SDL and multiple screens support

[BobbyWatson]

I don't know if anyone here actually has the answer to his question, but... Does anybody know if there is support in SDL for multiple screen? More specifically, is there a way to use a secondary display in SDL? Will SDL crash if there is more than one display on the system?

I searched the entire SDL website for this information, their mailing list archive, but unfortunately the topic seems to be something that nobody talks about.

EDIT : As sealfin noticed, I meant "monitors", and not screens. Sorry about that.

[sealfin]

I don't know specifically about multiple screens, but unless you've hacked SDL itself or hacked around with the window manager (i.e. in platform specific specifiec ways), there is no support in SDL for multiple windows; whether this helps or not... somebody queried about support for multiple-monitors on the SDL mailing list back in May, but they never received an on-list reply.

[arekkusu]

Well, it definitely doesn't crash; Space Barrage uses SDL and works fine on my dual-display setup. It just blanks out the other display.

To do dual-fullscreen displays you need the capability to manage two surfaces & contexts. Can SDL do that?

[aaronsullivan]

It can't manage more than one window. You can manage many surfaces, but only one display surface. So, I'm assuming it isn't possible for SDL to display imagery (besides black) on more than one display device.

I believe there is an SDL 2.0 out there in vaporwareville that has this as one of the key issues to address, but that is a long term rewrite project and there is no ETA. It could be a year it could be 10 years. ;) For now they are focused on continuing to support and update sdl 1.

[BobbyWatson]

Thanks a lot, that's pretty much what I wanted to hear. Thanks everyone!