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Drawing to the Full Screen

In Mac OS X, you don't have to restrict your OpenGL drawing to views and windows. You also have the option to draw to the entire screen. The primary difference between drawing to a view or window and drawing to the full screen is that you must prevent other applications and system services from trying to do the same thing. You can capture the display by using the Quartz Display Services API. Once captured by your application, other applications are not notified of display changes, thus preventing them from repositioning their windows and preventing the Finder from repositioning desktop icons. The screen is all yours for OpenGL drawing.

Each of the Apple-specific OpenGL APIs provides routines for setting up full-screen drawing. The approach for using each is similar, as you'll see by reading the first section in this chapter, which describes the general approach. This chapter also provides specific information for using each of the Apple-specific OpenGL APIs and shows how to use Quartz Display Services to switch the display mode and change screen resolutions, two tasks that are useful for any application that uses the full screen.

Contents:

General Approach
Using Cocoa to Create a Full-Screen Context
Using AGL to Create a Full-Screen Context
Using CGL to Create a Full-Screen Context
Adjusting Display Modes
What's Next?
See Also

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