PySDL2 for Pygamers
Care to move to a newer SDL with your Pygame knowledge? Then you should know one thing or two about PySDL2 before hacking code, since it is completely different from Pygame. Do not let that fact scare you away, the basics with graphics and sound are still the same (as they are fundamental), but you will not find many similarities to the Pygame API within PySDL2.
Todo
More details, examples, etc.
Technical differences
Pygame is implemented as a mixture of Python, C and Assembler code,
wrapping 3rd party libraries with CPython API interfaces. PySDL2 in
contrast is written in pure Python, using ctypes
to interface
with the C interfaces of 3rd party libraries.
API differences
pygame
pygame | sdl2 |
---|---|
init() |
sdl2.SDL_init() where appropriate |
quit() |
sdl2.SDL_quit() where appropriate |
error |
No equivalent |
get_error() |
sdl2.SDL_GetError() |
set_error() |
sdl2.SDL_SetError() |
get_sdl_version() |
sdl2.SDL_GetVersion() |
get_sdl_byteorder() |
sdl2.SDL_BYTEORDER |
register_quit() |
No equivalent planned |
encode_string() |
No equivalent planned |
encode_file_path() |
No equivalent planned |
pygame.cdrom
PySDL2 does not feature any CD-ROM related interfaces. They were removed in SDL2 and PySDL2 does not provide its own facilities.
pygame.Color
You can find a similar class in sdl2.ext.Color
. It does
not feature a set_length()
or correct_gamma()
method, though.
pygame.cursors
PySDL2 does not feature any pre-defined cursor settings at the moment.
pygame.display
pygame.display | sdl2 |
---|---|
init() |
sdl2.ext.init() |
quit() |
sdl2.ext.quit() |
get_init() |
sdl2.SDL_WasInit() |
set_mode() |
sdl2.ext.Window |
get_surface() |
sdl2.ext.Window.get_surface() |
flip() |
sdl2.ext.Window.refresh() |
update() |
sdl2.ext.Window.refresh() |
get_driver() |
sdl2.SDL_GetCurrentVideoDriver() |
Info |
No equivalent |
get_wm_info() |
sdl2.SDL_GetWindowWMInfo() |
list_modes() |
sdl2.SDL_GetNumDisplayModes() |
mode_ok() |
sdl2.SDL_GetClosestDisplayMode() |
gl_get_attribute() |
sdl2.SDL_GL_GetAttribute() |
gl_set_attribute() |
sdl2.SDL_GL_SetAttribute() |
get_active() |
No equivalent |
iconify() |
sdl2.ext.Window.minimize() |
toggle_fullscreen() |
sdl2.SDL_SetWindowFullscreen() |
set_gamma() |
sdl2.SDL_SetWindowBrightness() |
set_gamma_ramp() |
sdl2.SDL_SetWindowGammaRamp.() |
set_icon() |
sdl2.SDL_SetWindowIcon() |
set_caption() |
sdl2.ext.Window.title |
get_caption() |
sdl2.ext.Window.title |
set_palette() |
sdl2.SDL_SetSurfacePalette() |
pygame.draw
Drawing primitives can be accessed through either the
sdl2.SDL_RenderDraw*()
and sdl2.SDL_RenderFill*()
functions or
the more powerful sdl2.sdlgfx
module,
pygame.event
pygame.event | sdl2 |
---|---|
pump() |
sdl2.SDL_PumpEvents() |
get() |
sdl2.SDL_PollEvent() or sdl2.ext.get_events() |
poll() |
sdl2.SDL_PollEvent() |
wait() |
sdl2.SDL_WaitEvent() |
peek() |
sdl2.SDL_PeepEvents() |
clear() |
sdl2.SDL_FlushEvents() |
event_name() |
No equivalent |
set_blocked() |
sdl2.SDL_EventState() |
get_blocked() |
sdl2.SDL_EventState() |
set_allowed() |
sdl2.SDL_EventState() |
set_grab() |
sdl2.SDL_SetWindowGrab() |
get_grab() |
sdl2.SDL_GetWindowGrab() |
post() |
sdl2.SDL_PeepEvents() |
Event |
sdl2.SDL_Event |
pygame.font
pygame.font | sdl2 |
---|---|
init() |
sdl2.sdlttf.TTF_Init() |
quit() |
sdl2.sdlttf.TTF_Quit() |
get_init() |
sdl2.sdlttf.TTF_WasInit() |
get_default_font() |
No equivalent planned [1] |
get_fonts() |
No equivalent planned [1] |
match_font() |
No equivalent planned [1] |
SysFont |
No equivalent planned [1] |
Font |
No equivalent planned [1] |
pygame.freetype
PySDL2 does not feature direct FreeType support.
pygame.gfxdraw
PySDL2 offers SDL_gfx support through the sdl2.sdlgfx
module.
pygame.image
pygame.image | sdl2 |
---|---|
load() |
sdl2.sdlimage.IMG_Load() ,
sdl2.ext.load_image() |
save() |
sdl2.surface.SDL_SaveBMP() ,
sdl2.sdlimage.IMG_SavePNG() |
get_extended() |
sdl2.sdlimage.IMG_isBMP() et al. |
tostring() |
No equivalent yet |
fromstring() |
No equivalent yet |
frombuffer() |
No equivalent yet |
pygame.joystick
pygame.joystick | sdl2 |
---|---|
init() |
sdl2.SDL_Init() |
quit() |
sdl2.SDL_Quit() |
get_init() |
sdl2.SDL_WasInit() |
get_count() |
sdl2.joystick.SDL_NumJoysticks() |
Joystick() |
sdl2.joystick.SDL_Joystick and related
functions |
pygame.key
pygame.key | sdl2 |
---|---|
get_focused() |
sdl2.keyboard.SDL_GetKeyboardFocus() |
get_pressed() |
sdl2.keyboard.SDL_GetKeyboardState() |
get_mods() |
sdl2.keyboard.SDL_GetModState() |
set_mods() |
sdl2.keyboard.SDL_SetModState() |
set_repeat() |
Based on the OS/WM settings, no equivalent |
get_repeat() |
Based on the OS/WM settings, no equivalent |
name() |
sdl2.keyboard.SDL_GetKeyName() |
pygame.locals
Constants in PySDL2 are spread across the different packages and modules, depending on where they originate from.
pygame.mixer
pygame.mixer | sdl2 |
---|---|
init() |
sdl2.sdlmixer.Mix_Init() |
quit() |
sdl2.sdlmixer.Mix_Quit() |
get_init() |
No equivalent planned |
stop() |
sdl2.sdlmixer.Mix_HaltChannel() ,
sdl2.sdlmixer.Mix_HaltGroup() ,
sdl2.sdlmixer.Mix_HaltMusic() |
pause() |
sdl2.sdlmixer.Mix_Pause() ,
sdl2.sdlmixer.Mix_PauseMusic() |
unpause() |
sdl2.sdlmixer.Mix_Resume() ,
sdl2.sdlmixer.Mix_ResumeMusic() |
fadeout() |
sdl2.sdlmixer.Mix_FadeOutChannel() ,
sdl2.sdlmixer.Mix_FadeOutGroup() ,
sdl2.sdlmixer.Mix_FadeOutMusic() |
set_num_channels() |
sdl2.sdlmixer.Mix_AllocateChannels() |
get_num_channels() |
sdl2.sdlmixer.Mix_AllocateChannels() |
set_reserved() |
sdl2.sdlmixer.Mix_ReserveChannels() |
find_channel() |
No equivalent planned |
get_busy() |
sdl2.sdlmixer.Mix_ChannelFinished() |
Sound |
sdl2.sdlmixer.Mix_Chunk |
Channel |
No equivalent, use the channel functions instead |
pygame.mixer.music
See pygame.mixer.
pygame.mouse
pygame.mouse | sdl2 |
---|---|
get_pressed() |
sdl2.mouse.SDL_GetMouseState() |
get_pos() |
sdl2.mouse.SDL_GetMouseState() |
get_rel() |
sdl2.mouse.SDL_GetRelativeMouseState() |
set_pos() |
sdl2.mouse.SDL_WarpMouseInWindow() |
set_visible() |
sdl2.mouse.SDL_ShowCursor() |
get_focused() |
sdl2.mouse.SDL_GetMouseFocus() |
set_cursor() |
sdl2.mouse.SDL_GetCursor() |
get_cursor() |
sdl2.mouse.SDL_SetCursor() |
pygame.movie
No such module is planned for PySDL2.
pygame.Overlay
You can work with YUV overlays by using the sdl2.render
module
with sdl2.render.SDL_Texture
objects.
pygame.PixelArray
You can access pixel data of sprites and surfaces directly via the
sdl2.ext.PixelView
class. It does not feature comparison or
extractions methods.
pygame.Rect
No such functionality is available for PySDL2. Rectangles are represented
via sdl2.rect.SDL_Rect
for low-level SDL2 wrappers or 4-value
tuples.
pygame.scrap
PySDL2 offers basic text-based clipboard access via the
sdl2.clipboard
module. A feature-rich clipboard API as for Pygame
does not exist yet.
pygame.sndarray
No such module is available for PySDL2 yet.
pygame.sprite
PySDL2 uses a different approach of rendering and managing sprite
objects via a component-based system and the sdl2.ext.Sprite
class. A sprite module as for Pygame is not planned.
pygame.Surface
pygame.Surface | sdl2 |
---|---|
blit() |
sdl2.surface.SDL_BlitSurface() ,
sdl2.ext.SpriteRenderSystem |
convert() |
sdl2.surface.SDL_ConvertSurface() |
convert_alpha() |
sdl2.surface.SDL_ConvertSurface() |
copy() |
sdl2.surface.SDL_ConvertSurface() |
fill() |
sdl2.surface.SDL_FillRect() ,
sdl2.surface.SDL_FillRects() ,
sdl2.ext.fill() |
scroll() |
No equivalent planned |
set_colorkey() |
sdl2.surface.SDL_SetColorKey() |
get_colorkey() |
sdl2.surface.SDL_GetColorKey() |
set_alpha() |
sdl2.surface.SDL_SetSurfaceAlphaMod() |
get_alpha() |
sdl2.surface.SDL_GetSurfaceAlphaMod() |
lock() |
sdl2.surface.SDL_LockSurface() |
unlock() |
sdl2.surface.SDL_UnlockSurface() |
mustlock() |
sdl2.surface.SDL_MUSTLOCK() |
get_locked() |
sdl2.surface.SDL_Surface.locked |
get_locks() |
No equivalent planned |
get_at() |
Direct access to the pixels for surfaces can be
achieved via the sdl2.ext.PixelView class |
set_at() |
Direct access to the pixels for surfaces can be
achieved via the sdl2.ext.PixelView class |
get_at_mapped() |
No equivalent planned |
get_palette() |
via sdl2.surface.SDL_Surface.format and the
sdl2.pixels.SDL_PixelFormat.palette
attribute |
get_palette_at() |
sdl2.pixels.SDL_Palette.colors[offset] |
set_palette() |
sdl2.surface.SDL_SetSurfacePalette() |
set_palette_at() |
sdl2.pixels.SDL_Palette.colors[offset] |
map_rgb() |
sdl2.pixels.SDL_MapRGB() |
unmap_rgb() |
sdl2.pixels.SDL_GetRGB() |
set_clip() |
sdl2.surface.SDL_SetClipRect() |
get_clip() |
sdl2.surface.SDL_GetClipRect() |
subsurface() |
sdl2.ext.subsurface() |
get_parent() |
No equivalent yet |
get_abs_parent() |
As for get_parent |
get_offset() |
As for get_parent |
get_abs_offset() |
As for get_parent |
get_size() |
sdl2.ext.Sprite.size ,
sdl2.surface.SDL_Surface.w ,
sdl2.surface.SDL_Surface.h |
get_width() |
sdl2.ext.Sprite.size[0] ,
sdl2.surface.SDL_Surface.w , |
get_height() |
sdl2.ext.Sprite.size[1] ,
sdl2.surface.SDL_Surface.h |
get_rect() |
No equivalent planned |
get_bitsize() |
sdl2.pixels.SDL_PixelFormat.BitsPerPixel |
get_bytesize() |
sdl2.pixels.SDL_PixelFormat.BytesPerPixel |
get_flags() |
sdl2.surface.SDL_Surface.flags |
get_pitch() |
sdl2.surface.SDL_Surface.pitch |
get_masks() |
sdl2.pixels.SDL_PixelFormat.Rmask , ... |
get_shifts() |
sdl2.pixels.SDL_PixelFormat.Rshift , ... |
get_losses() |
sdl2.pixels.SDL_PixelFormat.Rloss , ... |
get_bounding_rect() |
No equivalent planned |
get_view() |
sdl2.ext.PixelView |
get_buffer() |
sdl2.ext.PixelView or
sdl2.surface.SDL_Surface.pixels |
pygame.surfarray
2D and 3D pixel access can be achieved via the
sdl2.ext.PixelView
class in environments without
numpy. Simplified numpy-array creation with direct pixel access (similar
to pygame.surfarray.pixels2d()
and pygame.surfarray.pixels3d()
)
is available via sdl2.ext.pixels2d()
and
sdl2.ext.pixels3d()
.
pygame.time
pygame.time | sdl2 |
---|---|
get_ticks() |
sdl2.timer.SDL_GetTicks() |
wait() |
sdl2.timer.SDL_Delay() |
delay() |
sdl2.timer.SDL_Delay() |
Clock |
No equivalent planned |
pygame.transform
The are no transformation helpers in PySDL2 at moment. Those might be implemented later on via numpy helpers, the Python Imaging Library or other 3rd party packages.