How does this work?

**Memloop** · 04-12-2010

Code:

typedef union{
  Uint8 type;
  SDL_ActiveEvent active;
  SDL_KeyboardEvent key;
  SDL_MouseMotionEvent motion;
  SDL_MouseButtonEvent button;
  SDL_JoyAxisEvent jaxis;
  SDL_JoyBallEvent jball;
  SDL_JoyHatEvent jhat;
  SDL_JoyButtonEvent jbutton;
  SDL_ResizeEvent resize;
  SDL_ExposeEvent expose;
  SDL_QuitEvent quit;
  SDL_UserEvent user;
  SDL_SysWMEvent syswm;
} SDL_Event;

SDL's implementation of this union allows you to always access the type member to see what type of event is stored. But how exactly do SDL manage to store two types at the same time in a union without corrupting either, and doing so in a portable manner as well?

**claudiu** · 04-12-2010

You should start answering this by reading on what unions are.

**Salem** · 04-12-2010

The LSB of each event is the event type.

> But how exactly do SDL manage to store two types at the same time in a union without corrupting either
The 'type' is never written to (or shouldn't be).
It's a cheap-shot way of avoiding having to do some bit-masking work to get the event type, when all you're interested in is the event type.

> and doing so in a portable manner as well?
I not sure that it is portable, at least not across machines with different endian.

**Memloop** · 04-12-2010

Originally Posted by Salem

> and doing so in a portable manner as well?
I not sure that it is portable, at least not across machines with different endian.

I don't see how there's going to be any endian issues (they are using an unsigned char for the type). The actual events that are stored in the union are structs, so I guess it all comes down to how they are aligned. I'm guessing that the struct members are stored in order in memory, with the initial alignment at the address of the union. If so, putting the type first in the struct would do the trick. I'm not sure what the C standard says about this though.

**Sebastiani** · 04-13-2010

>> Uint8 type;

Somebody's going to regret that someday...

**Subsonics** · 04-13-2010

Originally Posted by Sebastiani

>> Uint8 type;

Somebody's going to regret that someday...

Why is that?

I always thought Uint8 was a typedefed unsigned char.

**Salem** · 04-13-2010

> I don't see how there's going to be any endian issues
Yeah you're right - it seems they're all small structs beginning with a uint8 type member.

So yes, they'll always be aligned with one another on the first member.

**MK27** · 04-13-2010

Originally Posted by Memloop

SDL's implementation of this union allows you to always access the type member to see what type of event is stored.

This involves an OR'd flag, as Salem says, the first byte of each of those structs is a member "type", whose value is always the same for a specific struct and unique to it, that's what you are accessing. Xlib uses this technique for events, etc, too. So you can have a SDL_Event* which points to a SDL_KeyboardEvent struct, determinable by checking the type.

Works kind of like a void pointer or C++ templating for function prototypes:

Code:

void event_handler(SDL_Event *e);

"e" could effectively be any one of those types, except (unlike C++ templates), you have to handle the difference internally yourself. Also unlike a template (and normative void pointer usage), you can determine the type.

Originally Posted by Subsonics

Why is that?

I always thought Uint8 was a typedefed unsigned char.

Maybe because you are now restricted to a mere 256 possible types.

**Memloop** · 04-13-2010

Originally Posted by Salem

> I don't see how there's going to be any endian issues
Yeah you're right - it seems they're all small structs beginning with a uint8 type member.

So yes, they'll always be aligned with one another on the first member.

Wouldn't that also be true even if type is an int?

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