Porting C++ SDL Application To Android

In this article I will describe his experience porting 3D editor prototype Cube Art Project on Android.
First, look at the result, the emulator running the editor with 3D cursor red cube:

To build a successful have to do the following:

  1. Install the latest Android SDK and NDK (National Palace of Culture version of the fresher the better).
  2. Download the code SDL2, take out a template to build an application for android.
  3. Add SDL Image, SDL Mixer for assembly.
  4. Add the library of my game engine and toolkit, their dependencies (GLM, JSON for Modern C++)
  5. Adapt the assembly files for Gradle.
  6. Adapt the C ++ code to be compatible with Android, changes were platform specific components (OpenGL ES, the graphics context initialization)
  7. Assemble and test the project on the emulator.

Project Template

Load the source code SDL, SDL Image, SDL Mixer:
https://www.libsdl.org/download-2.0.php
The docs folder contains detailed instructions on working with project android template; copy the directory android-project in a separate folder, make a symlink or copy the SDL folder in android-project / app / jni.
Substitute the correct identifier for avd flag, run the emulator from the Android Sdk directory:


cd ~/Android/Sdk/emulator
./emulator -avd Pixel_2_API_24

Specify the path to the script, pick a project:


rm -rf app/build || true
export ANDROID_HOME=/home/demensdeum/Android/Sdk/
export ANDROID_NDK_HOME=/home/demensdeum/Android/android-ndk-r21-beta2/
./gradlew clean build
./gradlew installDebug

Should meet SDL project template with the code in C from a file


android-sdl-test-app/cube-art-project-android/app/jni/src/YourSourceHere.c

Dependencies

Download the source code archives for SDL_image, SDL_mixer:
https://www.libsdl.org/projects/SDL_image/
https://www.libsdl.org/projects/SDL_mixer/

Load depending on your project, for example, my shared library:
https://gitlab.com/demensdeum/FlameSteelCore/
https://gitlab.com/demensdeum/FlameSteelCommonTraits
https://gitlab.com/demensdeum/FlameSteelBattleHorn
https://gitlab.com/demensdeum/FlameSteelEngineGameToolkit/
https://gitlab.com/demensdeum/FlameSteelEngineGameToolkitFSGL
https://gitlab.com/demensdeum/FSGL
https://gitlab.com/demensdeum/cube-art-project

All of this was discharged into app / jni, each “module” in a separate folder, such as app / jni / FSGL. Next, you have the option to find workers generators Application.mk and Android.mk files, I have not found, but maybe there’s a simple solution based on CMake. Click on a link and start to get acquainted with the format of the build files for Android NDK:

https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/application_mk
https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/android_mk

You should also read about different APP_STL implementation NDK:
https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/cpp-support.html

After reviewing create for each “module” file Android.mk, further example of an assembly file shared library Cube-Art-Project:


LOCAL_PATH := $(call my-dir)
include $(CLEAR_VARS)

APP_STL := c++_static
APP_CPPFLAGS := -fexceptions
LOCAL_MODULE := CubeArtProject
LOCAL_C_INCLUDES := $(LOCAL_PATH)/src $(LOCAL_PATH)/../include $(LOCAL_PATH)/../include/FlameSteelCommonTraits/src/FlameSteelCommonTraits
LOCAL_EXPORT_C_INCLUDES = $(LOCAL_PATH)/src/

define walk
  $(wildcard $(1)) $(foreach e, $(wildcard $(1)/*), $(call walk, $(e)))
endef

ALLFILES = $(call walk, $(LOCAL_PATH)/src)
FILE_LIST := $(filter %.cpp, $(ALLFILES))
$(info CubeArtProject source code files list)
$(info $(FILE_LIST))
LOCAL_SRC_FILES := $(FILE_LIST:$(LOCAL_PATH)/%=%)

LOCAL_SHARED_LIBRARIES += FlameSteelCore
LOCAL_SHARED_LIBRARIES += FlameSteelBattleHorn
LOCAL_SHARED_LIBRARIES += FlameSteelCommonTraits
LOCAL_SHARED_LIBRARIES += FlameSteelEngineGameToolkit
LOCAL_SHARED_LIBRARIES += FlameSteelEngineGameToolkitFSGL
LOCAL_SHARED_LIBRARIES += FSGL
LOCAL_SHARED_LIBRARIES += SDL2
LOCAL_SHARED_LIBRARIES += SDL2_image

LOCAL_LDFLAGS := -static-libstdc++
include $(BUILD_SHARED_LIBRARY)

CMake any experienced user realizes this configuration with the first string formats are very similar in Android.mk no GLOB_RECURSIVE, so we have to recursively search for source files with walk functions.

Change Application.mk, Android.mk with-but to build C++ instead of C code:


APP_ABI := armeabi-v7a arm64-v8a x86 x86_64
APP_PLATFORM=android-16
APP_STL := c++_static
APP_CPPFLAGS := -fexceptions

Rename YourSourceHere.c -> YourSourceHere.cpp, grep for entry, change the path in the assembly, for example:


app/jni/src/Android.mk:LOCAL_SRC_FILES := YourSourceHere.cpp

Next, try to build the project, if you see an error from the compiler about the absence of Heather, check the correctness of the ways in Android.mk; if mistakes are kind of linker “undefined reference”, check the correctness of indications of source code files in assemblies ottreysit lists possible by specifying $ (info $ (FILE_LIST)) in Android.mk file. Do not forget the double-linking mechanism, with modules in LOCAL_SHARED_LIBRARIES key and correct linking through the LD, for example FSGL:


LOCAL_LDLIBS := -lEGL -lGLESv2

Adaptation And Launching

I had to change some things, for example to remove GLEW of assemblies for iOS and Android, to rename part of OpenGL calls, adding a suffix EOS (glGenVertexArrays -> glGenVertexArraysOES), include macro missing modernistic features debug, the cherry on the cake is the implicit include vulnerability GLES2 Heather indicating macro GL_GLEXT_PROTOTYPES 1 :


#define GL_GLEXT_PROTOTYPES 1
#include "SDL_opengles2.h"

Also, a black screen in the first starts with an error type “E / libEGL: validate_display: 255 error 3008 (EGL_BAD_DISPLAY)”, has changed initialize SDL window, GL profile initialization and it worked:


SDL_DisplayMode mode;
SDL_GetDisplayMode(0,0,&mode);
int width = mode.w;
int height = mode.h;

window = SDL_CreateWindow(
            title,
            0,
            0,
            width,
            height,
            SDL_WINDOW_OPENGL | SDL_WINDOW_FULLSCREEN | SDL_WINDOW_RESIZABLE
        );

SDL_GL_SetAttribute( SDL_GL_CONTEXT_PROFILE_MASK, SDL_GL_CONTEXT_PROFILE_ES );

On the default emulator application is installed with the “Game” icon SDL and name.

I needed to explore the possibility of automatically generating assembly files based on CMake, or else migrate assembly for all platforms on Gradle; CMake but remains the de facto choice for the current development in C++.

Source Code

https://gitlab.com/demensdeum/android-sdl-test-app
https://gitlab.com/demensdeum/android-sdl-test-app/tree/master/cube-art-project-android

Sources

https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/cpp-support.html
https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/application_mk
https://developer.android.com/ndk/guides/android_mk
https://lazyfoo.net/tutorials/SDL/52_hello_mobile/android_windows/index.php
https://medium.com/androiddevelopers/getting-started-with-c-and-android-native-activities-2213b402ffff