Alternatives to GLUT when building menus with OpenGL

Question

I'd like to add a menu system to my simple OpenGL program. I've used GLUT before but that was way back in 1998 and when I mentioned it here on SO you advised not to use GLUT and therefore I want to know what menu building libraries I can use, preferably platform-independent like GLUT, since I see GLUT is still used in many of the examples. My program doesn't use GLUT but I'd like to add menu system to learn more how to make I more complete program.

#include <windows.h>
#include <gl/gl.h>

LRESULT CALLBACK WindowProc(HWND, UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM);
void EnableOpenGL(HWND hwnd, HDC*, HGLRC*);
void DisableOpenGL(HWND, HDC, HGLRC);


int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance,
                   HINSTANCE hPrevInstance,
                   LPSTR lpCmdLine,
                   int nCmdShow)
{
    WNDCLASSEX wcex;
    HWND hwnd;
    HDC hDC;
    HGLRC hRC;
    MSG msg;
    BOOL bQuit = FALSE;
    float theta = 0.0f;

    /* register window class */
    wcex.cbSize = sizeof(WNDCLASSEX);
    wcex.style = CS_OWNDC;
    wcex.lpfnWndProc = WindowProc;
    wcex.cbClsExtra = 0;
    wcex.cbWndExtra = 0;
    wcex.hInstance = hInstance;
    wcex.hIcon = LoadIcon(NULL, IDI_APPLICATION);
    wcex.hCursor = LoadCursor(NULL, IDC_ARROW);
    wcex.hbrBackground = (HBRUSH)GetStockObject(BLACK_BRUSH);
    wcex.lpszMenuName = NULL;
    wcex.lpszClassName = "GLSample";
    wcex.hIconSm = LoadIcon(NULL, IDI_APPLICATION);;


    if (!RegisterClassEx(&wcex))
        return 0;

    /* create main window */
    hwnd = CreateWindowEx(0,
                          "GLSample",
                          "OpenGL Sample",
                          WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW,
                          CW_USEDEFAULT,
                          CW_USEDEFAULT,
                          256,
                          256,
                          NULL,
                          NULL,
                          hInstance,
                          NULL);

    ShowWindow(hwnd, nCmdShow);

    /* enable OpenGL for the window */
    EnableOpenGL(hwnd, &hDC, &hRC);

    /* program main loop */
    while (!bQuit)
    {
        /* check for messages */
        if (PeekMessage(&msg, NULL, 0, 0, PM_REMOVE))
        {
            /* handle or dispatch messages */
            if (msg.message == WM_QUIT)
            {
                bQuit = TRUE;
            }
            else
            {
                TranslateMessage(&msg);
                DispatchMessage(&msg);
            }
        }
        else
        {
            /* OpenGL animation code goes here */

            glClearColor(0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f);
            glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT);

            glPushMatrix();
            glRotatef(theta, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f);

            glBegin(GL_TRIANGLES);

                glColor3f(1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f);   glVertex2f(0.0f,   1.0f);
                glColor3f(0.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f);   glVertex2f(0.87f,  -0.5f);
                glColor3f(0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f);   glVertex2f(-0.87f, -0.5f);

            glEnd();

            glPopMatrix();

            SwapBuffers(hDC);

            theta += 1.0f;
            Sleep (1);
        }
    }

    /* shutdown OpenGL */
    DisableOpenGL(hwnd, hDC, hRC);

    /* destroy the window explicitly */
    DestroyWindow(hwnd);

    return msg.wParam;
}

LRESULT CALLBACK WindowProc(HWND hwnd, UINT uMsg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)
{
    switch (uMsg)
    {
        case WM_CLOSE:
            PostQuitMessage(0);
        break;

        case WM_DESTROY:
            return 0;

        case WM_KEYDOWN:
        {
            switch (wParam)
            {
                case VK_ESCAPE:
                    PostQuitMessage(0);
                break;
            }
        }
        break;

        default:
            return DefWindowProc(hwnd, uMsg, wParam, lParam);
    }

    return 0;
}

void EnableOpenGL(HWND hwnd, HDC* hDC, HGLRC* hRC)
{
    PIXELFORMATDESCRIPTOR pfd;

    int iFormat;

    /* get the device context (DC) */
    *hDC = GetDC(hwnd);

    /* set the pixel format for the DC */
    ZeroMemory(&pfd, sizeof(pfd));

    pfd.nSize = sizeof(pfd);
    pfd.nVersion = 1;
    pfd.dwFlags = PFD_DRAW_TO_WINDOW |
                  PFD_SUPPORT_OPENGL | PFD_DOUBLEBUFFER;
    pfd.iPixelType = PFD_TYPE_RGBA;
    pfd.cColorBits = 24;
    pfd.cDepthBits = 16;
    pfd.iLayerType = PFD_MAIN_PLANE;

    iFormat = ChoosePixelFormat(*hDC, &pfd);

    SetPixelFormat(*hDC, iFormat, &pfd);

    /* create and enable the render context (RC) */
    *hRC = wglCreateContext(*hDC);

    wglMakeCurrent(*hDC, *hRC);
}

void DisableOpenGL (HWND hwnd, HDC hDC, HGLRC hRC)
{
    wglMakeCurrent(NULL, NULL);
    wglDeleteContext(hRC);
    ReleaseDC(hwnd, hDC);
}

For example in the answer here OpenGL - GLUT - Displaying different pop-up menus It says not to use GLUT but not what to use instead so it doesn't really say where to begin. Can you tell me what to use instead of GLUT?

Since you're using windows.h I don't see how that's platform independent. — Pubby, Jun 02 '12 at 08:20
I've used [GLUI](http://www.cs.unc.edu/~rademach/glui/) and [CEGUI](http://www.cegui.org.uk) recently. Glgooey did look promising but seems dead for 5+ years. Qt is always a good bet though if you want the widgets around the OpenGL bit rather than within them. — Flexo, Jun 02 '12 at 08:22
"when I mentioned it here on SO you advised not to use GLUT" Please pay attention to the context of a discussion. I said that *[for the particular question.](http://stackoverflow.com/q/10464012/734069)* GLUT (or rather FreeGLUT) is fine for *simple* menuing needs. But if you are creating a serious *application*, with *serious* menuing needs, you'll need something else. — Nicol Bolas, Jun 03 '12 at 05:31

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 03 '12 at 05:27

For platform-independent OpenGL development, use a cross-platform GUI toolkit like Qt or wxWidgets.

Of these I only have personal experience with Qt's OpenGL module. It comes with many examples of how to set up an OpenGL rendering context and interact with it with the mouse and keyboard. It will allow you to pop up a menu when you right click in your scene. Qt also comes with utility classes for vector and matrix manipulation.

Alternatives to GLUT when building menus with OpenGL

1 Answers1