I want to create a piece of software, that has a menu like the standard windows menus bars and supports opening the windows explorer where can i look up files paths etc. At the same time i want to render something to another section of the screen.
Think of a program where you open a .obj (3D object) via the windows explorer from a dropdown menu; then it loads into the program and then it will be rendered to one half of the window, while having some sliders and options on the other.
I know how to create an SDL2 window and use OpenGL in it, but i cannot seem to make the connection from an SDL2 window and a windows window (i think they are of the same type though). In my understanding SDL2 is just wrapper around the standard winapi while being able to do the same on linux. (waiting to get corrected)
First off, can SDL2 do what i want? or do i need to learn the winapi in addition? (it doesn't need to be portable to linux or mac)
Are there better alternatives? (what do you use?)
Preferably something more low level, because if prefer knowing what i am doing.
And of course, if you can recommend some online resources that would be great.
SDL is
Simple DirectMedia Layer is a cross-platform development library designed to provide low level access to audio, keyboard, mouse, joystick, and graphics hardware via OpenGL and Direct3D.
While SDL is capable of create a simple window it does not provide more complex ones, like controls for input or file handling.
It's up to you to create and manage those controls, for example using the Windows win API.
There are some good API's that you can use instead of low level win API: Qt, wxWidgets, .NET, etc.