SDL_Log* shorthand?

SDL Development
1

Does SDL2 or SDL3 have any shorthand for logging to different log levels? I know there’s the SDL_Log which logs application category to info level. Are there any shorthands for logging to other log levels? Writing SDL_LogError(SDL_LOG_CATEGORY_APPLICATION) every time becomes verbose quickly.

Of course I can define my own macros, but I’d like to see if there’s an “official” way.

2

Specifically for your example, there is the function SDL_Log("Formatted text string: %s", "Variables");
For the other functions, I would use a precompiler directive to create my own shorthand.

#include <SDL2/SDL.h>

#define MY_APP SDL_LOG_CATEGORY_APPLICATION

int main()
{
	SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_EVERYTHING);
	SDL_LogSetAllPriority(SDL_LOG_PRIORITY_INFO);
	//SDL_LogSetAllPriority(SDL_LOG_PRIORITY_VERBOSE);
	//SDL_LogSetAllPriority(SDL_LOG_PRIORITY_DEBUG);

	SDL_Log("This is using the function SDL_Log");

	SDL_LogError(MY_APP, "This uses a precompiler define and SDL_LogError");
	SDL_LogError(1, "You could also use values like %d or %d, but...", 1, 8);
	SDL_LogError(8, "This is less desirable as SDL could potentially change values of the enum");

	SDL_LogCritical(MY_APP, "Thanks to the SDL_LogSetAllPriority() above, this is now on screen");
	SDL_LogWarn(MY_APP, "Warn");
	SDL_LogVerbose(MY_APP, "This only shows up if you uncomment the verbose or debug SetPriority above.");
	SDL_LogDebug(MY_APP, "Verbose and Debug priority seem to have the same effects.");

	SDL_Quit();
}

You might also like the other log functions at the bottom of this page: SDL_Log

3

Yeah, there’s SDL_Log for the INFO severity, I wish there are ones for warning and error as well. Like SDL_LogW or something. I will define macros anyways.

4

I tinkered a bit more with the code above, it took me a bit to figure out what LogVerbose and LogDebug were doing (mostly they are just ignored by SDL until the proper priority is set).