graphics.h Runner — One-Click Setup

Compile and run C++ graphics.h (BGI / WinBGIm / SDL_bgi) programs in VS Code — with one keypress. One command prepares everything from zero: the compiler itself, the graphics library, the linker flags and the native VS Code run integration. No admin rights required for the graphics library.

#include <graphics.h>

int main ( ) {
    initwindow(640, 480);
    setcolor(YELLOW);
    setfillstyle(SOLID_FILL, RED);
    bar(80, 80, 280, 200);
    outtextxy(200, 300, (char*)"Hello, graphics.h!");
    getch();
    closegraph();
    return 0;
}

Press Ctrl+Alt+R — compiled with the right flags, the graphics window opens.

Install

Extensions view → search "graphics.h Runner" → Install, or:

code --install-extension mythos0-labs.graphics-h-runner

Quick start — from zero to a graphics window

1. Command Palette → graphics.h: Complete Run Setup.
2. It does the rest, per OS:
   • Windows — installs a MinGW-w64 g++ (winget, or a checksum-verified direct download), then installs WinBGIM and wires every path. Per-user, no admin rights.
   • Linux — prints one copy-paste command for the system packages, then downloads, patches, builds and installs SDL_bgi into a user prefix (no sudo needed for the library).
   • macOS — xcode-select / brew install sdl2 guidance + the same user-prefix build.
3. When it says graphics.h is ready, open any .cpp with <graphics.h> and press Ctrl+Alt+R.

What you get

• One-click setup & self-repair — compiler + graphics library installed and verified live; anything needing a password is handed to the terminal as a copy-paste command. If a compiler path goes stale or a library install breaks, the extension heals it and retries automatically.
• Native VS Code run (F5 / Ctrl+Alt+N / Ctrl+Shift+B) — the standard workflows use the same toolchain through the built-in graphics-h debug adapter, Code Runner and a default build task. All writes are merge-safe, and uninstalling the extension restores your original settings.
• 21 bundled programs — the Game Suite: Snake (top-5 score database), 2-Player Football (hand-rasterized pitch, AI keepers, two halves) and the Nokia-style Bounce (six levels, springs, spikes, synthesized sounds) — plus the Computer Graphics Lab: a graded ladder from zero to advanced (First Window, Colors & Pixels, Shapes & Text, Keyboard & Mouse, Animation Loop, Sprites, Scanline Fill, Bézier Curves, Fractals, 3-D Wireframe Cube) alongside the classics (Coordinate Viewer, Pixel Inspector, DDA, Bresenham line & circle, Midpoint Ellipse, 2D Transformations, Cohen–Sutherland Clipping). Every lab narrates its steps in the terminal.
• Setup Doctor — probes the compiler and every library candidate by actually compiling a graphics.h program, then reports exactly what is missing with a one-click fix.
• Compiler errors in the Problems panel — g++ output becomes clickable file:line diagnostics.
• Terminal input & output — cin / scanf / getch() work in the one persistent runner terminal; Ctrl+Alt+S stops the running program.
• Activity-bar panel — live Ready/Not-ready pill, full action grid incl. Reset Setup (reverts everything Setup changed at any time), all programs as one-click Run/Open cards, and a searchable graphics.h cheat sheet (81 entries) behind the ? button.
• Messy-settings healing — quoted paths, env vars, ~, directory-instead-of-exe paths, stale include/lib dirs: recognized and corrected on every run.
• Snippets — gfxprog, gfx-anim, gfx-mouse, gfx-kbd, gfx-text, gfx-bar.
• Celebrations (optional) — confetti on compile success, an error overlay with the first compiler messages on failure, and a bundled Fireworks Simulator (click-to-burst). No network requests; disable with graphics-h-runner.celebrations.enabled.

Architecture

Everything above funnels through one command hub in src/extension.ts into eight feature modules, all driving the same per-user toolchain:

              ┌───────────────────────────────┐
              │  your graphics.h program.cpp  │
              └───────────────┬───────────────┘
              ┌───────────────┴────────────────┐
              ▼                                ▼
    ┌───────────────────┐          ┌───────────────────────┐
    │      Compile      │          │          Run          │
    │  g++ + WinBGIm /  │          │  persistent terminal  │
    │   SDL_bgi flags   │          │    stdin / stdout     │
    └─────────┬─────────┘          └───────────┬───────────┘
              └─────►  graphics window  ◄──────┘
          (one keypress: Ctrl+Alt+R — zero config)

Around that pipeline live the supporting modules: Complete Setup & the Setup Doctor (install and verify the toolchain by really compiling a graphics program), the native VS Code run integration (graphics-h debug adapter, Code Runner, a default build task), compiler diagnostics in the Problems panel, settings healing & uninstall restore, the activity-bar panel with its programs library and cheat sheet, and the optional celebrations.

The resilience wiring is part of the design, not an afterthought: the panel webview is watched by a visibility-gated liveness watchdog (silent views are never declared dead), dead pages are re-rendered automatically, and if the webview truly cannot load a native TreeView copy of the whole panel takes over — with an escalating background repair ladder that brings the real panel back on its own.

Commands & keybindings

Settings

Troubleshooting

• "could not run g++" — run Complete Setup, or point compilerPath at your compiler.
• Doctor says a probe failed — click Fix automatically, or follow the printed fix.
• Black window on a self-built SDL_bgi 3.x — set SDL_BGI_RATE=auto, or re-run Complete Setup to get the patched build.
• undefined reference to graphics symbols — your compiler can't use the installed library (typical: legacy 32-bit MinGW.org g++); Complete Setup installs a compatible 64-bit one.

Telemetry

Crash and error reports are collected through Sentry only when VS Code telemetry is enabled. Never collected: your source code, file contents, compiler output, or anything you type; user-identifying path segments are scrubbed before anything leaves your machine.

License

MIT — © 2026 MYTHOS0