I NEED MENTAL HELP!!!....2 Quick newbie questions...

hi i have a couple questions about some of this code which i got from the OpenGL SuperBible… first, why do they put the"int value" int the function “void TimerFunction(int value)” since it never seems to be used… and what does the function "glutTimerFunc(33, TimerFunction, 1) actually do? Thanx,
Y-T
// Bounce.c
// Demonstrates a simple animated rectangle program with GLUT
// OpenGL SuperBible, 2nd Edition
// Richard S. Wright Jr.

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

// Initial square position and size
GLfloat x1 = 100.0f;
GLfloat y1 = 150.0f;
GLsizei rsize = 50;

// Step size in x and y directions
// (number of pixels to move each time)
GLfloat xstep = 1.0f;
GLfloat ystep = 1.0f;

// Keep track of windows changing width and height
GLfloat windowWidth;
GLfloat windowHeight;

// Called to draw scene
void RenderScene(void)
{
// Clear the window with current clearing color
glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT);

// Set current drawing color to red
// R G B
glColor3f(1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f);

// Draw a filled rectangle with current color
glRectf(x1, y1, x1+rsize, y1+rsize);

// Flush drawing commands
glutSwapBuffers();
}

// Called by GLUT library when idle (window not being
// resized or moved)
void TimerFunction(int value)
{
// Reverse direction when you reach left or right edge
if(x1 > windowWidth-rsize | | x1 < 0)
xstep = -xstep;

// Reverse direction when you reach top or bottom edge
if(y1 > windowHeight-rsize | | y1 < 0)
ystep = -ystep;

// Check bounds. This is incase the window is made
// smaller and the rectangle is outside the new
// clipping volume
if(x1 > windowWidth-rsize)
x1 = windowWidth-rsize-1;

if(y1 > windowHeight-rsize)
y1 = windowHeight-rsize-1;

// Actually move the square
x1 += xstep;
y1 += ystep;

// Redraw the scene with new coordinates
glutPostRedisplay();
glutTimerFunc(33,TimerFunction, 1);
}

// Setup the rendering state
void SetupRC(void)
{
// Set clear color to blue
glClearColor(0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f);
}

// Called by GLUT library when the window has chanaged size
void ChangeSize(GLsizei w, GLsizei h)
{
// Prevent a divide by zero
if(h == 0)
h = 1;

// Set Viewport to window dimensions
glViewport(0, 0, w, h);

// Reset coordinate system
glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);
glLoadIdentity();

// Keep the square square, this time, save calculated
// width and height for later use
if (w <= h)
{
windowHeight = 250.0fh/w;
windowWidth = 250.0f;
}
else
{
windowWidth = 250.0f
w/h;
windowHeight = 250.0f;
}

// Set the clipping volume
glOrtho(0.0f, windowWidth, 0.0f, windowHeight, 1.0f, -1.0f);

glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
glLoadIdentity();
}

// Main program entry point
void main(void)
{
glutInitDisplayMode(GLUT_DOUBLE | GLUT_RGB);
glutCreateWindow(“Bounce”);
glutDisplayFunc(RenderScene);
glutReshapeFunc(ChangeSize);
glutTimerFunc(33, TimerFunction, 1);

SetupRC();

glutMainLoop();
}

dude man, get over chapter 3… it’s probably for some reason the timerfuction is supposed to be designed… look it up in the glut source if you REALLY care.

Don’t know if I can help you with your mental problem’s!
But I do have an idea about your programming question.

  1. The timmer is used to control the screen refresh. When writing a program you want to make sure the program will run at the same speed from computer to computer.
    If you base your program just around the speed of your computer, then on some computers the program will run slower and on other too fast.
    But if you go with time as you speed reference, then the program should run about the same speed on each computer.
    You can use this to set the speed of an object.

thanx for ur replies peeps! at least now i know what the hell the timerfunction is for… i think that suggestion of skipping chapter 3 is becoming more and more tempting though… later,
Y-T