Developer tips

General Programming Tips

• Keep your code commented throughout; it helps others help you.
• Any unused code should be deleted out of the program, unless it is a program for teaching people.
• If someone does the same thing in a more efficient way (i.e. faster and/or in less code), accept it and learn from it.
• It is a good idea to release your app open source so others can learn from your code.
• To keep things tidy, make your application store files in the data folder on the root of the SD card (fat0:\data\XXXXX, where XXXXX is the name of your app).

Code Snippets

Video Auto-Detect Routine

The libogc included in DevkitPPC r15 does this for you with one function call. Here is the video detect code from the DevKitPro Wii example.

#include <gccore.h>
static GXRModeObj *rmode = NULL;
// ...
rmode = VIDEO_GetPreferredMode(NULL);

if( CONF_GetAspectRatio() )
{
	rmode->viWidth = 678;
	rmode->viXOrigin = (VI_MAX_WIDTH_PAL - 678)/2;
}
VIDEO_Configure(rmode);

Exit to Loader

It's a good idea to add some way to return to the loader, otherwise you have to reboot your Wii to exit.

// Just call the exit() function to go back to the loader
// Returning from main also works, since that calls exit for you
    #include <stdlib.h>
    // ...
    exit(0);

How to use the Wiimote

A separate article is available: How to use the Wiimote.

Reboot Wii

Use:

#include <gccore.h>
// ...
SYS_ResetSystem(SYS_RESTART,0,0);

Or use SYS_RETURNTOMENU for a "soft" return to the system menu, SYS_POWEROFF to shut down the wii (automatically to the appropriate Idle or Standby mode, depending on the WC24 setting), or SYS_POWEROFF_STANDBY or _IDLE to specify the mode and override the system setting.