Vulkan initialization with GLFW and VK_CPP

main.cpp

// vulkan_fw_test.cpp : Defines the entry point for the console application.
//
#pragma comment(lib,"vulkan-1.lib") //DLL version
#pragma comment(lib,"glfw3.lib")

#define GLFW_INCLUDE_VULKAN //as required by GLFW
#include "stdafx.h" // optional headers
#include "vulkan\vk_cpp.hpp" //copy this header to your VulkanSDK include folder
#include "GLFW\glfw3.h" //GLFW header

#include <iostream>

using namespace std; //optionally using namespace vk;
int main()
{
	if (!glfwInit()) //Initialize GLFW
	{
		cout << "GLFW not initialized." << endl;
		abort();
	}
	if (!glfwVulkanSupported()) //Any Vulkan-related function requires GLFW initialized
	{
		cout << "Vulkan not supported." << endl;
		abort();
	}
	uint32_t ext_count{}; // an output placeholder
	auto ext_list = glfwGetRequiredInstanceExtensions(&ext_count);

	for (int i = 0; i < ext_count; ++i) //on Windows, ext_count >=2
	{
		cout << ext_list[i] << endl;
	}

	//feed extension list into InstanceCreateInfo struct in prepare for Vulkan instance creation
	vk::InstanceCreateInfo ifo{ vk::InstanceCreateFlags(), nullptr, 0, nullptr, ext_count, ext_list };
	glfwDefaultWindowHints();
	glfwWindowHint(GLFW_CLIENT_API, GLFW_NO_API); // Comment out this if you need OpenGL also
	GLFWwindow* hWnd = glfwCreateWindow(640, 480, "Foobar", NULL, NULL); // The usual window
	auto inst = vk::createInstance(ifo); // Vulkan instance creation
	vk::SurfaceKHR surf{};
	auto psurf = VkSurfaceKHR(surf); // you can cast vk::* object to Vk* using a type cast
	auto r = glfwCreateWindowSurface(VkInstance(inst), hWnd, NULL, &psurf); //VK_SUCCESS is somehow...0
	// Draw stuff here

	// Finish drawing
	vkDestroySurfaceKHR((VkInstance)inst, VkSurfaceKHR(surf), nullptr);//vkcpp seems have no destructor for surface object
	glfwDestroyWindow(hWnd); //Destroy the surface before the window
	glfwTerminate(); // Free GLFW resource
    return 0;
}

Thanks for this! I didn't know you could obtain the actual Vulkan handle by simply type casting.

By the way, you can destroy the surface by calling destroySurfaceKHR on the vk::Instance:
inst.destroySurfaceKHR(surf);
instead of
vkDestroySurfaceKHR((VkInstance)inst, VkSurfaceKHR(surf), nullptr);

Thanks for this great gist, helped me a lot figuring out the basic glfw setup! 👍

One question: You have to copy the surface created via glfwCreateWindowSurface(..., &psurf) back to surf, don't you? E.g. surf = psurf;, since psurf does not update the handle stored in surf.

This also means that right now your call to vkDestorySurfaceKHR(...) / inst.destroySurfaceKHR(surf) does not destroy the surface created via the glfw call, does it?

Thanks for this great gist, helped me a lot figuring out the basic glfw setup! 👍

One question: You have to copy the surface created via glfwCreateWindowSurface(..., &psurf) back to surf, don't you? E.g. surf = psurf;, since psurf does not update the handle stored in surf.

This also means that right now your call to vkDestorySurfaceKHR(...) / inst.destroySurfaceKHR(surf) does not destroy the surface created via the glfw call, does it?

Hi! Can confirm for anyone trying to do this, yes you do need to cast back. My code looks like this:

vk::SurfaceKHR surface;
/* ... */
void createSurface(vk::Instance& instance) {
    // Cast to VkSurfaceKHR for GLFW to understand
    auto vkSurface = VkSurfaceKHR(surface);
    if (glfwCreateWindowSurface(instance, glfwWindow, nullptr, &vkSurface) != VK_SUCCESS)
        throw std::runtime_error("Failed to create window surface");
    // Remember to cast back to vk::SurfaceKHR so vulkan keeps the handle
    surface = vk::SurfaceKHR(vkSurface);
}
void deleteSurface(vk::Instance& instance) {
    instance.destroySurfaceKHR(surface);
}

Note to anyone who find this gist that I wrote it many years ago, at early days of vkcpp. Now vkcpp has been renamed to vkhpp, included in Vulkan SDK by default, and probably changed its internals quite a lot. So, you should consult examples and documentation from the SDK first... If you find those official documentation difficult to comprehend, curse the KH group.(The video programming community lacks a decent writer... almost all of them just know how to write man page)

I barely do any programming anymore, so I can't comment on the code