Hello everyone,

I wanted to get into allegro for a project. So I installed allegro and put in the following code:

But the problem is that I'm getting the following errors:

'al_init': identifier not found (r 7)
'al_create_display': identifier not found (r 9)
Incomplete type is not allowed (r 9)

Does anyone know how to fix this?
Kind regards

No, don't use angle brackets use quotes and it should be telling you the header was not found. It's allegro5/allegro.h .

You have a couple problems:

#include "allegro5/allegro5.h"

should be:

#include <allegro5/allegro5.h>

The same is true for #include "stdafx.h", that should be #include <stdafx.h>. You should only use quotes for local files you are loading from the same folder your other game source code files are in.

Also, your line;

ALLEGRO_DISPLAY disp = al_create_display(100, 100);

should be...

`ALLEGRO_DISPLAY *disp = al_create_display(100, 100);`

as al_create_display() returns a pointer.

So in summary, this is what your code should look like...

#include <allegro5/allegro5.h>
#include <iostream>
#include <stdafx.h>
   
int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
 al_init();
   
 ALLEGRO_DISPLAY *disp = al_create_display(100, 100);
  
 return 0;
}

You're right about the extra 5, wrong about the angle brackets. The angle brackets indicate to load from the path in your setup. In my own setup in Code::Blocks I have added in a separate directory for library includes. So I use angle brackets for them.

Quotes are used for local files which are not in your include path in your preferences etc.

This is my includes for Allegro for my DP2 game; works just fine.

#include <allegro5/allegro.h>
#include <allegro5/allegro_font.h>
#include <allegro5/allegro_ttf.h>
#include <allegro5/allegro_native_dialog.h>
#include <allegro5/allegro_image.h>
#include <allegro5/allegro_primitives.h>
#include <allegro5/allegro_physfs.h>
#include <allegro5/allegro_audio.h>
#include <allegro5/allegro_acodec.h>
#include <allegro5/allegro_opengl.h>
#include <physfs.h>

So he just needs to remove the extra 5 and make certain the location of the library is in his include path.

From MSDN...

Quoted form
-----------
The preprocessor searches for include files in this order:
1) In the same directory as the file that contains the #include statement.
2) In the directories of the currently opened include files, in the reverse order in which they were opened. The search begins in the directory of the parent include file and continues upward through the directories of any grandparent include files.
3) Along the path that's specified by each /I compiler option.
4) Along the paths that are specified by the INCLUDE environment variable.

Angle-bracket form
------------------
The preprocessor searches for include files in this order:
1) Along the path that's specified by each /I compiler option.
2) When compiling occurs on the command line, along the paths that are specified by the INCLUDE environment variable.

You guys LOVE to argue and debate. LMFAO Hey, do what ever fucking works. Wow.

Brackets <...> are what you should be using for your allegro includes.

Your projects shouldn't be in your libs path and allegro (whatever version you're using) shouldn't be in your project's path. You're free to do it wrong if you want, of course.

Well sorry Edgar, but putting "PERIOD" in there doesn't make it final!!!

My Allegro install is NOT IN MY COMPILER'S SYSTEM FOLDER! It is a totally separate folder! As should everyone else's if you want to avoid problems.

In my own setup my compiler is in "C:\MINGW32", my libraries I add to my system like Allegro, SDL2 etc... are all in "C:\MINGW_DEV_LIBS". I use Code::Blocks as my IDE and on it,. I go to SETTINGS->COMPILER then select the "SEARCH DIRECTORIES" tab and add "C:\MinGW_Dev_Lib\include" to my "COMPILER" tab and "C:\MinGW_Dev_Lib\lib" to the "LINKER" tab which also contains the relavant "C:\MinGW32" folders.

I then add Allegro 5 with: #include <allegro5/allegro.h>

THAT is how you properly do it. You can also add in separate folders for your lib in a similar way for each project. There is a similar way to set this up with Visual Studio.

I can't believe you don't know this. I think you just like to argue endlessly.

I use square brackets, like:

#include [allegro5/allegro]

which doesn't compile at all, but its my right to do what I want regardless of the correct way, so suck it.

You could argue about this, or you could read the standard.

Or you can do what Dizzy does, which at least is consistent across all known platforms.

Here's what gcc says...

You can use whatever you want and it will work, but allegro is not a system header nor is it a system library, so it should not be treated as such.

This is the correct answer

I always use double white space to mean single quotes, and triple white space to mean double quotes, and then I have a pre-processor stage convert them at compile time.

That way, I only have to use one key, space. It's way faster.

Okay smarty what does six spaces mean?