System

sfml.default_encoding

Currently, this encoding is used when the user passes a Unicode object to method that will call a SFML method which only supports std::string argument. The user-supplised Unicode object will be encoded with this encoding and the resulting bytes will be passed to SFML. This is mostly for Python 3 users, so they don’t have to use byte strings all the time. Here is the list of valid encodings: http://docs.python.org/py3k/library/codecs.html#standard-encodings

class sfml.Clock

Utility class that measures the elapsed time.

Its provides the most precise time that the underlying OS can achieve (generally microseconds or nanoseconds). It also ensures monotonicity, which means that the returned time can never go backward, even if the system time is changed.

Usage example:

clock = sfml.Clock()
...
time1 = clock.elapsed_time
...
time2 = clock.restart()

The Time object returned by the clock can then be converted to a number of seconds, milliseconds or even microseconds.

elapsed_time

A Time object containing the time elapsed since the last call to restart(), or the construction of the instance if restart() has not been called yet.

restart()

Restart the clock, and return a Time object containing the elapsed time since the clock started.

class sfml.InputStream

This abstract class allows users to define their own file-like input sources from which SFML can load resources.

SFML resource classes like Texture and SoundBuffer provide loadFromFile and loadFromMemory class methods which read data from conventional sources. However, if you have data coming from a different source (over a network, embedded, encrypted, compressed, etc) you can derive your own class from InputStream and load SFML resources with their loadFromStream function.

Warning

Exceptions that occur in the implemented methods won’t be propagated, but printed on sys.stderr (the console, by default). This is because of concerns regarding multithreading and exception propagation. Please keep your methods as simple as possible, and if they don’t work, make sure you read the console.

Usage example:

class ExampleStream(sfml.InputStream):
    def __init__(self, filename):
        sfml.InputStream.__init__(self)
        self.filename = filename
        self.file = open(filename, 'rb')
        self.file.seek(0, 2)
        self.size = self.file.tell()
        self.file.seek(0)

    def get_size(self):
        print('{0}: get_size()'.format(self.filename))
        return self.size

    def read(self, size):
        print('{0}: read({1})'.format(self.filename, size))

        return self.file.read(size)

    def seek(self, position):
        print('{0}: seek({1})'.format(self.filename, position))
        self.file.seek(position)

        return self.tell()

    def tell(self):
        print('{0}: tell()'.format(self.filename))

        return self.file.tell()

    def close(self):
        self.file.close()

# Now you can load textures...
texture_stream = ExampleStream(some_path)
texture = sfml.Texture.load_from_stream(texture_stream)

# Music...
music_stream = ExampleStream('music.ogg')
music = sfml.Music.open_from_stream(music_stream)
music.play()

# Etc.
get_size()

Return the number of bytes available in the stream, or -1 on error.

read(int size)
size is the desired number of bytes to read. The method should
return a string in Python 2, or a bytes object in Python 3. If needed, its length can be smaller than size.
seek(int position)

Change the current position to position, from the beginning of the streal. This method has to return the actual position sought to, or -1 on error.

tell()

Return the current reading position on the stream, or -1 on error.

class sfml.Time(seconds=-1.0, milliseconds=-1, microseconds=-1)

Instead of forcing the user to use a specific time units, SFML uses this class to encapsulate time values. The user can get an actual time value by using the following methods: as_seconds(), as_milliseconds() and as_microseconds(). You can also create your own time objects by calling the constructor with one keyword argument.

Using one keyword argument is equivalent to calling the corresponding function. For example, sfml.seconds(10) == sfml.Time(seconds=10).

This class provides the following special methods:

  • Comparison operators: ==, !=, <, >, <=, >=.
  • Arithmetic operators: +, -, *, /, unary -.
  • str() returns a representation of the number of seconds.
ZERO

Predefind “zero” time value (class attribute).

as_seconds()

Return a float containing the number of seconds for this time object.

as_milliseconds()

Return an int containing the number of milliseconds for this time object.

as_microseconds()

Return an int containing the number of microseconds for this time object.

copy()

Return a new Time object with the same value as self.