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QNX Software Development Platform
QNX SDP is a cross-compiling and debugging environment, including an IDE and command-line tools, for building binary images and programs for target boards running the QNX OS 8.0.
Graphics
Screen Graphics Subsystem Developer's Guide
QNX Screen Graphics Subsystem is a graphics framework that provides all the functionality necessary to develop interactive user experiences.
Windowing
Windows are used to display content and to combine content produced by different renderers. Each of the different renderers can be in the same process, or in another process or processes.
Tutorials
Here are a few simple tutorials and guides to show how you can work with your windows.
Create a child window
Use screen_create_window_type() to create a child window. A window of type SCREEN_CHILD_WINDOW must be associated with a parent so that it can be visible on a display.

QNX Momentics IDE User's Guide
This User's Guide describes version 8.0 of the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that's part of the QNX Tool Suite.
QNX Software Development Platform
QNX SDP is a cross-compiling and debugging environment, including an IDE and command-line tools, for building binary images and programs for target boards running the QNX OS 8.0.
- Quickstart Guide
- System Architecture
  The System Architecture guide accompanies the QNX OS and is intended for both application developers and end-users.
- OS Components & Operations
- Graphics
  - Gestures Library Reference
    The Gestures library provides gesture recognizers to detect gestures through touch events that occur when you place one or more fingers on a touch screen.
  - Image Library Reference
  - Input Events Library Reference
    The Input Events library provides the framework necessary for Screen Graphics Subsystem to communicate with your touch driver.
  - OpenWF Configuration Developer's Guide
    If you are integrating a new display, you must configure and provide the parameters of your display based on its specifications via the OpenWF Display Configuration API (Wfdcfg Library).
  - OpenWF Display Server User's Guide
    The OpenWF Display Server (wfd-server) is a resource manager that provides applications the ability to show image buffers directly to the display controller via the OpenWF Display API.
  - Screen Graphics Subsystem Developer's Guide
    QNX Screen Graphics Subsystem is a graphics framework that provides all the functionality necessary to develop interactive user experiences.
    - Application Development
      The Screen Graphics Subsystem is based on a client/server model where an application is a client that's requesting graphics services from the server (Screen). It includes a composited windowing system as one of these services, which means all application rendering is performed on off-screen buffers, which then can be later used to update the display.
    - Buffers
      A buffer is an area of memory that stores pixel data. Multiple buffers can be associated with a window or stream, but only one buffer can be associated with a pixmap.
    - Rendering
      Rendering refers to the generation of an image.
    - Windowing
      Windows are used to display content and to combine content produced by different renderers. Each of the different renderers can be in the same process, or in another process or processes.
      - Window Groups
        Window groups establish a hierarchy of windows that consists of a parent and at least one child window.
      - Window Geometry
        A window's geometry is defined by a set of properties that instruct how your window and its contents are displayed. The set of properties that define a window's geometry can be categorized into two groups: display-related and content-related properties.
      - Window Management
        Window managers and parents have the responsibility of managing the other windows, which includes handling events from application and child windows accordingly.
      - Tutorials
        Here are a few simple tutorials and guides to show how you can work with your windows.
        Create a window
        Use screen_create_window_type() to create an application window.
        Create a child window
        Use screen_create_window_type() to create a child window. A window of type SCREEN_CHILD_WINDOW must be associated with a parent so that it can be visible on a display.
        Zooming with windows
        Several window properties control how Screen displays your window buffer(s) (source image).
    - Resource Sharing
      Resource sharing allows the access of buffers and their content within the same application and process, or between different applications and processes.
    - Displaying the contents of windows
      Displays are used to show the contents of your windows on physical hardware such as a computer monitor or a touchscreen display.
    - Cursor Movement
      There is more than one way to set up cursor movement between multiple displays.
    - Input
      One key aspect of Screen that enables the development of fully interactive user experiences is the functionality to support input events and to deliver input and notifications back to applications.
    - Event Handling
      Screen events, which include both input and general events, are associated with a given context and are generally handled in your main application's loop.
    - Asynchronous Notifications
      Applications can request to be asynchronously notified of specific Screen events by way of a sigevent.
    - Permissions and Privileges
    - Security policies
      This section on Screen security policies is intended for system integrators who are responsible for implementing and enforcing security policies that create and maintain a trusted execution environment.
    - Debugging
      Debugging graphics isn't easy. Figuring out where the problem is can be challenging because of the many aspects and components when it comes to graphics. The goal of this chapter is to show the tools and techniques that you can use to help with your investigation.
    - Wayland on Screen
      Running Wayland on the Screen Graphics Subsystem provides a C library implementation of the core Wayland communication library.
    - Utilities and binaries
      Screen includes some utilities and binaries to help with calibration, debugging, and demonstrating features.
    - Screen library reference
      Two important aspects to note when using Screen are function safety and function execution types.
    - Configuring Screen
      You configure libraries, drivers, and Screen parameters using the configuration file, graphics.conf.
    - Glossary
  - Video Capture Developer's Guide
    The video capture framework provides applications the ability to capture frames from a video input source. These frames can be passed to a graphics component such as Screen for display.
- Programming
- System Security Guide
  The QNX System Security Guide is intended for both system integrators who are responsible for the security of a QNX OS system and developers who want to create a QNX OS resource manager free from vulnerabilities.
- Utilities & Libraries
- Migrating to QNX OS 8.0
QNX Software in the Cloud
QNX Software in the Cloud enables developers to use the QNX OS in the Amazon cloud environment.
QNX Toolkit for Visual Studio Code
This User's Guide describes the QNX^® Toolkit for Visual Studio Code. The guide introduces you to the QNX Toolkit by explaining the QNX development environment and how to build, run, and debug your QNX^® Operating System (OS) applications and systems.
QNX Hypervisor User's Guide
This User's Guide explains the QNX hypervisor architecture and provides instructions for installing and running a QNX Hypervisor system, changing system components and configuration, and using hypervisor features such as virtual devices (vdevs).
Typographical Conventions, Support, and Licensing
This section describes the typographical conventions used throughout the documentation, explains how to obtain technical support, and provides some information about licensing.

Create a child window

Graphics and Screen4.0 (8.x)Screen Graphics Subsystem Developer's GuideAPIProgrammingUtilities

Use screen_create_window_type() to create a child window. A window of type SCREEN_CHILD_WINDOW must be associated with a parent so that it can be visible on a display.

To create a child window:

Create a variable for each of the context and window instances

screen_context_t    screen_context = 0;
screen_window_t     screen_child_window = 0;

Create a context. The context describes the relationship between the application and the underlying windowing system.
```
screen_create_context(&screen_context, SCREEN_APPLICATION_CONTEXT);
                    
```
Create a child window. The screen_create_window_type() function takes the window and context variables and an integer representing the window type. In this case, the window is of type SCREEN_CHILD_WINDOW.
```
int wintype = SCREEN_CHILD_WINDOW;
screen_create_window_type(&screen_child_window, screen_context, wintype );
                    
```
Join the parent's window group. The window_group_name must be determined by the parent window. Usually, this is the SCREEN_PROPERTY_ID property of the parent window.
```
screen_join_window_group(screen_child_window, window_group_name);
                    
```

Page updated: August 11, 2025