Caution: This version of this document is no longer maintained. For the latest documentation, see http://www.qnx.com/developers/docs.

About This Guide

The Advanced Graphics Developer's Guide is intended for application developers. It contains both a programming guide and an API reference. It describes how to create graphical applications that use the QNX Graphics Framework API and the OpenGL® ES APIs.


Note: If you're familiar with earlier versions, you should read the What's new appendix to find out how Advanced Graphics has changed in this release.

This table may help you find what you need in this book:

For information about: See:
The QNX Graphics Framework Introduction
Basic steps to use the GF API Basic Drawing
Loading images Working with Images
Layers, surfaces, and contexts Working with Layers, Surfaces, and Contexts
3D rendering Using OpenGL ES
Video capture Using the Video Capture API
Embedding Embedding 2D and 3D Applications
Hardware capabilities of supported devices Hardware Capabilities
A list of all the functions in the QNX Graphics Framework API GF API
A list of all GF functions, grouped by areas of functionality GF API (by functionality)
A list of all the functions in the Image Library API Image Library API
What's new in this release What's New
Terminology used in this guide Glossary

Typographical conventions

Throughout this manual, we use certain typographical conventions to distinguish technical terms. In general, the conventions we use conform to those found in IEEE POSIX publications. The following table summarizes our conventions:

Reference Example
Code examples if( stream == NULL )
Command options -lR
Commands make
Environment variables PATH
File and pathnames /dev/null
Function names exit()
Keyboard chords Ctrl-Alt-Delete
Keyboard input something you type
Keyboard keys Enter
Program output login:
Programming constants NULL
Programming data types unsigned short
Programming literals 0xFF, "message string"
Variable names stdin
User-interface components Cancel

We use an arrow (→) in directions for accessing menu items, like this:

You'll find the Other... menu item under Perspective-->Show View.

We use notes, cautions, and warnings to highlight important messages:


Note: Notes point out something important or useful.


Caution: Cautions tell you about commands or procedures that may have unwanted or undesirable side effects.


WARNING: Warnings tell you about commands or procedures that could be dangerous to your files, your hardware, or even yourself.

Note to Windows users

In our documentation, we use a forward slash (/) as a delimiter in all pathnames, including those pointing to Windows files.

We also generally follow POSIX/UNIX filesystem conventions.

Navigation buttons

At the top and bottom of our HTML docs, you'll see some or all of these buttons:

Use this button: To move:
Previous To the previous part of the document.
Contents “Up” in the document:
  • In a prose book, this typically takes you to About This Guide.
  • In a reference book, it takes you to the listing of items that start with a given letter. For example, if you're looking at the docs for abs(), this button takes you to the listing of the functions that start with A.
Keyword index To the keyword index.
Next To the next part of the document.

Technical support

To obtain technical support for any QNX product, visit the Support + Services area on our website (www.qnx.com). You'll find a wide range of support options, including community forums.

Copyright © QNX Software Systems 2009. All rights reserved.