vec4(0.5, 0.0, 0.5, 1.0);"
    "}";

    GLuint vs = glCreateShader(GL_VERTEX_SHADER);
    glShaderSource(vs, 1, &vertex_shader, NULL);
    glCompileShader(vs);
    GLuint fs = glCreateShader(GL_FRAGMENT_SHADER);
    glShaderSource(fs, 1, &fragment_shader, NULL);
    glCompileShader(fs);

    GLuint shader_programme = glCreateProgram();
    glAttachShader(shader_programme, fs);
    glAttachShader(shader_programme, vs);
    glLinkProgram(shader_programme);

    while(!glfwWindowShouldClose(window)) {
        // wipe the drawing surface clear
        glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT);
        glUseProgram(shader_programme);
        glBindVertexArray(vao);
        // draw points 0-3 from the currently bound VAO with current in-use shader
        glDrawArrays(GL_TRIANGLES, 0, 3);
        // update other events like input handling
        glfwPollEvents();
        // put the stuff we've been drawing onto the display
        glfwSwapBuffers(window);
    }

    // close GL context and any other GLFW resources
    glfwTerminate();
    return 0;
}