I'm trying to get started in OpenGL with some sample code.
It references wglQueryPbufferARB which is not in any of the DLLs,
yet appears to be part of the API.
Tried downloading the drivers (got a GeForce 5200 on a Inspiron 5200,
if that matters).
Help...

Rats.

DeathOfRats@math.com wrote:

> I'm trying to get started in OpenGL with some sample code.
> It references wglQueryPbufferARB which is not in any of the
> DLLs, yet appears to be part of the API.

Jesus... RTFM and the FAQ on extensions please.

All this stuff having ARB, EXT, NV, ATI, SGI, SGIS, SGIX (or
other big letter acronyms for any sort of vendor) in it's name
are extensions not contained within the opengl32.dll/.lib of
Windows but are part of the driver and accessed by
wglGetProcAddress. Similair is for GLX (OpenGL on Unix X11
windowing system), however there you possibly can but _should
not_ directly link extensions against the .so (shared object
library (UNIX equivalent to Windows DLL)). Use
glXGetProcAddress.

PBuffers itself are easy to unterstand but yet require some
OpenGL knowledge. They're offscreen PixelBuffers on which you
can create an OpenGL rendering context in which you can render
as in a normal window. The uses are render to texture and other
goodies.

> Tried downloading the drivers (got a GeForce 5200 on a Inspiron
> 5200, if that matters).

Hope they're installed, without them you won't get HW
acceleration.

> Help...

Tutorials: http://nehe.gamedev.net (the _starting_ point to
OpenGL)
Book: OpenGL Programming Guide aka the "Red Book"
Extensions: "Red Book" and SGI Extension Registry
http://oss.sgi.com/projects/ogl-sample/registry/

And don't miss
http://www.opengl.org/documentation/index.html
with the Link to the FAQ.

Wolfgang Draxinger
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