Surface Creation on Microsoft Windows

We're going to be writing the Windows specific code for getting a surface in this section.

Surface Create Information

Before we create a surface, we must specify information ahead of time like most Vulkan objects. We'll be using VkWin32SurfaceCreateInfoKHR.

Definition for VkWin32SurfaceCreateInfoKHR:

typedef struct VkWin32SurfaceCreateInfoKHR {
  VkStructureType              sType;
  const void*                  pNext;
  VkWin32SurfaceCreateFlagsKHR flags;
  HINSTANCE                    hinstance;
  HWND                         hwnd;
} VkWin32SurfaceCreateInfoKHR

Documentation for VkWin32SurfaceCreateInfoKHR:

• sType is the type of this structure and must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_WIN32_SURFACE_CREATE_INFO_KHR.
• pNext is NULL or a pointer to an extension-specific structure.
• flags is reserved for future use.
• hinstance and hwnd are the WIN32 HINSTANCE and HWND for the window to associate the surface with.

Usage for VkWin32SurfaceCreateInfoKHR:

VkWin32SurfaceCreateInfoKHR surfaceCreateInfo;
surfaceCreateInfo.sType = VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_WIN32_SURFACE_CREATE_INFO_KHR;
surfaceCreateInfo.pNext = NULL;
surfaceCreateInfo.flags = 0;
surfaceCreateInfo.hinstance = windowInstance;
surfaceCreateInfo.hwnd = window;

Creating the Surface

Now we can create the surface. We can make a call to the vkCreateWin32SurfaceKHR method.

Definition for vkCreateWin32SurfaceKHR:

VkResult vkCreateWin32SurfaceKHR(
  VkInstance                         instance,
  const VkWin32SurfaceCreateInfoKHR* pCreateInfo,
  const VkAllocationCallbacks*       pAllocator,
  VkSurfaceKHR*                      pSurface
)

Documentation for vkCreateWin32SurfaceKHR:

• instance is the instance to associate the surface with.
• pCreateInfo is a pointer to an instance of the VkWin32SurfaceCreateInfoKHR structure containing parameters affecting the creation of the surface object.
• pAllocator is the allocator used for host memory allocated for the surface object when there is no more specific allocator available.
• pSurface points to a VkSurfaceKHR handle in which the created surface object is returned.

Usage for vkCreateWin32SurfaceKHR:

VkResult result =
    vkCreateWin32SurfaceKHR(instance, &surfaceCreateInfo, NULL, &surface);
assert(result == VK_SUCCESS);

Please go back to the Chapter 5 page to read about determining the color formats and color spaces for the surface.