Vulkan reference

Overview

This is the reference documentation for Vulkan related functions and types.

For more task-oriented information, see the vulkan_guide.

// typedefs

typedef void (*GLFWvkproc)(void);

// global functions

GLFWAPI int glfwVulkanSupported(void);
GLFWAPI const char** glfwGetRequiredInstanceExtensions(uint32_t* count);

Typedefs

typedef void (*GLFWvkproc)(void)

Vulkan API function pointer type.

Generic function pointer used for returning Vulkan API function pointers without forcing a cast from a regular pointer.

Added in version 3.2.

Global Functions

GLFWAPI int glfwVulkanSupported(void)

Returns whether the Vulkan loader has been found.

This function returns whether the Vulkan loader has been found. This check is performed by glfwInit.

The availability of a Vulkan loader does not by itself guarantee that window surface creation or even device creation is possible. Call glfwGetRequiredInstanceExtensions to check whether the extensions necessary for Vulkan surface creation are available and glfwGetPhysicalDevicePresentationSupport to check whether a queue family of a physical device supports image presentation.

@errors Possible errors include GLFW_NOT_INITIALIZED.

@thread_safety This function may be called from any thread.

Added in version 3.2.

Returns:

GLFW_TRUE if Vulkan is available, or GLFW_FALSE otherwise.

See also:

vulkan_support

GLFWAPI const char** glfwGetRequiredInstanceExtensions(uint32_t* count)

Returns the Vulkan instance extensions required by GLFW.

This function returns an array of names of Vulkan instance extensions required by GLFW for creating Vulkan surfaces for GLFW windows. If successful, the list will always contains VK_KHR_surface, so if you don’t require any additional extensions you can pass this list directly to the VkInstanceCreateInfo struct.

If Vulkan is not available on the machine, this function returns NULL and generates a GLFW_API_UNAVAILABLE error. Call glfwVulkanSupported to check whether Vulkan is available.

If Vulkan is available but no set of extensions allowing window surface creation was found, this function returns NULL. You may still use Vulkan for off-screen rendering and compute work.

@errors Possible errors include GLFW_NOT_INITIALIZED and GLFW_API_UNAVAILABLE.

Additional extensions may be required by future versions of GLFW. You should check if any extensions you wish to enable are already in the returned array, as it is an error to specify an extension more than once in the VkInstanceCreateInfo struct.

@pointer_lifetime The returned array is allocated and freed by GLFW. You should not free it yourself. It is guaranteed to be valid only until the library is terminated.

@thread_safety This function may be called from any thread.

Added in version 3.2.

Parameters:

count

Where to store the number of extensions in the returned array. This is set to zero if an error occurred.

Returns:

An array of ASCII encoded extension names, or NULL if an error occurred.