I was wondering how to render text with SDL2. I found an API called SDL_TTF and some tutorials, however they do not work with my situation.
I'm using an SDL_Window and SDL_Renderer, whereas the tutorials are specific to SDL_Surface.
Is it possible to use SDL_TTF with SDL_Render/SDL_Window? If so, how?
Answer
Yep, it is possible, given that you have a renderer and a window plus you don't really have any thoughts on dabbling with surfaces then you might want to mind on creating texture, here is a sample code
TTF_Font* Sans = TTF_OpenFont("Sans.ttf", 24); //this opens a font style and sets a size
SDL_Color White = {255, 255, 255}; // this is the color in rgb format, maxing out all would give you the color white, and it will be your text's color
SDL_Surface* surfaceMessage = TTF_RenderText_Solid(Sans, "put your text here", White); // as TTF_RenderText_Solid could only be used on SDL_Surface then you have to create the surface first
SDL_Texture* Message = SDL_CreateTextureFromSurface(renderer, surfaceMessage); //now you can convert it into a texture
SDL_Rect Message_rect; //create a rect
Message_rect.x = 0; //controls the rect's x coordinate
Message_rect.y = 0; // controls the rect's y coordinte
Message_rect.w = 100; // controls the width of the rect
Message_rect.h = 100; // controls the height of the rect
//Mind you that (0,0) is on the top left of the window/screen, think a rect as the text's box, that way it would be very simple to understand
//Now since it's a texture, you have to put RenderCopy in your game loop area, the area where the whole code executes
SDL_RenderCopy(renderer, Message, NULL, &Message_rect); //you put the renderer's name first, the Message, the crop size(you can ignore this if you don't want to dabble with cropping), and the rect which is the size and coordinate of your texture
//Don't forget to free your surface and texture
SDL_FreeSurface(surfaceMessage);
SDL_DestroyTexture(Message);
I tried to explain the code line by line, you don't see any window right there since I already assumed that you knew how to initialize a renderer which would give me an idea that you also know how to initialize a window, then all you need is the idea on how to initialize a texture.
Minor questions here, did your window open? was it colored black? if so then my thoughts were right, if not, then you can just ask me and I could change this code to implement the whole section which consists of a renderer and a window.