global images?

My approach to this is a generic image handler type 'TImg' that keeps track of all loaded image files and offers a simple interface to the user to fetch the images without having to worry if the file has already been loaded or not.

With this you can simply call TImg.LoadImg("filename") wherever you wish in the program, and it actually loads the image only if it hasn't been loaded yet. Otherwise it just returns the preloaded TImage.

The idea is not to use it in the main loop, but call it in the creation of the entity represented by the image, and store the returned TImage within the created entity instance.

Type TImg
	Global g_mediaPath:String = "media/"
	Global g_L_imageFiles:TList
	Field _image:TImage		' container field for the image itself
	Field _filename:String	' filename of the media file in the media directory
	
	Method GetFileName:String() 
		Return _fileName
	End Method
	
	Method GetImage:TImage() 
		Return _image
	End Method
	
	' LoadImg returns a TImage matching a filename string. 
	Function LoadImg:TImage(filename:String, automid:Int = True) 
		AutoImageFlags MASKEDIMAGE | FILTEREDIMAGE | MIPMAPPEDIMAGE	' flags For LoadImage()

		If Not g_L_imageFiles Then g_L_imageFiles = CreateList() 
		
		' if the file has already been loaded, return it instead of reloading it
		For Local img:TImg = EachIn g_L_imageFiles
			If img.GetFileName() = filename Then Return img.GetImage() 
		Next
		
		AutoMidHandle automid
		Local image:TImage = LoadImage(g_mediaPath + filename) 
		If Not image Then Return Null
		
		Local img:TImg = TImg.Create(image, filename) 
		Return img._image
	End Function
	
	' finds a previously loaded image and removes it from the image list
	Function UnLoadImg(filename:String)
		If Not g_L_imageFiles Then Return
		For Local img:TImg = EachIn g_L_imageFiles
			If img.GetFileName() = filename Then 
				img._image = Null
				g_L_imageFiles.Remove(img)
			EndIf
		Next	
	EndFunction
	
	Function Create:TImg(image:TImage, filename:String) 
		If Not g_L_imageFiles Then g_L_imageFiles = CreateList() 
		Local img:TImg = New TImg
		img._filename = filename
		img._image = image
		g_L_imageFiles.AddLast(img) 
		Return img
	End Function
End Type