Data Fields
ngf_stage_type	type

const void *	content

uint32_t	content_length

const char *	debug_name

const char *	entry_point_name

Detailed Description

Describes a programmable shader stage.

Field Documentation

◆ content

const void* ngf_shader_stage_info::content

This shall be a pointer to a memory buffer containing the code for the shader stage.

The specific contents of the buffer depend on which backend nicegraf is being used with:

for the Vulkan backend, nicegraf expects the SPIR-V bytecode for the shader stage.
for the Metal backend, nicegraf expects the source code for the shader stage in the Metal Shading Language.

Additionally, the Metal backend expects the code to contain a special comment, mapping all <descriptor set, binding> pairs to the native Metal argument table slots. The comment shall be a C-style block comment - beginning with a forward slash, followed by an asterisk - containing the following word:

NGF_NATIVE_BINDING_MAP

followed by a newline character.

Each of the following lines until the end of the comment shall have the following format:

(s b) : m

where s is the set number, b is the binding number within the set, and m is the index of the corresponding resource in Metal's argument table.

For example, let's say the Metal shader refers to index 3 in the texture argument table. Adding the following line to the binding map comment

(0 1) : 3

would tell the nicegraf metal backend to use the third slot of the texture argument table when an image is bound to set 0, binding 1 using ngf_cmd_bind_resources.

When compiling HLSL shaders using nicegraf-shaderc, the comment with the binding map is generated automatically.

◆ content_length

uint32_t ngf_shader_stage_info::content_length

The number of bytes in the ngf_shader_stage_info::content buffer.

◆ debug_name

const char* ngf_shader_stage_info::debug_name

Optional name, will appear in debug logs, may be NULL.

◆ entry_point_name

const char* ngf_shader_stage_info::entry_point_name

Entry point name for this shader stage.

◆ type

ngf_stage_type ngf_shader_stage_info::type

Stage type (vert/frag/etc.)