Thread: allegro help - page flipping?

i'm having some trouble with "page flipping" using allegro.. maybe i don't really understand the concept. i took a look at the link from the allegro thread in the FAQ, but it didn't really help... i've got some code, but i'm sure a lot of it is off.. i did it mostly by copy/pasting and trial and error.. this finally compiled without errors, but won't run.. it crashes. if someone could point me to a tutorial, or an example program, or something, that would be great..

here's the code i have

Code:

#include <allegro.h>

BITMAP *Screen[3], *Buffer, *character[2];

int main() 
{ 
	// Initialize Allegro.        
	allegro_init();      
	set_color_depth(24); 
	set_gfx_mode(GFX_SAFE, 800, 600, 0, 0);
	install_keyboard();

	bool vid=1;	

	Screen[0]=create_video_bitmap(800,600);
	Screen[1]=create_video_bitmap(800,600);
	Screen[2]=create_video_bitmap(800,600);
	Buffer=create_bitmap(800,600);
	character[0] = load_bitmap("MyPicture.bmp", NULL);
	character[1] = load_bitmap("MyPicture1.bmp", NULL);

	while(!key[KEY_ESC])
	{
		clear_bitmap(Buffer);
		draw_sprite(Buffer, character[vid], 400, 300);

		blit(Buffer, Screen[vid+1], 0, 0, 0, 0, 800, 600);

		show_video_bitmap(Screen[vid+1]);

		vid = !vid;
	}
	
	destroy_bitmap(Buffer);
	allegro_exit();
	return 0;
}

END_OF_MAIN();

any help is appreciated.

follow the link in my sig, and it will take you to my site. there i have two basic, allegro tutorials along with a tutorial explaining the concept of double buffering. you might want to, also, take a look at the links i have up.

thanks! it seems like this is a lot easier than page flipping, so why would page flipping be used?

is this code okay? or is there a better way to do this?

Code:

BITMAP *Buffer, *character[2];

int main() 
{ 
	// Initialize Allegro.        

	int frame = 0;	

	Buffer=create_bitmap(800,600);
	character[0] = load_bitmap("MyPicture.bmp", NULL);
	character[1] = load_bitmap("MyPicture2.bmp", NULL);

	while(!key[KEY_ESC])
	{
		clear_bitmap(Buffer);

		draw_sprite(Buffer, character[frame], 400, 300);

		blit(Buffer, screen, 0, 0, 0, 0, 800, 600);

		frame = !frame;
	}
	
	destroy_bitmap(Buffer);
	allegro_exit();
	return 0;
}

this works fine, but is there a better way to do it?

thanks for the help. now it's time to look into timers.. my little man's feet are gunna get tired