CSCI 200 - Fall 2023
Foundational Programming Concepts & Design

This lab is due by Tuesday, October 31, 2023, 11:59 PM.
As with all labs you may, and are encouraged, to pair program a solution to this lab. If you choose to pair program a solution, be sure that you individually understand how to generate the correct solution.

Jump To: Rubric Submission

Concepts

For this assignment, you have the opportunity to play with the power that SFML (a special framework called Simple and Fast Multimedia Library) offers.

SFML

SFML is a multimedia Application Programming Interface (API) written in C++ with bindings for various programming languages, including Java, Python, and Ruby. SFML provides an easy way to write code that utilizes graphics, sound effects, and/or networking. SFML is the chosen platform for many cool games, including the Atom Zombie Smasher. You can check out everything SFML has to offer by reading the SFML 2.6.0 documentation.

Setup

The first step is to download the source code from SFML from the SFML Download Page. Be sure to download the zip for the Source Code and not an OS specific package. This is at the bottom of the page. Once downloaded, unzip the package.

Next, download the cross-platform Makefile package. Once downloaded, unzip the package and place the contents inside the SFML-2.6.0 folder from the above step alongside the readme.md file.

Now in a terminal, navigate into the SFML-2.6.0 folder and type make.

• Note 1A: If you are running OS X and on a M1 or M2 machine, you will need to ensure you have installed Rosetta. In a terminal, run the command
  

  > softwareupdate --install-rosetta

• Note 1B: If you are running OS X, you will initially be prompted to enter your user password to allow the OS to unquarantine the SFML files.
  
  
• Note 2: If you are building on the lab machines, you will need to modify the Makefile.win file. Open this file in a text editor and set the CXX variable to be the full absolute path of C:/mingw-w64/mingw64/bin/g++.exe. The lab machines have multiple versions of g++ and we need to be explicit for which one it should use.

This Makefile will build each of the necessary libraries. If you receive errors during this step, please post to the corresponding post on Ed matching your operating system. YMMV in this process but we are here to help!

Once successfully built, you'll now need to copy the library files to your installation. First, you'll need to copy the include/ headers that declare all the classes within the library. Next, you'll need to copy the precompiled library files. Finally, you'll need to copy the runtime files. Where each of these go will depend on operating system:

• Windows Personal Machine:
  1. Find your MinGW installation folder (likely C:/mingw64 or similar). Copy the entire SFML folder from ~/SFML-2.6.0/include to the ~/mingw64/x86_64-w64-mingw32/include folder contained within the MinGW folder (if the x86_64-w64-mingw32 folder does not exist, then place the SFML folder inside of the include folder in ~/mingw64/include.
  2. Find your MinGW installation folder (likely C:/mingw64 or similar). Copy the five libsfml-*.a files from ~/SFML-2.6.0/build/libs to the ~/mingw64/lib folder contained within the MinGW folder.
  3. Find your MinGW installation folder (likely C:/mingw64 or similar). Copy the five sfml-*.dll files from ~/SFML-2.6.0/build/libs to the ~/mingw64/bin folder contained within the MinGW folder so they reside alongside the g++ program.
• Windows Lab Machine:
  1. On your Z: drive, create the following folder path: Z:/CSCI200/include. Copy the entire SFML folder from ~/SFML-2.6.0/include to this folder.
  2. On your Z: drive, create the following folder path: Z:/CSCI200/lib. Copy the five libsfml-*.a files from ~/SFML-2.6.0/build/libs to this folder.
  3. Here is where things are slightly less ideal. Due to the network accounts, there is not a standard folder that persists on your path that you can write files to. Therefore, on your Z: drive, create the following folder path: Z:/CSCI200/bin. Copy the five sfml-*.dll files from ~/SFML-2.6.0/build/libs to this folder. Whenever you are working with an SFML project, you will need to copy these five DLL files into the folder where your executable exists so they can be found at runtime.
• OS X Personal Machine:
  1. Copy the entire SFML folder from ~/SFML-2.6.0/include to /usr/local/include. This can be done through the Finder selecting Go > Go To Folder and entering /usr/local. If the include folder does not exist, then create it.
  2. Copy the five *.dylib files from ~/SFML-2.6.0/build/libs to /usr/local/lib. Again, if this folder does not exist, then create it.
  3. Copy the seven *.framework folders from ~/SFML-2.6.0/extlibs/libs-osx/Frameworks to /Library/Frameworks. Again, this can be done through the Finder selecting Go > Go To Folder and entering /Library/Frameworks.

Instructions

Download the SFML Template. This will create an empty window to start working with. First, take a look at the main.cpp file provided. In class, we discussed each of the commands shown (e.g., creation of the window object and the polling for events); ask questions if there is any confusion.

Second, we also saw the development of a smiley face in class today. A few key lines of code covered follow:

// Draw a circle object called face and color it yellow
CircleShape face;
face.setPosition( 15, 15 );
face.setRadius( 300 );
face.setFillColor( Color::Yellow );
window.draw( face );
        
// Draw a rectangle object called eye and color it blue
RectangleShape eye;
eye.setSize( Vector2f( 45, 150 ) );
eye.setPosition( 200, 150 );
eye.setFillColor( Color(0, 0, 255));
window.draw( eye );
         
// Draw a text object called label
// place in file loading section
Font myFont;
if( !myFont.loadFromFile( "data/arial.ttf" ) )
    return -1;
// place in drawing section
Text label;
label.setFont( myFont );
label.setString( "Hello World!" );
label.setPosition( 250, 520 );
label.setFillColor( Color::Black );
window.draw( label ); 

Your job is to draw something in SFML. What you draw can be anything you want EXCEPT a smiley face (e.g., a tree, a bike, a dog, a word using rectangles/circles, etc.). For full credit, you must draw at least five shapes. Be creative and have fun!

Grading Rubric

Your submission will be graded according to the following rubric:

Lab Submission

Always, always, ALWAYS update the header comments at the top of your main.cpp file. And if you ever get stuck, remember that there is LOTS of help available.

Zip together your main.cpp, Makefile, data/* files and name the zip file L4C.zip. Upload this zip file to Canvas under L4C.

This lab is due by Tuesday, October 31, 2023, 11:59 PM.
As with all labs you may, and are encouraged, to pair program a solution to this lab. If you choose to pair program a solution, be sure that you individually understand how to generate the correct solution.