From 4c94aebc0d243461a6221c422d475b3c693c9222 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Gerhard de Clercq <11624490+Gerharddc@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Sat, 16 May 2026 20:31:12 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] Migrate Zig example to translate-c

---
 README.md       | 23 ++++++++++++++++++-----
 build.zig       |  9 +++++++++
 src/example.zig |  4 +---
 src/sdl3.h      |  1 +
 4 files changed, 29 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 src/sdl3.h

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d16d31ed..ac6fc3aa 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -19,21 +19,34 @@ You can add SDL3 to your project like this by updating `build.zig.zon` from the
 zig fetch --save <url-of-this-repo>
 ```
 
-And then you can add it to your `build.zig` like this:
+You'll then want to create a C header file, say `src/sdl3.h` like:
+```c
+#include <SDL3/SDL.h>
+```
+
+Next you can add the following to your `build.zig` file:
 ```zig
 const sdl = b.dependency("sdl", .{
     .optimize = optimize,
     .target = target,
 });
-exe.root_module.linkLibrary(sdl.artifact("SDL3"));
+const sdl3_lib = sdl.artifact("SDL3");
+
+const sdl3_h = b.addTranslateC(.{
+    .root_source_file = b.path("src/sdl3.h"),
+    .target = target,
+    .optimize = optimize,
+});
+sdl3_h.addSystemIncludePath(sdl3_lib.getEmittedIncludeTree());
+
+exe.root_module.linkLibrary(sdl3_lib);
+exe.root_module.addImport("sdl3_h", sdl3_h.createModule());
 ```
 
 Finally, you can use SDL's C API from Zig like this:
 ```zig
 const std = @import("std");
-const c = @cImport({
-    @cInclude("SDL3/SDL.h");
-});
+const c = @import("sdl3_h");
 if (!c.SDL_Init(c.SDL_INIT_VIDEO)) {
     std.debug.panic("SDL_Init failed: {s}\n", .{c.SDL_GetError()});
 }
diff --git a/build.zig b/build.zig
index 05437873..d105bfa6 100644
--- a/build.zig
+++ b/build.zig
@@ -116,6 +116,14 @@ pub fn build(b: *std.Build) !void {
     // Add the Wayland scanner step
     linux.addWaylandScannerStep(b);
 
+    // Translate the C header for the example
+    const sdl3_h = b.addTranslateC(.{
+        .root_source_file = b.path("src/sdl3.h"),
+        .target = target,
+        .optimize = optimize,
+    });
+    sdl3_h.addSystemIncludePath(lib.getEmittedIncludeTree());
+
     // Add the example
     const example = b.addExecutable(.{
         .name = "example",
@@ -126,6 +134,7 @@ pub fn build(b: *std.Build) !void {
         }),
     });
     example.root_module.linkLibrary(lib);
+    example.root_module.addImport("sdl3_h", sdl3_h.createModule());
 
     const build_example_step = b.step("example", "Build the example app");
     build_example_step.dependOn(&example.step);
diff --git a/src/example.zig b/src/example.zig
index 80444525..e2a96176 100644
--- a/src/example.zig
+++ b/src/example.zig
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 const std = @import("std");
-const c = @cImport({
-    @cInclude("SDL3/SDL.h");
-});
+const c = @import("sdl3_h");
 
 const Io = std.Io;
 
diff --git a/src/sdl3.h b/src/sdl3.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ba66a343
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/sdl3.h
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+#include <SDL3/SDL.h>