Vulkan® 1.0.112 - A Specification (with KHR extensions)

29. Window System Integration (WSI)

This chapter discusses the window system integration (WSI) between the Vulkan API and the various forms of displaying the results of rendering to a user. Since the Vulkan API can be used without displaying results, WSI is provided through the use of optional Vulkan extensions. This chapter provides an overview of WSI. See the appendix for additional details of each WSI extension, including which extensions must be enabled in order to use each of the functions described in this chapter.

29.1. WSI Platform

A platform is an abstraction for a window system, OS, etc. Some examples include MS Windows, Android, and Wayland. The Vulkan API may be integrated in a unique manner for each platform.

The Vulkan API does not define any type of platform object. Platform-specific WSI extensions are defined, which contain platform-specific functions for using WSI. Use of these extensions is guarded by preprocessor symbols as defined in the Window System-Specific Header Control appendix.

In order for an application to be compiled to use WSI with a given platform, it must either:

#define the appropriate preprocessor symbol prior to including the vulkan.h header file, or
include vulkan_core.h and any native platform headers, followed by the appropriate platform-specific header.

The preprocessor symbols and platform-specific headers are defined in the Window System Extensions and Headers table.

Each platform-specific extension is an instance extension. The application must enable instance extensions with vkCreateInstance before using them.

29.2. WSI Surface

Native platform surface or window objects are abstracted by surface objects, which are represented by VkSurfaceKHR handles:

VK_DEFINE_NON_DISPATCHABLE_HANDLE(VkSurfaceKHR)

The VK_KHR_surface extension declares the VkSurfaceKHR object, and provides a function for destroying VkSurfaceKHR objects. Separate platform-specific extensions each provide a function for creating a VkSurfaceKHR object for the respective platform. From the application’s perspective this is an opaque handle, just like the handles of other Vulkan objects.

Note

On certain platforms, the Vulkan loader and ICDs may have conventions that treat the handle as a pointer to a struct that contains the platform-specific information about the surface. This will be described in the documentation for the loader-ICD interface, and in the vk_icd.h header file of the LoaderAndTools source-code repository. This does not affect the loader-layer interface; layers may wrap VkSurfaceKHR objects.

29.2.1. Android Platform

To create a VkSurfaceKHR object for an Android native window, call:

VkResult vkCreateAndroidSurfaceKHR(
    VkInstance                                  instance,
    const VkAndroidSurfaceCreateInfoKHR*        pCreateInfo,
    const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator,
    VkSurfaceKHR*                               pSurface);

instance is the instance to associate the surface with.
pCreateInfo is a pointer to an instance of the VkAndroidSurfaceCreateInfoKHR 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 (see Memory Allocation).
pSurface points to a VkSurfaceKHR handle in which the created surface object is returned.

During the lifetime of a surface created using a particular ANativeWindow handle any attempts to create another surface for the same ANativeWindow and any attempts to connect to the same ANativeWindow through other platform mechanisms will fail.

Note

In particular, only one VkSurfaceKHR can exist at a time for a given window. Similarly, a native window cannot be used by both a VkSurfaceKHR and EGLSurface simultaneously.

If successful, vkCreateAndroidSurfaceKHR increments the ANativeWindow’s reference count, and vkDestroySurfaceKHR will decrement it.

On Android, when a swapchain’s imageExtent does not match the surface’s currentExtent, the presentable images will be scaled to the surface’s dimensions during presentation. minImageExtent is (1,1), and maxImageExtent is the maximum image size supported by the consumer. For the system compositor, currentExtent is the window size (i.e. the consumer’s preferred size).

Valid Usage (Implicit)

instance must be a valid VkInstance handle
pCreateInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAndroidSurfaceCreateInfoKHR structure
If pAllocator is not NULL, pAllocator must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure
pSurface must be a valid pointer to a VkSurfaceKHR handle

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_NATIVE_WINDOW_IN_USE_KHR

The VkAndroidSurfaceCreateInfoKHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkAndroidSurfaceCreateInfoKHR {
    VkStructureType                   sType;
    const void*                       pNext;
    VkAndroidSurfaceCreateFlagsKHR    flags;
    struct ANativeWindow*             window;
} VkAndroidSurfaceCreateInfoKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to an extension-specific structure.
flags is reserved for future use.
window is a pointer to the ANativeWindow to associate the surface with.

Valid Usage

window must point to a valid Android ANativeWindow.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_ANDROID_SURFACE_CREATE_INFO_KHR
pNext must be NULL
flags must be 0

To remove an unnecessary compile-time dependency, an incomplete type definition of ANativeWindow is provided in the Vulkan headers:

struct ANativeWindow;

The actual ANativeWindow type is defined in Android NDK headers.

29.2.2. Wayland Platform

To create a VkSurfaceKHR object for a Wayland surface, call:

VkResult vkCreateWaylandSurfaceKHR(
    VkInstance                                  instance,
    const VkWaylandSurfaceCreateInfoKHR*        pCreateInfo,
    const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator,
    VkSurfaceKHR*                               pSurface);

instance is the instance to associate the surface with.
pCreateInfo is a pointer to an instance of the VkWaylandSurfaceCreateInfoKHR 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 (see Memory Allocation).
pSurface points to a VkSurfaceKHR handle in which the created surface object is returned.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

instance must be a valid VkInstance handle
pCreateInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkWaylandSurfaceCreateInfoKHR structure
If pAllocator is not NULL, pAllocator must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure
pSurface must be a valid pointer to a VkSurfaceKHR handle

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

The VkWaylandSurfaceCreateInfoKHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkWaylandSurfaceCreateInfoKHR {
    VkStructureType                   sType;
    const void*                       pNext;
    VkWaylandSurfaceCreateFlagsKHR    flags;
    struct wl_display*                display;
    struct wl_surface*                surface;
} VkWaylandSurfaceCreateInfoKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to an extension-specific structure.
flags is reserved for future use.
display and surface are pointers to the Wayland wl_display and wl_surface to associate the surface with.

Valid Usage

display must point to a valid Wayland wl_display.
surface must point to a valid Wayland wl_surface.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_WAYLAND_SURFACE_CREATE_INFO_KHR
pNext must be NULL
flags must be 0

On Wayland, currentExtent is the special value (0xFFFFFFFF, 0xFFFFFFFF), indicating that the surface size will be determined by the extent of a swapchain targeting the surface. Whatever the application sets a swapchain’s imageExtent to will be the size of the window, after the first image is presented. minImageExtent is (1,1), and maxImageExtent is the maximum supported surface size. Any calls to vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfacePresentModesKHR on a surface created with vkCreateWaylandSurfaceKHR are required to return VK_PRESENT_MODE_MAILBOX_KHR as one of the valid present modes.

Some Vulkan functions may send protocol over the specified wl_display connection when using a swapchain or presentable images created from a VkSurfaceKHR referring to a wl_surface. Applications must therefore ensure that both the wl_display and the wl_surface remain valid for the lifetime of any VkSwapchainKHR objects created from a particular wl_display and wl_surface. Also, calling vkQueuePresentKHR will result in Vulkan sending wl_surface.commit requests to the underlying wl_surface of each VkSwapchainKHR objects referenced by pPresentInfo. If the swapchain is created with a present mode of VK_PRESENT_MODE_MAILBOX_KHR or VK_PRESENT_MODE_IMMEDIATE_KHR, then the corresponding wl_surface.attach, wl_surface.damage, and wl_surface.commit request must be issued by the implementation during the call to vkQueuePresentKHR and must not be issued by the implementation outside of vkQueuePresentKHR. This ensures that any Wayland requests sent by the client after the call to vkQueuePresentKHR returns will be received by the compositor after the wl_surface.commit. Regardless of the mode of swapchain creation, a new wl_event_queue must be created for each successful vkCreateWaylandSurfaceKHR call, and every Wayland object created by the implementation must be assigned to this event queue. If the platform provides Wayland 1.11 or greater, this must be implemented by the use of Wayland proxy object wrappers, to avoid race conditions.

If the application wishes to synchronize any window changes with a particular frame, such requests must be sent to the Wayland display server prior to calling vkQueuePresentKHR. For full control over interactions between Vulkan rendering and other Wayland protocol requests and events, a present mode of VK_PRESENT_MODE_MAILBOX_KHR should be used.

29.2.3. Win32 Platform

To create a VkSurfaceKHR object for a Win32 window, call:

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

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 (see Memory Allocation).
pSurface points to a VkSurfaceKHR handle in which the created surface object is returned.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

instance must be a valid VkInstance handle
pCreateInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkWin32SurfaceCreateInfoKHR structure
If pAllocator is not NULL, pAllocator must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure
pSurface must be a valid pointer to a VkSurfaceKHR handle

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

The VkWin32SurfaceCreateInfoKHR structure is defined as:

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

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to an extension-specific structure.
flags is reserved for future use.
hinstance is the Win32 HINSTANCE for the window to associate the surface with.
hwnd is the Win32 HWND for the window to associate the surface with.

Valid Usage

hinstance must be a valid Win32 HINSTANCE.
hwnd must be a valid Win32 HWND.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_WIN32_SURFACE_CREATE_INFO_KHR
pNext must be NULL
flags must be 0

With Win32, minImageExtent, maxImageExtent, and currentExtent must always equal the window size.

The currentExtent of a Win32 surface must have both width and height greater than 0, or both of them 0.

Note

Due to above restrictions, it is only possible to create a new swapchain on this platform with imageExtent being equal to the current size of the window.

The window size may become (0, 0) on this platform (e.g. when the window is minimized), and so a swapchain cannot be created until the size changes.

typedef VkFlags VkWin32SurfaceCreateFlagsKHR;

VkWin32SurfaceCreateFlagsKHR is a bitmask type for setting a mask, but is currently reserved for future use.

29.2.4. XCB Platform

To create a VkSurfaceKHR object for an X11 window, using the XCB client-side library, call:

VkResult vkCreateXcbSurfaceKHR(
    VkInstance                                  instance,
    const VkXcbSurfaceCreateInfoKHR*            pCreateInfo,
    const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator,
    VkSurfaceKHR*                               pSurface);

instance is the instance to associate the surface with.
pCreateInfo is a pointer to an instance of the VkXcbSurfaceCreateInfoKHR 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 (see Memory Allocation).
pSurface points to a VkSurfaceKHR handle in which the created surface object is returned.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

instance must be a valid VkInstance handle
pCreateInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkXcbSurfaceCreateInfoKHR structure
If pAllocator is not NULL, pAllocator must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure
pSurface must be a valid pointer to a VkSurfaceKHR handle

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

The VkXcbSurfaceCreateInfoKHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkXcbSurfaceCreateInfoKHR {
    VkStructureType               sType;
    const void*                   pNext;
    VkXcbSurfaceCreateFlagsKHR    flags;
    xcb_connection_t*             connection;
    xcb_window_t                  window;
} VkXcbSurfaceCreateInfoKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to an extension-specific structure.
flags is reserved for future use.
connection is a pointer to an xcb_connection_t to the X server.
window is the xcb_window_t for the X11 window to associate the surface with.

Valid Usage

connection must point to a valid X11 xcb_connection_t.
window must be a valid X11 xcb_window_t.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_XCB_SURFACE_CREATE_INFO_KHR
pNext must be NULL
flags must be 0

With Xcb, minImageExtent, maxImageExtent, and currentExtent must always equal the window size.

The currentExtent of an Xcb surface must have both width and height greater than 0, or both of them 0.

Note

Due to above restrictions, it is only possible to create a new swapchain on this platform with imageExtent being equal to the current size of the window.

The window size may become (0, 0) on this platform (e.g. when the window is minimized), and so a swapchain cannot be created until the size changes.

Some Vulkan functions may send protocol over the specified xcb connection when using a swapchain or presentable images created from a VkSurfaceKHR referring to an xcb window. Applications must therefore ensure the xcb connection is available to Vulkan for the duration of any functions that manipulate such swapchains or their presentable images, and any functions that build or queue command buffers that operate on such presentable images. Specifically, applications using Vulkan with xcb-based swapchains must

Avoid holding a server grab on an xcb connection while waiting for Vulkan operations to complete using a swapchain derived from a different xcb connection referring to the same X server instance. Failing to do so may result in deadlock.

29.2.5. Xlib Platform

To create a VkSurfaceKHR object for an X11 window, using the Xlib client-side library, call:

VkResult vkCreateXlibSurfaceKHR(
    VkInstance                                  instance,
    const VkXlibSurfaceCreateInfoKHR*           pCreateInfo,
    const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator,
    VkSurfaceKHR*                               pSurface);

instance is the instance to associate the surface with.
pCreateInfo is a pointer to an instance of the VkXlibSurfaceCreateInfoKHR structure containing the 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 (see Memory Allocation).
pSurface points to a VkSurfaceKHR handle in which the created surface object is returned.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

instance must be a valid VkInstance handle
pCreateInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkXlibSurfaceCreateInfoKHR structure
If pAllocator is not NULL, pAllocator must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure
pSurface must be a valid pointer to a VkSurfaceKHR handle

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

The VkXlibSurfaceCreateInfoKHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkXlibSurfaceCreateInfoKHR {
    VkStructureType                sType;
    const void*                    pNext;
    VkXlibSurfaceCreateFlagsKHR    flags;
    Display*                       dpy;
    Window                         window;
} VkXlibSurfaceCreateInfoKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to an extension-specific structure.
flags is reserved for future use.
dpy is a pointer to an Xlib Display connection to the X server.
window is an Xlib Window to associate the surface with.

Valid Usage

dpy must point to a valid Xlib Display.
window must be a valid Xlib Window.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_XLIB_SURFACE_CREATE_INFO_KHR
pNext must be NULL
flags must be 0

With Xlib, minImageExtent, maxImageExtent, and currentExtent must always equal the window size.

The currentExtent of an Xlib surface must have both width and height greater than 0, or both of them 0.

Note

Due to above restrictions, it is only possible to create a new swapchain on this platform with imageExtent being equal to the current size of the window.

The window size may become (0, 0) on this platform (e.g. when the window is minimized), and so a swapchain cannot be created until the size changes.

Some Vulkan functions may send protocol over the specified Xlib Display connection when using a swapchain or presentable images created from a VkSurfaceKHR referring to an Xlib window. Applications must therefore ensure the display connection is available to Vulkan for the duration of any functions that manipulate such swapchains or their presentable images, and any functions that build or queue command buffers that operate on such presentable images. Specifically, applications using Vulkan with Xlib-based swapchains must

Avoid holding a server grab on a display connection while waiting for Vulkan operations to complete using a swapchain derived from a different display connection referring to the same X server instance. Failing to do so may result in deadlock.

Some implementations may require threads to implement some presentation modes so applications must call XInitThreads() before calling any other Xlib functions.

29.2.6. Platform-Independent Information

Once created, VkSurfaceKHR objects can be used in this and other extensions, in particular the VK_KHR_swapchain extension.

Several WSI functions return VK_ERROR_SURFACE_LOST_KHR if the surface becomes no longer available. After such an error, the surface (and any child swapchain, if one exists) should be destroyed, as there is no way to restore them to a not-lost state. Applications may attempt to create a new VkSurfaceKHR using the same native platform window object, but whether such re-creation will succeed is platform-dependent and may depend on the reason the surface became unavailable. A lost surface does not otherwise cause devices to be lost.

To destroy a VkSurfaceKHR object, call:

void vkDestroySurfaceKHR(
    VkInstance                                  instance,
    VkSurfaceKHR                                surface,
    const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator);

instance is the instance used to create the surface.
surface is the surface to destroy.
pAllocator is the allocator used for host memory allocated for the surface object when there is no more specific allocator available (see Memory Allocation).

Destroying a VkSurfaceKHR merely severs the connection between Vulkan and the native surface, and does not imply destroying the native surface, closing a window, or similar behavior.

Valid Usage

All VkSwapchainKHR objects created for surface must have been destroyed prior to destroying surface
If VkAllocationCallbacks were provided when surface was created, a compatible set of callbacks must be provided here
If no VkAllocationCallbacks were provided when surface was created, pAllocator must be NULL

Valid Usage (Implicit)

instance must be a valid VkInstance handle
If surface is not VK_NULL_HANDLE, surface must be a valid VkSurfaceKHR handle
If pAllocator is not NULL, pAllocator must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure
If surface is a valid handle, it must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from instance

Host Synchronization

Host access to surface must be externally synchronized

29.3. Presenting Directly to Display Devices

In some environments applications can also present Vulkan rendering directly to display devices without using an intermediate windowing system. This can be useful for embedded applications, or implementing the rendering/presentation backend of a windowing system using Vulkan. The VK_KHR_display extension provides the functionality necessary to enumerate display devices and create VkSurfaceKHR objects that target displays.

29.3.1. Display Enumeration

Displays are represented by VkDisplayKHR handles:

VK_DEFINE_NON_DISPATCHABLE_HANDLE(VkDisplayKHR)

Various functions are provided for enumerating the available display devices present on a Vulkan physical device. To query information about the available displays, call:

VkResult vkGetPhysicalDeviceDisplayPropertiesKHR(
    VkPhysicalDevice                            physicalDevice,
    uint32_t*                                   pPropertyCount,
    VkDisplayPropertiesKHR*                     pProperties);

physicalDevice is a physical device.
pPropertyCount is a pointer to an integer related to the number of display devices available or queried, as described below.
pProperties is either NULL or a pointer to an array of VkDisplayPropertiesKHR structures.

If pProperties is NULL, then the number of display devices available for physicalDevice is returned in pPropertyCount. Otherwise, pPropertyCount must point to a variable set by the user to the number of elements in the pProperties array, and on return the variable is overwritten with the number of structures actually written to pProperties. If the value of pPropertyCount is less than the number of display devices for physicalDevice, at most pPropertyCount structures will be written. If pPropertyCount is smaller than the number of display devices available for physicalDevice, VK_INCOMPLETE will be returned instead of VK_SUCCESS to indicate that not all the available values were returned.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

physicalDevice must be a valid VkPhysicalDevice handle
pPropertyCount must be a valid pointer to a uint32_t value
If the value referenced by pPropertyCount is not 0, and pProperties is not NULL, pProperties must be a valid pointer to an array of pPropertyCount VkDisplayPropertiesKHR structures

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS
VK_INCOMPLETE

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

The VkDisplayPropertiesKHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkDisplayPropertiesKHR {
    VkDisplayKHR                  display;
    const char*                   displayName;
    VkExtent2D                    physicalDimensions;
    VkExtent2D                    physicalResolution;
    VkSurfaceTransformFlagsKHR    supportedTransforms;
    VkBool32                      planeReorderPossible;
    VkBool32                      persistentContent;
} VkDisplayPropertiesKHR;

display is a handle that is used to refer to the display described here. This handle will be valid for the lifetime of the Vulkan instance.
displayName is a pointer to a NULL-terminated string containing the name of the display. Generally, this will be the name provided by the display’s EDID. It can be NULL if no suitable name is available. If not NULL, the memory it points to must remain accessible as long as display is valid.
physicalDimensions describes the physical width and height of the visible portion of the display, in millimeters.
physicalResolution describes the physical, native, or preferred resolution of the display.

Note

For devices which have no natural value to return here, implementations should return the maximum resolution supported.

supportedTransforms is a bitmask of VkSurfaceTransformFlagBitsKHR describing which transforms are supported by this display.
planeReorderPossible tells whether the planes on this display can have their z order changed. If this is VK_TRUE, the application can re-arrange the planes on this display in any order relative to each other.
persistentContent tells whether the display supports self-refresh/internal buffering. If this is true, the application can submit persistent present operations on swapchains created against this display.

Note

Persistent presents may have higher latency, and may use less power when the screen content is updated infrequently, or when only a portion of the screen needs to be updated in most frames.

To query information about the available displays, call:

VkResult vkGetPhysicalDeviceDisplayProperties2KHR(
    VkPhysicalDevice                            physicalDevice,
    uint32_t*                                   pPropertyCount,
    VkDisplayProperties2KHR*                    pProperties);

physicalDevice is a physical device.
pPropertyCount is a pointer to an integer related to the number of display devices available or queried, as described below.
pProperties is either NULL or a pointer to an array of VkDisplayProperties2KHR structures.

vkGetPhysicalDeviceDisplayProperties2KHR behaves similarly to vkGetPhysicalDeviceDisplayPropertiesKHR, with the ability to return extended information via chained output structures.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

physicalDevice must be a valid VkPhysicalDevice handle
pPropertyCount must be a valid pointer to a uint32_t value
If the value referenced by pPropertyCount is not 0, and pProperties is not NULL, pProperties must be a valid pointer to an array of pPropertyCount VkDisplayProperties2KHR structures

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS
VK_INCOMPLETE

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

The VkDisplayProperties2KHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkDisplayProperties2KHR {
    VkStructureType           sType;
    void*                     pNext;
    VkDisplayPropertiesKHR    displayProperties;
} VkDisplayProperties2KHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to an extension-specific structure.
displayProperties is an instance of the VkDisplayPropertiesKHR structure.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_DISPLAY_PROPERTIES_2_KHR
pNext must be NULL

Display Planes

Images are presented to individual planes on a display. Devices must support at least one plane on each display. Planes can be stacked and blended to composite multiple images on one display. Devices may support only a fixed stacking order and fixed mapping between planes and displays, or they may allow arbitrary application specified stacking orders and mappings between planes and displays. To query the properties of device display planes, call:

VkResult vkGetPhysicalDeviceDisplayPlanePropertiesKHR(
    VkPhysicalDevice                            physicalDevice,
    uint32_t*                                   pPropertyCount,
    VkDisplayPlanePropertiesKHR*                pProperties);

physicalDevice is a physical device.
pPropertyCount is a pointer to an integer related to the number of display planes available or queried, as described below.
pProperties is either NULL or a pointer to an array of VkDisplayPlanePropertiesKHR structures.

If pProperties is NULL, then the number of display planes available for physicalDevice is returned in pPropertyCount. Otherwise, pPropertyCount must point to a variable set by the user to the number of elements in the pProperties array, and on return the variable is overwritten with the number of structures actually written to pProperties. If the value of pPropertyCount is less than the number of display planes for physicalDevice, at most pPropertyCount structures will be written.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

physicalDevice must be a valid VkPhysicalDevice handle
pPropertyCount must be a valid pointer to a uint32_t value
If the value referenced by pPropertyCount is not 0, and pProperties is not NULL, pProperties must be a valid pointer to an array of pPropertyCount VkDisplayPlanePropertiesKHR structures

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS
VK_INCOMPLETE

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

The VkDisplayPlanePropertiesKHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkDisplayPlanePropertiesKHR {
    VkDisplayKHR    currentDisplay;
    uint32_t        currentStackIndex;
} VkDisplayPlanePropertiesKHR;

currentDisplay is the handle of the display the plane is currently associated with. If the plane is not currently attached to any displays, this will be VK_NULL_HANDLE.
currentStackIndex is the current z-order of the plane. This will be between 0 and the value returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceDisplayPlanePropertiesKHR in pPropertyCount.

To query the properties of a device’s display planes, call:

VkResult vkGetPhysicalDeviceDisplayPlaneProperties2KHR(
    VkPhysicalDevice                            physicalDevice,
    uint32_t*                                   pPropertyCount,
    VkDisplayPlaneProperties2KHR*               pProperties);

physicalDevice is a physical device.
pPropertyCount is a pointer to an integer related to the number of display planes available or queried, as described below.
pProperties is either NULL or a pointer to an array of VkDisplayPlaneProperties2KHR structures.

vkGetPhysicalDeviceDisplayPlaneProperties2KHR behaves similarly to vkGetPhysicalDeviceDisplayPlanePropertiesKHR, with the ability to return extended information via chained output structures.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

physicalDevice must be a valid VkPhysicalDevice handle
pPropertyCount must be a valid pointer to a uint32_t value
If the value referenced by pPropertyCount is not 0, and pProperties is not NULL, pProperties must be a valid pointer to an array of pPropertyCount VkDisplayPlaneProperties2KHR structures

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS
VK_INCOMPLETE

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

The VkDisplayPlaneProperties2KHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkDisplayPlaneProperties2KHR {
    VkStructureType                sType;
    void*                          pNext;
    VkDisplayPlanePropertiesKHR    displayPlaneProperties;
} VkDisplayPlaneProperties2KHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to an extension-specific structure.
displayPlaneProperties is an instance of the VkDisplayPlanePropertiesKHR structure.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_DISPLAY_PLANE_PROPERTIES_2_KHR
pNext must be NULL

To determine which displays a plane is usable with, call

VkResult vkGetDisplayPlaneSupportedDisplaysKHR(
    VkPhysicalDevice                            physicalDevice,
    uint32_t                                    planeIndex,
    uint32_t*                                   pDisplayCount,
    VkDisplayKHR*                               pDisplays);

physicalDevice is a physical device.
planeIndex is the plane which the application wishes to use, and must be in the range [0, physical device plane count - 1].
pDisplayCount is a pointer to an integer related to the number of displays available or queried, as described below.
pDisplays is either NULL or a pointer to an array of VkDisplayKHR handles.

If pDisplays is NULL, then the number of displays usable with the specified planeIndex for physicalDevice is returned in pDisplayCount. Otherwise, pDisplayCount must point to a variable set by the user to the number of elements in the pDisplays array, and on return the variable is overwritten with the number of handles actually written to pDisplays. If the value of pDisplayCount is less than the number of display planes for physicalDevice, at most pDisplayCount handles will be written. If pDisplayCount is smaller than the number of displays usable with the specified planeIndex for physicalDevice, VK_INCOMPLETE will be returned instead of VK_SUCCESS to indicate that not all the available values were returned.

Valid Usage

planeIndex must be less than the number of display planes supported by the device as determined by calling vkGetPhysicalDeviceDisplayPlanePropertiesKHR

Valid Usage (Implicit)

physicalDevice must be a valid VkPhysicalDevice handle
pDisplayCount must be a valid pointer to a uint32_t value
If the value referenced by pDisplayCount is not 0, and pDisplays is not NULL, pDisplays must be a valid pointer to an array of pDisplayCount VkDisplayKHR handles

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS
VK_INCOMPLETE

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

Additional properties of displays are queried using specialized query functions.

Display Modes

Display modes are represented by VkDisplayModeKHR handles:

VK_DEFINE_NON_DISPATCHABLE_HANDLE(VkDisplayModeKHR)

Each display has one or more supported modes associated with it by default. These built-in modes are queried by calling:

VkResult vkGetDisplayModePropertiesKHR(
    VkPhysicalDevice                            physicalDevice,
    VkDisplayKHR                                display,
    uint32_t*                                   pPropertyCount,
    VkDisplayModePropertiesKHR*                 pProperties);

physicalDevice is the physical device associated with display.
display is the display to query.
pPropertyCount is a pointer to an integer related to the number of display modes available or queried, as described below.
pProperties is either NULL or a pointer to an array of VkDisplayModePropertiesKHR structures.

If pProperties is NULL, then the number of display modes available on the specified display for physicalDevice is returned in pPropertyCount. Otherwise, pPropertyCount must point to a variable set by the user to the number of elements in the pProperties array, and on return the variable is overwritten with the number of structures actually written to pProperties. If the value of pPropertyCount is less than the number of display modes for physicalDevice, at most pPropertyCount structures will be written. If pPropertyCount is smaller than the number of display modes available on the specified display for physicalDevice, VK_INCOMPLETE will be returned instead of VK_SUCCESS to indicate that not all the available values were returned.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

physicalDevice must be a valid VkPhysicalDevice handle
display must be a valid VkDisplayKHR handle
pPropertyCount must be a valid pointer to a uint32_t value
If the value referenced by pPropertyCount is not 0, and pProperties is not NULL, pProperties must be a valid pointer to an array of pPropertyCount VkDisplayModePropertiesKHR structures

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS
VK_INCOMPLETE

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

The VkDisplayModePropertiesKHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkDisplayModePropertiesKHR {
    VkDisplayModeKHR              displayMode;
    VkDisplayModeParametersKHR    parameters;
} VkDisplayModePropertiesKHR;

displayMode is a handle to the display mode described in this structure. This handle will be valid for the lifetime of the Vulkan instance.
parameters is a VkDisplayModeParametersKHR structure describing the display parameters associated with displayMode.

typedef VkFlags VkDisplayModeCreateFlagsKHR;

VkDisplayModeCreateFlagsKHR is a bitmask type for setting a mask, but is currently reserved for future use.

To query the properties of a device’s built-in display modes, call:

VkResult vkGetDisplayModeProperties2KHR(
    VkPhysicalDevice                            physicalDevice,
    VkDisplayKHR                                display,
    uint32_t*                                   pPropertyCount,
    VkDisplayModeProperties2KHR*                pProperties);

physicalDevice is the physical device associated with display.
display is the display to query.
pPropertyCount is a pointer to an integer related to the number of display modes available or queried, as described below.
pProperties is either NULL or a pointer to an array of VkDisplayModeProperties2KHR structures.

vkGetDisplayModeProperties2KHR behaves similarly to vkGetDisplayModePropertiesKHR, with the ability to return extended information via chained output structures.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

physicalDevice must be a valid VkPhysicalDevice handle
display must be a valid VkDisplayKHR handle
pPropertyCount must be a valid pointer to a uint32_t value
If the value referenced by pPropertyCount is not 0, and pProperties is not NULL, pProperties must be a valid pointer to an array of pPropertyCount VkDisplayModeProperties2KHR structures

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS
VK_INCOMPLETE

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

The VkDisplayModeProperties2KHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkDisplayModeProperties2KHR {
    VkStructureType               sType;
    void*                         pNext;
    VkDisplayModePropertiesKHR    displayModeProperties;
} VkDisplayModeProperties2KHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to an extension-specific structure.
displayModeProperties is an instance of the VkDisplayModePropertiesKHR structure.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_DISPLAY_MODE_PROPERTIES_2_KHR
pNext must be NULL

The VkDisplayModeParametersKHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkDisplayModeParametersKHR {
    VkExtent2D    visibleRegion;
    uint32_t      refreshRate;
} VkDisplayModeParametersKHR;

visibleRegion is the 2D extents of the visible region.
refreshRate is a uint32_t that is the number of times the display is refreshed each second multiplied by 1000.

Note

For example, a 60Hz display mode would report a refreshRate of 60,000.

Valid Usage

The width member of visibleRegion must be greater than 0
The height member of visibleRegion must be greater than 0
refreshRate must be greater than 0

Additional modes may also be created by calling:

VkResult vkCreateDisplayModeKHR(
    VkPhysicalDevice                            physicalDevice,
    VkDisplayKHR                                display,
    const VkDisplayModeCreateInfoKHR*           pCreateInfo,
    const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator,
    VkDisplayModeKHR*                           pMode);

physicalDevice is the physical device associated with display.
display is the display to create an additional mode for.
pCreateInfo is a VkDisplayModeCreateInfoKHR structure describing the new mode to create.
pAllocator is the allocator used for host memory allocated for the display mode object when there is no more specific allocator available (see Memory Allocation).
pMode returns the handle of the mode created.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

physicalDevice must be a valid VkPhysicalDevice handle
display must be a valid VkDisplayKHR handle
pCreateInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkDisplayModeCreateInfoKHR structure
If pAllocator is not NULL, pAllocator must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure
pMode must be a valid pointer to a VkDisplayModeKHR handle

Host Synchronization

Host access to display must be externally synchronized

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED

The VkDisplayModeCreateInfoKHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkDisplayModeCreateInfoKHR {
    VkStructureType                sType;
    const void*                    pNext;
    VkDisplayModeCreateFlagsKHR    flags;
    VkDisplayModeParametersKHR     parameters;
} VkDisplayModeCreateInfoKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to an extension-specific structure.
flags is reserved for future use, and must be zero.
parameters is a VkDisplayModeParametersKHR structure describing the display parameters to use in creating the new mode. If the parameters are not compatible with the specified display, the implementation must return VK_ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_DISPLAY_MODE_CREATE_INFO_KHR
pNext must be NULL
flags must be 0
parameters must be a valid VkDisplayModeParametersKHR structure

Applications that wish to present directly to a display must select which layer, or “plane” of the display they wish to target, and a mode to use with the display. Each display supports at least one plane. The capabilities of a given mode and plane combination are determined by calling:

VkResult vkGetDisplayPlaneCapabilitiesKHR(
    VkPhysicalDevice                            physicalDevice,
    VkDisplayModeKHR                            mode,
    uint32_t                                    planeIndex,
    VkDisplayPlaneCapabilitiesKHR*              pCapabilities);

physicalDevice is the physical device associated with display
mode is the display mode the application intends to program when using the specified plane. Note this parameter also implicitly specifies a display.
planeIndex is the plane which the application intends to use with the display, and is less than the number of display planes supported by the device.
pCapabilities is a pointer to a VkDisplayPlaneCapabilitiesKHR structure in which the capabilities are returned.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

physicalDevice must be a valid VkPhysicalDevice handle
mode must be a valid VkDisplayModeKHR handle
pCapabilities must be a valid pointer to a VkDisplayPlaneCapabilitiesKHR structure

Host Synchronization

Host access to mode must be externally synchronized

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

The VkDisplayPlaneCapabilitiesKHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkDisplayPlaneCapabilitiesKHR {
    VkDisplayPlaneAlphaFlagsKHR    supportedAlpha;
    VkOffset2D                     minSrcPosition;
    VkOffset2D                     maxSrcPosition;
    VkExtent2D                     minSrcExtent;
    VkExtent2D                     maxSrcExtent;
    VkOffset2D                     minDstPosition;
    VkOffset2D                     maxDstPosition;
    VkExtent2D                     minDstExtent;
    VkExtent2D                     maxDstExtent;
} VkDisplayPlaneCapabilitiesKHR;

supportedAlpha is a bitmask of VkDisplayPlaneAlphaFlagBitsKHR describing the supported alpha blending modes.
minSrcPosition is the minimum source rectangle offset supported by this plane using the specified mode.
maxSrcPosition is the maximum source rectangle offset supported by this plane using the specified mode. The x and y components of maxSrcPosition must each be greater than or equal to the x and y components of minSrcPosition, respectively.
minSrcExtent is the minimum source rectangle size supported by this plane using the specified mode.
maxSrcExtent is the maximum source rectangle size supported by this plane using the specified mode.
minDstPosition, maxDstPosition, minDstExtent, maxDstExtent all have similar semantics to their corresponding *Src* equivalents, but apply to the output region within the mode rather than the input region within the source image. Unlike the *Src* offsets, minDstPosition and maxDstPosition may contain negative values.

The minimum and maximum position and extent fields describe the implementation limits, if any, as they apply to the specified display mode and plane. Vendors may support displaying a subset of a swapchain’s presentable images on the specified display plane. This is expressed by returning minSrcPosition, maxSrcPosition, minSrcExtent, and maxSrcExtent values that indicate a range of possible positions and sizes may be used to specify the region within the presentable images that source pixels will be read from when creating a swapchain on the specified display mode and plane.

Vendors may also support mapping the presentable images’ content to a subset or superset of the visible region in the specified display mode. This is expressed by returning minDstPosition, maxDstPosition, minDstExtent and maxDstExtent values that indicate a range of possible positions and sizes may be used to describe the region within the display mode that the source pixels will be mapped to.

Other vendors may support only a 1-1 mapping between pixels in the presentable images and the display mode. This may be indicated by returning (0,0) for minSrcPosition, maxSrcPosition, minDstPosition, and maxDstPosition, and (display mode width, display mode height) for minSrcExtent, maxSrcExtent, minDstExtent, and maxDstExtent.

These values indicate the limits of the implementation’s individual fields. Not all combinations of values within the offset and extent ranges returned in VkDisplayPlaneCapabilitiesKHR are guaranteed to be supported. Vendors may still fail presentation requests that specify unsupported combinations.

To query the capabilities of a given mode and plane combination, call:

VkResult vkGetDisplayPlaneCapabilities2KHR(
    VkPhysicalDevice                            physicalDevice,
    const VkDisplayPlaneInfo2KHR*               pDisplayPlaneInfo,
    VkDisplayPlaneCapabilities2KHR*             pCapabilities);

physicalDevice is the physical device associated with pDisplayPlaneInfo.
pDisplayPlaneInfo is a pointer to an instance of the VkDisplayPlaneInfo2KHR structure describing the plane and mode.
pCapabilities is a pointer to a VkDisplayPlaneCapabilities2KHR structure in which the capabilities are returned.

vkGetDisplayPlaneCapabilities2KHR behaves similarly to vkGetDisplayPlaneCapabilitiesKHR, with the ability to specify extended inputs via chained input structures, and to return extended information via chained output structures.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

physicalDevice must be a valid VkPhysicalDevice handle
pDisplayPlaneInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkDisplayPlaneInfo2KHR structure
pCapabilities must be a valid pointer to a VkDisplayPlaneCapabilities2KHR structure

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

The VkDisplayPlaneInfo2KHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkDisplayPlaneInfo2KHR {
    VkStructureType     sType;
    const void*         pNext;
    VkDisplayModeKHR    mode;
    uint32_t            planeIndex;
} VkDisplayPlaneInfo2KHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to an extension-specific structure.
mode is the display mode the application intends to program when using the specified plane.

Note

This parameter also implicitly specifies a display.

planeIndex is the plane which the application intends to use with the display.

The members of VkDisplayPlaneInfo2KHR correspond to the arguments to vkGetDisplayPlaneCapabilitiesKHR, with sType and pNext added for extensibility.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_DISPLAY_PLANE_INFO_2_KHR
pNext must be NULL
mode must be a valid VkDisplayModeKHR handle

Host Synchronization

Host access to mode must be externally synchronized

The VkDisplayPlaneCapabilities2KHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkDisplayPlaneCapabilities2KHR {
    VkStructureType                  sType;
    void*                            pNext;
    VkDisplayPlaneCapabilitiesKHR    capabilities;
} VkDisplayPlaneCapabilities2KHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to an extension-specific structure.
capabilities is an instance of the VkDisplayPlaneCapabilitiesKHR structure.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_DISPLAY_PLANE_CAPABILITIES_2_KHR
pNext must be NULL

29.3.2. Display Surfaces

A complete display configuration includes a mode, one or more display planes and any parameters describing their behavior, and parameters describing some aspects of the images associated with those planes. Display surfaces describe the configuration of a single plane within a complete display configuration. To create a VkSurfaceKHR structure for a display surface, call:

VkResult vkCreateDisplayPlaneSurfaceKHR(
    VkInstance                                  instance,
    const VkDisplaySurfaceCreateInfoKHR*        pCreateInfo,
    const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator,
    VkSurfaceKHR*                               pSurface);

instance is the instance corresponding to the physical device the targeted display is on.
pCreateInfo is a pointer to an instance of the VkDisplaySurfaceCreateInfoKHR structure specifying which mode, plane, and other parameters to use, as described below.
pAllocator is the allocator used for host memory allocated for the surface object when there is no more specific allocator available (see Memory Allocation).
pSurface points to a VkSurfaceKHR handle in which the created surface is returned.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

instance must be a valid VkInstance handle
pCreateInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkDisplaySurfaceCreateInfoKHR structure
If pAllocator is not NULL, pAllocator must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure
pSurface must be a valid pointer to a VkSurfaceKHR handle

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

The VkDisplaySurfaceCreateInfoKHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkDisplaySurfaceCreateInfoKHR {
    VkStructureType                   sType;
    const void*                       pNext;
    VkDisplaySurfaceCreateFlagsKHR    flags;
    VkDisplayModeKHR                  displayMode;
    uint32_t                          planeIndex;
    uint32_t                          planeStackIndex;
    VkSurfaceTransformFlagBitsKHR     transform;
    float                             globalAlpha;
    VkDisplayPlaneAlphaFlagBitsKHR    alphaMode;
    VkExtent2D                        imageExtent;
} VkDisplaySurfaceCreateInfoKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to an extension-specific structure.
flags is reserved for future use, and must be zero.
displayMode is a VkDisplayModeKHR handle specifying the mode to use when displaying this surface.
planeIndex is the plane on which this surface appears.
planeStackIndex is the z-order of the plane.
transform is a VkSurfaceTransformFlagBitsKHR value specifying the transformation to apply to images as part of the scanout operation.
globalAlpha is the global alpha value. This value is ignored if alphaMode is not VK_DISPLAY_PLANE_ALPHA_GLOBAL_BIT_KHR.
alphaMode is a VkDisplayPlaneAlphaFlagBitsKHR value specifying the type of alpha blending to use.
imageExtent The size of the presentable images to use with the surface.

Note

Creating a display surface must not modify the state of the displays, planes, or other resources it names. For example, it must not apply the specified mode to be set on the associated display. Application of display configuration occurs as a side effect of presenting to a display surface.

Valid Usage

planeIndex must be less than the number of display planes supported by the device as determined by calling vkGetPhysicalDeviceDisplayPlanePropertiesKHR
If the planeReorderPossible member of the VkDisplayPropertiesKHR structure returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceDisplayPropertiesKHR for the display corresponding to displayMode is VK_TRUE then planeStackIndex must be less than the number of display planes supported by the device as determined by calling vkGetPhysicalDeviceDisplayPlanePropertiesKHR; otherwise planeStackIndex must equal the currentStackIndex member of VkDisplayPlanePropertiesKHR returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceDisplayPlanePropertiesKHR for the display plane corresponding to displayMode
If alphaMode is VK_DISPLAY_PLANE_ALPHA_GLOBAL_BIT_KHR then globalAlpha must be between 0 and 1, inclusive
alphaMode must be 0 or one of the bits present in the supportedAlpha member of VkDisplayPlaneCapabilitiesKHR returned by vkGetDisplayPlaneCapabilitiesKHR for the display plane corresponding to displayMode
The width and height members of imageExtent must be less than the maxImageDimensions2D member of VkPhysicalDeviceLimits

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_DISPLAY_SURFACE_CREATE_INFO_KHR
pNext must be NULL
flags must be 0
displayMode must be a valid VkDisplayModeKHR handle
transform must be a valid VkSurfaceTransformFlagBitsKHR value
alphaMode must be a valid VkDisplayPlaneAlphaFlagBitsKHR value

typedef VkFlags VkDisplaySurfaceCreateFlagsKHR;

VkDisplaySurfaceCreateFlagsKHR is a bitmask type for setting a mask, but is currently reserved for future use.

Possible values of VkDisplaySurfaceCreateInfoKHR::alphaMode, specifying the type of alpha blending to use on a display, are:

typedef enum VkDisplayPlaneAlphaFlagBitsKHR {
    VK_DISPLAY_PLANE_ALPHA_OPAQUE_BIT_KHR = 0x00000001,
    VK_DISPLAY_PLANE_ALPHA_GLOBAL_BIT_KHR = 0x00000002,
    VK_DISPLAY_PLANE_ALPHA_PER_PIXEL_BIT_KHR = 0x00000004,
    VK_DISPLAY_PLANE_ALPHA_PER_PIXEL_PREMULTIPLIED_BIT_KHR = 0x00000008,
    VK_DISPLAY_PLANE_ALPHA_FLAG_BITS_MAX_ENUM_KHR = 0x7FFFFFFF
} VkDisplayPlaneAlphaFlagBitsKHR;

VK_DISPLAY_PLANE_ALPHA_OPAQUE_BIT_KHR specifies that the source image will be treated as opaque.
VK_DISPLAY_PLANE_ALPHA_GLOBAL_BIT_KHR specifies that a global alpha value must be specified that will be applied to all pixels in the source image.
VK_DISPLAY_PLANE_ALPHA_PER_PIXEL_BIT_KHR specifies that the alpha value will be determined by the alpha channel of the source image’s pixels. If the source format contains no alpha values, no blending will be applied. The source alpha values are not premultiplied into the source image’s other color channels.
VK_DISPLAY_PLANE_ALPHA_PER_PIXEL_PREMULTIPLIED_BIT_KHR is equivalent to VK_DISPLAY_PLANE_ALPHA_PER_PIXEL_BIT_KHR, except the source alpha values are assumed to be premultiplied into the source image’s other color channels.

typedef VkFlags VkDisplayPlaneAlphaFlagsKHR;

VkDisplayPlaneAlphaFlagsKHR is a bitmask type for setting a mask of zero or more VkDisplayPlaneAlphaFlagBitsKHR.

29.4. Querying for WSI Support

Not all physical devices will include WSI support. Within a physical device, not all queue families will support presentation. WSI support and compatibility can be determined in a platform-neutral manner (which determines support for presentation to a particular surface object) and additionally may be determined in platform-specific manners (which determine support for presentation on the specified physical device but do not guarantee support for presentation to a particular surface object).

To determine whether a queue family of a physical device supports presentation to a given surface, call:

VkResult vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceSupportKHR(
    VkPhysicalDevice                            physicalDevice,
    uint32_t                                    queueFamilyIndex,
    VkSurfaceKHR                                surface,
    VkBool32*                                   pSupported);

physicalDevice is the physical device.
queueFamilyIndex is the queue family.
surface is the surface.
pSupported is a pointer to a VkBool32, which is set to VK_TRUE to indicate support, and VK_FALSE otherwise.

Valid Usage

queueFamilyIndex must be less than pQueueFamilyPropertyCount returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceQueueFamilyProperties for the given physicalDevice

Valid Usage (Implicit)

physicalDevice must be a valid VkPhysicalDevice handle
surface must be a valid VkSurfaceKHR handle
pSupported must be a valid pointer to a VkBool32 value
Both of physicalDevice, and surface must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from the same VkInstance

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_SURFACE_LOST_KHR

29.4.1. Android Platform

On Android, all physical devices and queue families must be capable of presentation with any native window. As a result there is no Android-specific query for these capabilities.

29.4.2. Wayland Platform

To determine whether a queue family of a physical device supports presentation to a Wayland compositor, call:

VkBool32 vkGetPhysicalDeviceWaylandPresentationSupportKHR(
    VkPhysicalDevice                            physicalDevice,
    uint32_t                                    queueFamilyIndex,
    struct wl_display*                          display);

physicalDevice is the physical device.
queueFamilyIndex is the queue family index.
display is a pointer to the wl_display associated with a Wayland compositor.

This platform-specific function can be called prior to creating a surface.

Valid Usage

queueFamilyIndex must be less than pQueueFamilyPropertyCount returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceQueueFamilyProperties for the given physicalDevice

Valid Usage (Implicit)

physicalDevice must be a valid VkPhysicalDevice handle
display must be a valid pointer to a wl_display value

29.4.3. Win32 Platform

To determine whether a queue family of a physical device supports presentation to the Microsoft Windows desktop, call:

VkBool32 vkGetPhysicalDeviceWin32PresentationSupportKHR(
    VkPhysicalDevice                            physicalDevice,
    uint32_t                                    queueFamilyIndex);

physicalDevice is the physical device.
queueFamilyIndex is the queue family index.

This platform-specific function can be called prior to creating a surface.

Valid Usage

queueFamilyIndex must be less than pQueueFamilyPropertyCount returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceQueueFamilyProperties for the given physicalDevice

Valid Usage (Implicit)

physicalDevice must be a valid VkPhysicalDevice handle

29.4.4. XCB Platform

To determine whether a queue family of a physical device supports presentation to an X11 server, using the XCB client-side library, call:

VkBool32 vkGetPhysicalDeviceXcbPresentationSupportKHR(
    VkPhysicalDevice                            physicalDevice,
    uint32_t                                    queueFamilyIndex,
    xcb_connection_t*                           connection,
    xcb_visualid_t                              visual_id);

physicalDevice is the physical device.
queueFamilyIndex is the queue family index.
connection is a pointer to an xcb_connection_t to the X server. visual_id is an X11 visual (xcb_visualid_t).

This platform-specific function can be called prior to creating a surface.

Valid Usage

queueFamilyIndex must be less than pQueueFamilyPropertyCount returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceQueueFamilyProperties for the given physicalDevice

Valid Usage (Implicit)

physicalDevice must be a valid VkPhysicalDevice handle
connection must be a valid pointer to an xcb_connection_t value

29.4.5. Xlib Platform

To determine whether a queue family of a physical device supports presentation to an X11 server, using the Xlib client-side library, call:

VkBool32 vkGetPhysicalDeviceXlibPresentationSupportKHR(
    VkPhysicalDevice                            physicalDevice,
    uint32_t                                    queueFamilyIndex,
    Display*                                    dpy,
    VisualID                                    visualID);

physicalDevice is the physical device.
queueFamilyIndex is the queue family index.
dpy is a pointer to an Xlib Display connection to the server.
visualId is an X11 visual (VisualID).

This platform-specific function can be called prior to creating a surface.

Valid Usage

queueFamilyIndex must be less than pQueueFamilyPropertyCount returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceQueueFamilyProperties for the given physicalDevice

Valid Usage (Implicit)

physicalDevice must be a valid VkPhysicalDevice handle
dpy must be a valid pointer to a Display value

29.5. Surface Queries

The capabilities of a swapchain targeting a surface are the intersection of the capabilities of the WSI platform, the native window or display, and the physical device. The resulting capabilities can be obtained with the queries listed below in this section. Capabilities that correspond to image creation parameters are not independent of each other: combinations of parameters that are not supported as reported by vkGetPhysicalDeviceImageFormatProperties are not supported by the surface on that physical device, even if the capabilities taken individually are supported as part of some other parameter combinations.

To query the basic capabilities of a surface, needed in order to create a swapchain, call:

VkResult vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR(
    VkPhysicalDevice                            physicalDevice,
    VkSurfaceKHR                                surface,
    VkSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR*                   pSurfaceCapabilities);

physicalDevice is the physical device that will be associated with the swapchain to be created, as described for vkCreateSwapchainKHR.
surface is the surface that will be associated with the swapchain.
pSurfaceCapabilities is a pointer to an instance of the VkSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR structure in which the capabilities are returned.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

physicalDevice must be a valid VkPhysicalDevice handle
surface must be a valid VkSurfaceKHR handle
pSurfaceCapabilities must be a valid pointer to a VkSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR structure
Both of physicalDevice, and surface must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from the same VkInstance

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_SURFACE_LOST_KHR

The VkSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR {
    uint32_t                         minImageCount;
    uint32_t                         maxImageCount;
    VkExtent2D                       currentExtent;
    VkExtent2D                       minImageExtent;
    VkExtent2D                       maxImageExtent;
    uint32_t                         maxImageArrayLayers;
    VkSurfaceTransformFlagsKHR       supportedTransforms;
    VkSurfaceTransformFlagBitsKHR    currentTransform;
    VkCompositeAlphaFlagsKHR         supportedCompositeAlpha;
    VkImageUsageFlags                supportedUsageFlags;
} VkSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR;

minImageCount is the minimum number of images the specified device supports for a swapchain created for the surface, and will be at least one.
maxImageCount is the maximum number of images the specified device supports for a swapchain created for the surface, and will be either 0, or greater than or equal to minImageCount. A value of 0 means that there is no limit on the number of images, though there may be limits related to the total amount of memory used by presentable images.
currentExtent is the current width and height of the surface, or the special value (0xFFFFFFFF, 0xFFFFFFFF) indicating that the surface size will be determined by the extent of a swapchain targeting the surface.
minImageExtent contains the smallest valid swapchain extent for the surface on the specified device. The width and height of the extent will each be less than or equal to the corresponding width and height of currentExtent, unless currentExtent has the special value described above.
maxImageExtent contains the largest valid swapchain extent for the surface on the specified device. The width and height of the extent will each be greater than or equal to the corresponding width and height of minImageExtent. The width and height of the extent will each be greater than or equal to the corresponding width and height of currentExtent, unless currentExtent has the special value described above.
maxImageArrayLayers is the maximum number of layers presentable images can have for a swapchain created for this device and surface, and will be at least one.
supportedTransforms is a bitmask of VkSurfaceTransformFlagBitsKHR indicating the presentation transforms supported for the surface on the specified device. At least one bit will be set.
currentTransform is VkSurfaceTransformFlagBitsKHR value indicating the surface’s current transform relative to the presentation engine’s natural orientation.
supportedCompositeAlpha is a bitmask of VkCompositeAlphaFlagBitsKHR, representing the alpha compositing modes supported by the presentation engine for the surface on the specified device, and at least one bit will be set. Opaque composition can be achieved in any alpha compositing mode by either using an image format that has no alpha component, or by ensuring that all pixels in the presentable images have an alpha value of 1.0.
supportedUsageFlags is a bitmask of VkImageUsageFlagBits representing the ways the application can use the presentable images of a swapchain created with VkPresentModeKHR set to VK_PRESENT_MODE_IMMEDIATE_KHR, VK_PRESENT_MODE_MAILBOX_KHR, VK_PRESENT_MODE_FIFO_KHR or VK_PRESENT_MODE_FIFO_RELAXED_KHR for the surface on the specified device. VK_IMAGE_USAGE_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_BIT must be included in the set but implementations may support additional usages.

Note

Supported usage flags of a presentable image when using VK_PRESENT_MODE_SHARED_DEMAND_REFRESH_KHR or VK_PRESENT_MODE_SHARED_CONTINUOUS_REFRESH_KHR presentation mode are provided by VkSharedPresentSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR::sharedPresentSupportedUsageFlags.

Note

Formulas such as min(N, maxImageCount) are not correct, since maxImageCount may be zero.

To query the basic capabilities of a surface defined by the core or extensions, call:

VkResult vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceCapabilities2KHR(
    VkPhysicalDevice                            physicalDevice,
    const VkPhysicalDeviceSurfaceInfo2KHR*      pSurfaceInfo,
    VkSurfaceCapabilities2KHR*                  pSurfaceCapabilities);

physicalDevice is the physical device that will be associated with the swapchain to be created, as described for vkCreateSwapchainKHR.
pSurfaceInfo points to an instance of the VkPhysicalDeviceSurfaceInfo2KHR structure, describing the surface and other fixed parameters that would be consumed by vkCreateSwapchainKHR.
pSurfaceCapabilities points to an instance of the VkSurfaceCapabilities2KHR structure in which the capabilities are returned.

vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceCapabilities2KHR behaves similarly to vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR, with the ability to specify extended inputs via chained input structures, and to return extended information via chained output structures.

Valid Usage

If an instance of VkSurfaceCapabilitiesFullScreenExclusiveEXT is included in the pNext chain of pSurfaceCapabilities, an instance of VkSurfaceFullScreenExclusiveWin32InfoEXT must be included in the pNext chain of pSurfaceInfo.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

physicalDevice must be a valid VkPhysicalDevice handle
pSurfaceInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkPhysicalDeviceSurfaceInfo2KHR structure
pSurfaceCapabilities must be a valid pointer to a VkSurfaceCapabilities2KHR structure

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_SURFACE_LOST_KHR

The VkPhysicalDeviceSurfaceInfo2KHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkPhysicalDeviceSurfaceInfo2KHR {
    VkStructureType    sType;
    const void*        pNext;
    VkSurfaceKHR       surface;
} VkPhysicalDeviceSurfaceInfo2KHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to an extension-specific structure.
surface is the surface that will be associated with the swapchain.

The members of VkPhysicalDeviceSurfaceInfo2KHR correspond to the arguments to vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR, with sType and pNext added for extensibility.

Valid Usage

If the pNext chain includes an instance of VkSurfaceFullScreenExclusiveInfoEXT with its fullScreenExclusive member set to VK_FULL_SCREEN_EXCLUSIVE_APPLICATION_CONTROLLED_EXT, and surface was created using vkCreateWin32SurfaceKHR, an instance of VkSurfaceFullScreenExclusiveWin32InfoEXT must be present in the pNext chain

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_PHYSICAL_DEVICE_SURFACE_INFO_2_KHR
pNext must be NULL
surface must be a valid VkSurfaceKHR handle

The VkSurfaceCapabilities2KHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkSurfaceCapabilities2KHR {
    VkStructureType             sType;
    void*                       pNext;
    VkSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR    surfaceCapabilities;
} VkSurfaceCapabilities2KHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to an extension-specific structure.
surfaceCapabilities is a structure of type VkSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR describing the capabilities of the specified surface.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_SURFACE_CAPABILITIES_2_KHR
Each pNext member of any structure (including this one) in the pNext chain must be either NULL or a pointer to a valid instance of VkSharedPresentSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR or VkSurfaceProtectedCapabilitiesKHR
Each sType member in the pNext chain must be unique

An application queries if a protected VkSurface is displayable on a specific windowing system using VkSurfaceProtectedCapabilitiesKHR, which can be passed in pNext parameter of VkSurfaceCapabilities2KHR.

The VkSurfaceProtectedCapabilitiesKHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkSurfaceProtectedCapabilitiesKHR {
    VkStructureType    sType;
    const void*        pNext;
    VkBool32           supportsProtected;
} VkSurfaceProtectedCapabilitiesKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to an extension-specific structure.
supportsProtected specifies whether a protected swapchain created from VkPhysicalDeviceSurfaceInfo2KHR::surface for a particular windowing system can be displayed on screen or not. If supportsProtected is VK_TRUE, then creation of swapchains with the VK_SWAPCHAIN_CREATE_PROTECTED_BIT_KHR flag set must be supported for surface.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_SURFACE_PROTECTED_CAPABILITIES_KHR

The VkSharedPresentSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkSharedPresentSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR {
    VkStructureType      sType;
    void*                pNext;
    VkImageUsageFlags    sharedPresentSupportedUsageFlags;
} VkSharedPresentSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to an extension-specific structure.
sharedPresentSupportedUsageFlags is a bitmask of VkImageUsageFlagBits representing the ways the application can use the shared presentable image from a swapchain created with VkPresentModeKHR set to VK_PRESENT_MODE_SHARED_DEMAND_REFRESH_KHR or VK_PRESENT_MODE_SHARED_CONTINUOUS_REFRESH_KHR for the surface on the specified device. VK_IMAGE_USAGE_COLOR_ATTACHMENT_BIT must be included in the set but implementations may support additional usages.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_SHARED_PRESENT_SURFACE_CAPABILITIES_KHR

Bits which may be set in VkSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR::supportedTransforms indicating the presentation transforms supported for the surface on the specified device, and possible values of VkSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR::currentTransform is indicating the surface’s current transform relative to the presentation engine’s natural orientation, are:

typedef enum VkSurfaceTransformFlagBitsKHR {
    VK_SURFACE_TRANSFORM_IDENTITY_BIT_KHR = 0x00000001,
    VK_SURFACE_TRANSFORM_ROTATE_90_BIT_KHR = 0x00000002,
    VK_SURFACE_TRANSFORM_ROTATE_180_BIT_KHR = 0x00000004,
    VK_SURFACE_TRANSFORM_ROTATE_270_BIT_KHR = 0x00000008,
    VK_SURFACE_TRANSFORM_HORIZONTAL_MIRROR_BIT_KHR = 0x00000010,
    VK_SURFACE_TRANSFORM_HORIZONTAL_MIRROR_ROTATE_90_BIT_KHR = 0x00000020,
    VK_SURFACE_TRANSFORM_HORIZONTAL_MIRROR_ROTATE_180_BIT_KHR = 0x00000040,
    VK_SURFACE_TRANSFORM_HORIZONTAL_MIRROR_ROTATE_270_BIT_KHR = 0x00000080,
    VK_SURFACE_TRANSFORM_INHERIT_BIT_KHR = 0x00000100,
    VK_SURFACE_TRANSFORM_FLAG_BITS_MAX_ENUM_KHR = 0x7FFFFFFF
} VkSurfaceTransformFlagBitsKHR;

VK_SURFACE_TRANSFORM_IDENTITY_BIT_KHR specifies that image content is presented without being transformed.
VK_SURFACE_TRANSFORM_ROTATE_90_BIT_KHR specifies that image content is rotated 90 degrees clockwise.
VK_SURFACE_TRANSFORM_ROTATE_180_BIT_KHR specifies that image content is rotated 180 degrees clockwise.
VK_SURFACE_TRANSFORM_ROTATE_270_BIT_KHR specifies that image content is rotated 270 degrees clockwise.
VK_SURFACE_TRANSFORM_HORIZONTAL_MIRROR_BIT_KHR specifies that image content is mirrored horizontally.
VK_SURFACE_TRANSFORM_HORIZONTAL_MIRROR_ROTATE_90_BIT_KHR specifies that image content is mirrored horizontally, then rotated 90 degrees clockwise.
VK_SURFACE_TRANSFORM_HORIZONTAL_MIRROR_ROTATE_180_BIT_KHR specifies that image content is mirrored horizontally, then rotated 180 degrees clockwise.
VK_SURFACE_TRANSFORM_HORIZONTAL_MIRROR_ROTATE_270_BIT_KHR specifies that image content is mirrored horizontally, then rotated 270 degrees clockwise.
VK_SURFACE_TRANSFORM_INHERIT_BIT_KHR specifies that the presentation transform is not specified, and is instead determined by platform-specific considerations and mechanisms outside Vulkan.

typedef VkFlags VkSurfaceTransformFlagsKHR;

VkSurfaceTransformFlagsKHR is a bitmask type for setting a mask of zero or more VkSurfaceTransformFlagBitsKHR.

The supportedCompositeAlpha member is of type VkCompositeAlphaFlagBitsKHR, which contains the following values:

typedef enum VkCompositeAlphaFlagBitsKHR {
    VK_COMPOSITE_ALPHA_OPAQUE_BIT_KHR = 0x00000001,
    VK_COMPOSITE_ALPHA_PRE_MULTIPLIED_BIT_KHR = 0x00000002,
    VK_COMPOSITE_ALPHA_POST_MULTIPLIED_BIT_KHR = 0x00000004,
    VK_COMPOSITE_ALPHA_INHERIT_BIT_KHR = 0x00000008,
    VK_COMPOSITE_ALPHA_FLAG_BITS_MAX_ENUM_KHR = 0x7FFFFFFF
} VkCompositeAlphaFlagBitsKHR;

These values are described as follows:

VK_COMPOSITE_ALPHA_OPAQUE_BIT_KHR: The alpha channel, if it exists, of the images is ignored in the compositing process. Instead, the image is treated as if it has a constant alpha of 1.0.
VK_COMPOSITE_ALPHA_PRE_MULTIPLIED_BIT_KHR: The alpha channel, if it exists, of the images is respected in the compositing process. The non-alpha channels of the image are expected to already be multiplied by the alpha channel by the application.
VK_COMPOSITE_ALPHA_POST_MULTIPLIED_BIT_KHR: The alpha channel, if it exists, of the images is respected in the compositing process. The non-alpha channels of the image are not expected to already be multiplied by the alpha channel by the application; instead, the compositor will multiply the non-alpha channels of the image by the alpha channel during compositing.
VK_COMPOSITE_ALPHA_INHERIT_BIT_KHR: The way in which the presentation engine treats the alpha channel in the images is unknown to the Vulkan API. Instead, the application is responsible for setting the composite alpha blending mode using native window system commands. If the application does not set the blending mode using native window system commands, then a platform-specific default will be used.

typedef VkFlags VkCompositeAlphaFlagsKHR;

VkCompositeAlphaFlagsKHR is a bitmask type for setting a mask of zero or more VkCompositeAlphaFlagBitsKHR.

To query the supported swapchain format-color space pairs for a surface, call:

VkResult vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceFormatsKHR(
    VkPhysicalDevice                            physicalDevice,
    VkSurfaceKHR                                surface,
    uint32_t*                                   pSurfaceFormatCount,
    VkSurfaceFormatKHR*                         pSurfaceFormats);

physicalDevice is the physical device that will be associated with the swapchain to be created, as described for vkCreateSwapchainKHR.
surface is the surface that will be associated with the swapchain.
pSurfaceFormatCount is a pointer to an integer related to the number of format pairs available or queried, as described below.
pSurfaceFormats is either NULL or a pointer to an array of VkSurfaceFormatKHR structures.

If pSurfaceFormats is NULL, then the number of format pairs supported for the given surface is returned in pSurfaceFormatCount. Otherwise, pSurfaceFormatCount must point to a variable set by the user to the number of elements in the pSurfaceFormats array, and on return the variable is overwritten with the number of structures actually written to pSurfaceFormats. If the value of pSurfaceFormatCount is less than the number of format pairs supported, at most pSurfaceFormatCount structures will be written. If pSurfaceFormatCount is smaller than the number of format pairs supported for the given surface, VK_INCOMPLETE will be returned instead of VK_SUCCESS to indicate that not all the available values were returned. The number of format pairs supported must be greater than or equal to 1.

Valid Usage

surface must be supported by physicalDevice, as reported by vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceSupportKHR or an equivalent platform-specific mechanism.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

physicalDevice must be a valid VkPhysicalDevice handle
surface must be a valid VkSurfaceKHR handle
pSurfaceFormatCount must be a valid pointer to a uint32_t value
If the value referenced by pSurfaceFormatCount is not 0, and pSurfaceFormats is not NULL, pSurfaceFormats must be a valid pointer to an array of pSurfaceFormatCount VkSurfaceFormatKHR structures
Both of physicalDevice, and surface must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from the same VkInstance

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS
VK_INCOMPLETE

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_SURFACE_LOST_KHR

The VkSurfaceFormatKHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkSurfaceFormatKHR {
    VkFormat           format;
    VkColorSpaceKHR    colorSpace;
} VkSurfaceFormatKHR;

format is a VkFormat that is compatible with the specified surface.
colorSpace is a presentation VkColorSpaceKHR that is compatible with the surface.

To query the supported swapchain format tuples for a surface, call:

VkResult vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceFormats2KHR(
    VkPhysicalDevice                            physicalDevice,
    const VkPhysicalDeviceSurfaceInfo2KHR*      pSurfaceInfo,
    uint32_t*                                   pSurfaceFormatCount,
    VkSurfaceFormat2KHR*                        pSurfaceFormats);

physicalDevice is the physical device that will be associated with the swapchain to be created, as described for vkCreateSwapchainKHR.
pSurfaceInfo points to an instance of the VkPhysicalDeviceSurfaceInfo2KHR structure, describing the surface and other fixed parameters that would be consumed by vkCreateSwapchainKHR.
pSurfaceFormatCount is a pointer to an integer related to the number of format tuples available or queried, as described below.
pSurfaceFormats is either NULL or a pointer to an array of VkSurfaceFormat2KHR structures.

If pSurfaceFormats is NULL, then the number of format tuples supported for the given surface is returned in pSurfaceFormatCount. Otherwise, pSurfaceFormatCount must point to a variable set by the user to the number of elements in the pSurfaceFormats array, and on return the variable is overwritten with the number of structures actually written to pSurfaceFormats. If the value of pSurfaceFormatCount is less than the number of format tuples supported, at most pSurfaceFormatCount structures will be written. If pSurfaceFormatCount is smaller than the number of format tuples supported for the surface parameters described in pSurfaceInfo, VK_INCOMPLETE will be returned instead of VK_SUCCESS to indicate that not all the available values were returned. The number of format tuples supported must be greater than or equal to 1.

Valid Usage

pSurfaceInfo::surface must be supported by physicalDevice, as reported by vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceSupportKHR or an equivalent platform-specific mechanism.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

physicalDevice must be a valid VkPhysicalDevice handle
pSurfaceInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkPhysicalDeviceSurfaceInfo2KHR structure
pSurfaceFormatCount must be a valid pointer to a uint32_t value
If the value referenced by pSurfaceFormatCount is not 0, and pSurfaceFormats is not NULL, pSurfaceFormats must be a valid pointer to an array of pSurfaceFormatCount VkSurfaceFormat2KHR structures

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS
VK_INCOMPLETE

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_SURFACE_LOST_KHR

The VkSurfaceFormat2KHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkSurfaceFormat2KHR {
    VkStructureType       sType;
    void*                 pNext;
    VkSurfaceFormatKHR    surfaceFormat;
} VkSurfaceFormat2KHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to an extension-specific structure.
surfaceFormat is an instance of VkSurfaceFormatKHR describing a format-color space pair that is compatible with the specified surface.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_SURFACE_FORMAT_2_KHR
pNext must be NULL

While the format of a presentable image refers to the encoding of each pixel, the colorSpace determines how the presentation engine interprets the pixel values. A color space in this document refers to a specific color space (defined by the chromaticities of its primaries and a white point in CIE Lab), and a transfer function that is applied before storing or transmitting color data in the given color space.

Possible values of VkSurfaceFormatKHR::colorSpace, specifying supported color spaces of a presentation engine, are:

typedef enum VkColorSpaceKHR {
    VK_COLOR_SPACE_SRGB_NONLINEAR_KHR = 0,
    VK_COLORSPACE_SRGB_NONLINEAR_KHR = VK_COLOR_SPACE_SRGB_NONLINEAR_KHR,
    VK_COLOR_SPACE_MAX_ENUM_KHR = 0x7FFFFFFF
} VkColorSpaceKHR;

VK_COLOR_SPACE_SRGB_NONLINEAR_KHR specifies support for the sRGB color space.

If pSurfaceFormats includes an entry whose value for colorSpace is VK_COLOR_SPACE_SRGB_NONLINEAR_KHR and whose value for format is a UNORM (or SRGB) format and the corresponding SRGB (or UNORM) format is a color renderable format for VK_IMAGE_TILING_OPTIMAL, then pSurfaceFormats must also contain an entry with the same value for colorSpace and format equal to the corresponding SRGB (or UNORM) format. pSurfaceFormats must not contain an entry whose value for format is VK_FORMAT_UNDEFINED.

Note

In the initial release of the VK_KHR_surface and VK_KHR_swapchain extensions, the token VK_COLORSPACE_SRGB_NONLINEAR_KHR was used. Starting in the 2016-05-13 updates to the extension branches, matching release 1.0.13 of the core API specification, VK_COLOR_SPACE_SRGB_NONLINEAR_KHR is used instead for consistency with Vulkan naming rules. The older enum is still available for backwards compatibility.

To query the supported presentation modes for a surface, call:

VkResult vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfacePresentModesKHR(
    VkPhysicalDevice                            physicalDevice,
    VkSurfaceKHR                                surface,
    uint32_t*                                   pPresentModeCount,
    VkPresentModeKHR*                           pPresentModes);

physicalDevice is the physical device that will be associated with the swapchain to be created, as described for vkCreateSwapchainKHR.
surface is the surface that will be associated with the swapchain.
pPresentModeCount is a pointer to an integer related to the number of presentation modes available or queried, as described below.
pPresentModes is either NULL or a pointer to an array of VkPresentModeKHR values, indicating the supported presentation modes.

If pPresentModes is NULL, then the number of presentation modes supported for the given surface is returned in pPresentModeCount. Otherwise, pPresentModeCount must point to a variable set by the user to the number of elements in the pPresentModes array, and on return the variable is overwritten with the number of values actually written to pPresentModes. If the value of pPresentModeCount is less than the number of presentation modes supported, at most pPresentModeCount values will be written. If pPresentModeCount is smaller than the number of presentation modes supported for the given surface, VK_INCOMPLETE will be returned instead of VK_SUCCESS to indicate that not all the available values were returned.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

physicalDevice must be a valid VkPhysicalDevice handle
surface must be a valid VkSurfaceKHR handle
pPresentModeCount must be a valid pointer to a uint32_t value
If the value referenced by pPresentModeCount is not 0, and pPresentModes is not NULL, pPresentModes must be a valid pointer to an array of pPresentModeCount VkPresentModeKHR values
Both of physicalDevice, and surface must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from the same VkInstance

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS
VK_INCOMPLETE

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_SURFACE_LOST_KHR

Possible values of elements of the vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfacePresentModesKHR::pPresentModes array, indicating the supported presentation modes for a surface, are:

typedef enum VkPresentModeKHR {
    VK_PRESENT_MODE_IMMEDIATE_KHR = 0,
    VK_PRESENT_MODE_MAILBOX_KHR = 1,
    VK_PRESENT_MODE_FIFO_KHR = 2,
    VK_PRESENT_MODE_FIFO_RELAXED_KHR = 3,
    VK_PRESENT_MODE_SHARED_DEMAND_REFRESH_KHR = 1000111000,
    VK_PRESENT_MODE_SHARED_CONTINUOUS_REFRESH_KHR = 1000111001,
    VK_PRESENT_MODE_MAX_ENUM_KHR = 0x7FFFFFFF
} VkPresentModeKHR;

VK_PRESENT_MODE_IMMEDIATE_KHR specifies that the presentation engine does not wait for a vertical blanking period to update the current image, meaning this mode may result in visible tearing. No internal queuing of presentation requests is needed, as the requests are applied immediately.
VK_PRESENT_MODE_MAILBOX_KHR specifies that the presentation engine waits for the next vertical blanking period to update the current image. Tearing cannot be observed. An internal single-entry queue is used to hold pending presentation requests. If the queue is full when a new presentation request is received, the new request replaces the existing entry, and any images associated with the prior entry become available for re-use by the application. One request is removed from the queue and processed during each vertical blanking period in which the queue is non-empty.
VK_PRESENT_MODE_FIFO_KHR specifies that the presentation engine waits for the next vertical blanking period to update the current image. Tearing cannot be observed. An internal queue is used to hold pending presentation requests. New requests are appended to the end of the queue, and one request is removed from the beginning of the queue and processed during each vertical blanking period in which the queue is non-empty. This is the only value of presentMode that is required to be supported.
VK_PRESENT_MODE_FIFO_RELAXED_KHR specifies that the presentation engine generally waits for the next vertical blanking period to update the current image. If a vertical blanking period has already passed since the last update of the current image then the presentation engine does not wait for another vertical blanking period for the update, meaning this mode may result in visible tearing in this case. This mode is useful for reducing visual stutter with an application that will mostly present a new image before the next vertical blanking period, but may occasionally be late, and present a new image just after the next vertical blanking period. An internal queue is used to hold pending presentation requests. New requests are appended to the end of the queue, and one request is removed from the beginning of the queue and processed during or after each vertical blanking period in which the queue is non-empty.
VK_PRESENT_MODE_SHARED_DEMAND_REFRESH_KHR specifies that the presentation engine and application have concurrent access to a single image, which is referred to as a shared presentable image. The presentation engine is only required to update the current image after a new presentation request is received. Therefore the application must make a presentation request whenever an update is required. However, the presentation engine may update the current image at any point, meaning this mode may result in visible tearing.
VK_PRESENT_MODE_SHARED_CONTINUOUS_REFRESH_KHR specifies that the presentation engine and application have concurrent access to a single image, which is referred to as a shared presentable image. The presentation engine periodically updates the current image on its regular refresh cycle. The application is only required to make one initial presentation request, after which the presentation engine must update the current image without any need for further presentation requests. The application can indicate the image contents have been updated by making a presentation request, but this does not guarantee the timing of when it will be updated. This mode may result in visible tearing if rendering to the image is not timed correctly.

The supported VkImageUsageFlagBits of the presentable images of a swapchain created for a surface may differ depending on the presentation mode, and can be determined as per the table below:

Table 33. Presentable image usage queries
Presentation mode	Image usage flags
`VK_PRESENT_MODE_IMMEDIATE_KHR`	VkSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR::`supportedUsageFlags`
`VK_PRESENT_MODE_MAILBOX_KHR`	VkSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR::`supportedUsageFlags`
`VK_PRESENT_MODE_FIFO_KHR`	VkSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR::`supportedUsageFlags`
`VK_PRESENT_MODE_FIFO_RELAXED_KHR`	VkSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR::`supportedUsageFlags`
`VK_PRESENT_MODE_SHARED_DEMAND_REFRESH_KHR`	VkSharedPresentSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR::`sharedPresentSupportedUsageFlags`
`VK_PRESENT_MODE_SHARED_CONTINUOUS_REFRESH_KHR`	VkSharedPresentSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR::`sharedPresentSupportedUsageFlags`

Note

For reference, the mode indicated by VK_PRESENT_MODE_FIFO_KHR is equivalent to the behavior of {wgl|glX|egl}SwapBuffers with a swap interval of 1, while the mode indicated by VK_PRESENT_MODE_FIFO_RELAXED_KHR is equivalent to the behavior of {wgl|glX}SwapBuffers with a swap interval of -1 (from the {WGL|GLX}_EXT_swap_control_tear extensions).

29.6. Device Group Queries

A logical device that represents multiple physical devices may support presenting from images on more than one physical device, or combining images from multiple physical devices.

To query these capabilities, call:

VkResult vkGetDeviceGroupPresentCapabilitiesKHR(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    VkDeviceGroupPresentCapabilitiesKHR*        pDeviceGroupPresentCapabilities);

device is the logical device.
pDeviceGroupPresentCapabilities is a pointer to a structure of type VkDeviceGroupPresentCapabilitiesKHR that is filled with the logical device’s capabilities.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
pDeviceGroupPresentCapabilities must be a valid pointer to a VkDeviceGroupPresentCapabilitiesKHR structure

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

The VkDeviceGroupPresentCapabilitiesKHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkDeviceGroupPresentCapabilitiesKHR {
    VkStructureType                     sType;
    const void*                         pNext;
    uint32_t                            presentMask[VK_MAX_DEVICE_GROUP_SIZE];
    VkDeviceGroupPresentModeFlagsKHR    modes;
} VkDeviceGroupPresentCapabilitiesKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to an extension-specific structure.
presentMask is an array of masks, where the mask at element i is non-zero if physical device i has a presentation engine, and where bit j is set in element i if physical device i can present swapchain images from physical device j. If element i is non-zero, then bit i must be set.
modes is a bitmask of VkDeviceGroupPresentModeFlagBitsKHR indicating which device group presentation modes are supported.

modes always has VK_DEVICE_GROUP_PRESENT_MODE_LOCAL_BIT_KHR set.

The present mode flags are also used when presenting an image, in VkDeviceGroupPresentInfoKHR::mode.

If a device group only includes a single physical device, then modes must equal VK_DEVICE_GROUP_PRESENT_MODE_LOCAL_BIT_KHR.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_DEVICE_GROUP_PRESENT_CAPABILITIES_KHR
pNext must be NULL

Bits which may be set in VkDeviceGroupPresentCapabilitiesKHR::modes to indicate which device group presentation modes are supported are:

typedef enum VkDeviceGroupPresentModeFlagBitsKHR {
    VK_DEVICE_GROUP_PRESENT_MODE_LOCAL_BIT_KHR = 0x00000001,
    VK_DEVICE_GROUP_PRESENT_MODE_REMOTE_BIT_KHR = 0x00000002,
    VK_DEVICE_GROUP_PRESENT_MODE_SUM_BIT_KHR = 0x00000004,
    VK_DEVICE_GROUP_PRESENT_MODE_LOCAL_MULTI_DEVICE_BIT_KHR = 0x00000008,
    VK_DEVICE_GROUP_PRESENT_MODE_FLAG_BITS_MAX_ENUM_KHR = 0x7FFFFFFF
} VkDeviceGroupPresentModeFlagBitsKHR;

VK_DEVICE_GROUP_PRESENT_MODE_LOCAL_BIT_KHR specifies that any physical device with a presentation engine can present its own swapchain images.
VK_DEVICE_GROUP_PRESENT_MODE_REMOTE_BIT_KHR specifies that any physical device with a presentation engine can present swapchain images from any physical device in its presentMask.
VK_DEVICE_GROUP_PRESENT_MODE_SUM_BIT_KHR specifies that any physical device with a presentation engine can present the sum of swapchain images from any physical devices in its presentMask.
VK_DEVICE_GROUP_PRESENT_MODE_LOCAL_MULTI_DEVICE_BIT_KHR specifies that multiple physical devices with a presentation engine can each present their own swapchain images.

typedef VkFlags VkDeviceGroupPresentModeFlagsKHR;

VkDeviceGroupPresentModeFlagsKHR is a bitmask type for setting a mask of zero or more VkDeviceGroupPresentModeFlagBitsKHR.

Some surfaces may not be capable of using all the device group present modes.

To query the supported device group present modes for a particular surface, call:

VkResult vkGetDeviceGroupSurfacePresentModesKHR(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    VkSurfaceKHR                                surface,
    VkDeviceGroupPresentModeFlagsKHR*           pModes);

device is the logical device.
surface is the surface.
pModes is a pointer to a value of type VkDeviceGroupPresentModeFlagsKHR that is filled with the supported device group present modes for the surface.

The modes returned by this command are not invariant, and may change in response to the surface being moved, resized, or occluded. These modes must be a subset of the modes returned by vkGetDeviceGroupPresentCapabilitiesKHR.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
surface must be a valid VkSurfaceKHR handle
pModes must be a valid pointer to a VkDeviceGroupPresentModeFlagsKHR value
Both of device, and surface must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from the same VkInstance

Host Synchronization

Host access to surface must be externally synchronized

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_SURFACE_LOST_KHR

When using VK_DEVICE_GROUP_PRESENT_MODE_LOCAL_MULTI_DEVICE_BIT_KHR, the application may need to know which regions of the surface are used when presenting locally on each physical device. Presentation of swapchain images to this surface need only have valid contents in the regions returned by this command.

To query a set of rectangles used in presentation on the physical device, call:

VkResult vkGetPhysicalDevicePresentRectanglesKHR(
    VkPhysicalDevice                            physicalDevice,
    VkSurfaceKHR                                surface,
    uint32_t*                                   pRectCount,
    VkRect2D*                                   pRects);

physicalDevice is the physical device.
surface is the surface.
pRectCount is a pointer to an integer related to the number of rectangles available or queried, as described below.
pRects is either NULL or a pointer to an array of VkRect2D structures.

If pRects is NULL, then the number of rectangles used when presenting the given surface is returned in pRectCount. Otherwise, pRectCount must point to a variable set by the user to the number of elements in the pRects array, and on return the variable is overwritten with the number of structures actually written to pRects. If the value of pRectCount is less than the number of rectangles, at most pRectCount structures will be written. If pRectCount is smaller than the number of rectangles used for the given surface, VK_INCOMPLETE will be returned instead of VK_SUCCESS to indicate that not all the available values were returned.

The values returned by this command are not invariant, and may change in response to the surface being moved, resized, or occluded.

The rectangles returned by this command must not overlap.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

physicalDevice must be a valid VkPhysicalDevice handle
surface must be a valid VkSurfaceKHR handle
pRectCount must be a valid pointer to a uint32_t value
If the value referenced by pRectCount is not 0, and pRects is not NULL, pRects must be a valid pointer to an array of pRectCount VkRect2D structures
Both of physicalDevice, and surface must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from the same VkInstance

Host Synchronization

Host access to surface must be externally synchronized

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS
VK_INCOMPLETE

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

29.7. WSI Swapchain

A swapchain object (a.k.a. swapchain) provides the ability to present rendering results to a surface. Swapchain objects are represented by VkSwapchainKHR handles:

VK_DEFINE_NON_DISPATCHABLE_HANDLE(VkSwapchainKHR)

A swapchain is an abstraction for an array of presentable images that are associated with a surface. The presentable images are represented by VkImage objects created by the platform. One image (which can be an array image for multiview/stereoscopic-3D surfaces) is displayed at a time, but multiple images can be queued for presentation. An application renders to the image, and then queues the image for presentation to the surface.

A native window cannot be associated with more than one non-retired swapchain at a time. Further, swapchains cannot be created for native windows that have a non-Vulkan graphics API surface associated with them.

Note

The presentation engine is an abstraction for the platform’s compositor or display engine.

The presentation engine may be synchronous or asynchronous with respect to the application and/or logical device.

Some implementations may use the device’s graphics queue or dedicated presentation hardware to perform presentation.

The presentable images of a swapchain are owned by the presentation engine. An application can acquire use of a presentable image from the presentation engine. Use of a presentable image must occur only after the image is returned by vkAcquireNextImageKHR, and before it is presented by vkQueuePresentKHR. This includes transitioning the image layout and rendering commands.

An application can acquire use of a presentable image with vkAcquireNextImageKHR. After acquiring a presentable image and before modifying it, the application must use a synchronization primitive to ensure that the presentation engine has finished reading from the image. The application can then transition the image’s layout, queue rendering commands to it, etc. Finally, the application presents the image with vkQueuePresentKHR, which releases the acquisition of the image.

The presentation engine controls the order in which presentable images are acquired for use by the application.

Note

This allows the platform to handle situations which require out-of-order return of images after presentation. At the same time, it allows the application to generate command buffers referencing all of the images in the swapchain at initialization time, rather than in its main loop.

How this all works is described below.

If a swapchain is created with presentMode set to either VK_PRESENT_MODE_SHARED_DEMAND_REFRESH_KHR or VK_PRESENT_MODE_SHARED_CONTINUOUS_REFRESH_KHR, a single presentable image can be acquired, referred to as a shared presentable image. A shared presentable image may be concurrently accessed by the application and the presentation engine, without transitioning the image’s layout after it is initially presented.

With VK_PRESENT_MODE_SHARED_DEMAND_REFRESH_KHR, the presentation engine is only required to update to the latest contents of a shared presentable image after a present. The application must call vkQueuePresentKHR to guarantee an update. However, the presentation engine may update from it at any time.
With VK_PRESENT_MODE_SHARED_CONTINUOUS_REFRESH_KHR, the presentation engine will automatically present the latest contents of a shared presentable image during every refresh cycle. The application is only required to make one initial call to vkQueuePresentKHR, after which the presentation engine will update from it without any need for further present calls. The application can indicate the image contents have been updated by calling vkQueuePresentKHR, but this does not guarantee the timing of when updates will occur.

The presentation engine may access a shared presentable image at any time after it is first presented. To avoid tearing, an application should coordinate access with the presentation engine. This requires presentation engine timing information through platform-specific mechanisms and ensuring that color attachment writes are made available during the portion of the presentation engine’s refresh cycle they are intended for.

Note

The VK_KHR_shared_presentable_image extension does not provide functionality for determining the timing of the presentation engine’s refresh cycles.

In order to query a swapchain’s status when rendering to a shared presentable image, call:

VkResult vkGetSwapchainStatusKHR(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    VkSwapchainKHR                              swapchain);

device is the device associated with swapchain.
swapchain is the swapchain to query.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
swapchain must be a valid VkSwapchainKHR handle
Both of device, and swapchain must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from the same VkInstance

Host Synchronization

Host access to swapchain must be externally synchronized

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS
VK_SUBOPTIMAL_KHR

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DATE_KHR
VK_ERROR_SURFACE_LOST_KHR

The possible return values for vkGetSwapchainStatusKHR should be interpreted as follows:

VK_SUCCESS specifies the presentation engine is presenting the contents of the shared presentable image, as per the swapchain’s VkPresentModeKHR.
VK_SUBOPTIMAL_KHR the swapchain no longer matches the surface properties exactly, but the presentation engine is presenting the contents of the shared presentable image, as per the swapchain’s VkPresentModeKHR.
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DATE_KHR the surface has changed in such a way that it is no longer compatible with the swapchain.
VK_ERROR_SURFACE_LOST_KHR the surface is no longer available.

Note

The swapchain state may be cached by implementations, so applications should regularly call vkGetSwapchainStatusKHR when using a swapchain with VkPresentModeKHR set to VK_PRESENT_MODE_SHARED_CONTINUOUS_REFRESH_KHR.

To create a swapchain, call:

VkResult vkCreateSwapchainKHR(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    const VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR*             pCreateInfo,
    const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator,
    VkSwapchainKHR*                             pSwapchain);

device is the device to create the swapchain for.
pCreateInfo is a pointer to an instance of the VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR structure specifying the parameters of the created swapchain.
pAllocator is the allocator used for host memory allocated for the swapchain object when there is no more specific allocator available (see Memory Allocation).
pSwapchain is a pointer to a VkSwapchainKHR handle in which the created swapchain object will be returned.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
pCreateInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR structure
If pAllocator is not NULL, pAllocator must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure
pSwapchain must be a valid pointer to a VkSwapchainKHR handle

Host Synchronization

Host access to pCreateInfo.surface must be externally synchronized
Host access to pCreateInfo.oldSwapchain must be externally synchronized

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST
VK_ERROR_SURFACE_LOST_KHR
VK_ERROR_NATIVE_WINDOW_IN_USE_KHR
VK_ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED

The VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR {
    VkStructureType                  sType;
    const void*                      pNext;
    VkSwapchainCreateFlagsKHR        flags;
    VkSurfaceKHR                     surface;
    uint32_t                         minImageCount;
    VkFormat                         imageFormat;
    VkColorSpaceKHR                  imageColorSpace;
    VkExtent2D                       imageExtent;
    uint32_t                         imageArrayLayers;
    VkImageUsageFlags                imageUsage;
    VkSharingMode                    imageSharingMode;
    uint32_t                         queueFamilyIndexCount;
    const uint32_t*                  pQueueFamilyIndices;
    VkSurfaceTransformFlagBitsKHR    preTransform;
    VkCompositeAlphaFlagBitsKHR      compositeAlpha;
    VkPresentModeKHR                 presentMode;
    VkBool32                         clipped;
    VkSwapchainKHR                   oldSwapchain;
} VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to an extension-specific structure.
flags is a bitmask of VkSwapchainCreateFlagBitsKHR indicating parameters of the swapchain creation.
surface is the surface onto which the swapchain will present images. If the creation succeeds, the swapchain becomes associated with surface.
minImageCount is the minimum number of presentable images that the application needs. The implementation will either create the swapchain with at least that many images, or it will fail to create the swapchain.
imageFormat is a VkFormat value specifying the format the swapchain image(s) will be created with.
imageColorSpace is a VkColorSpaceKHR value specifying the way the swapchain interprets image data.
imageExtent is the size (in pixels) of the swapchain image(s). The behavior is platform-dependent if the image extent does not match the surface’s currentExtent as returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR.

Note

On some platforms, it is normal that maxImageExtent may become (0, 0), for example when the window is minimized. In such a case, it is not possible to create a swapchain due to the Valid Usage requirements.

imageArrayLayers is the number of views in a multiview/stereo surface. For non-stereoscopic-3D applications, this value is 1.
imageUsage is a bitmask of VkImageUsageFlagBits describing the intended usage of the (acquired) swapchain images.
imageSharingMode is the sharing mode used for the image(s) of the swapchain.
queueFamilyIndexCount is the number of queue families having access to the image(s) of the swapchain when imageSharingMode is VK_SHARING_MODE_CONCURRENT.
pQueueFamilyIndices is an array of queue family indices having access to the images(s) of the swapchain when imageSharingMode is VK_SHARING_MODE_CONCURRENT.
preTransform is a VkSurfaceTransformFlagBitsKHR value describing the transform, relative to the presentation engine’s natural orientation, applied to the image content prior to presentation. If it does not match the currentTransform value returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR, the presentation engine will transform the image content as part of the presentation operation.
compositeAlpha is a VkCompositeAlphaFlagBitsKHR value indicating the alpha compositing mode to use when this surface is composited together with other surfaces on certain window systems.
presentMode is the presentation mode the swapchain will use. A swapchain’s present mode determines how incoming present requests will be processed and queued internally.
clipped specifies whether the Vulkan implementation is allowed to discard rendering operations that affect regions of the surface that are not visible.
- If set to VK_TRUE, the presentable images associated with the swapchain may not own all of their pixels. Pixels in the presentable images that correspond to regions of the target surface obscured by another window on the desktop, or subject to some other clipping mechanism will have undefined content when read back. Pixel shaders may not execute for these pixels, and thus any side effects they would have had will not occur. VK_TRUE value does not guarantee any clipping will occur, but allows more optimal presentation methods to be used on some platforms.
- If set to VK_FALSE, presentable images associated with the swapchain will own all of the pixels they contain.

Note

Applications should set this value to VK_TRUE if they do not expect to read back the content of presentable images before presenting them or after reacquiring them, and if their pixel shaders do not have any side effects that require them to run for all pixels in the presentable image.

oldSwapchain is VK_NULL_HANDLE, or the existing non-retired swapchain currently associated with surface. Providing a valid oldSwapchain may aid in the resource reuse, and also allows the application to still present any images that are already acquired from it.

Upon calling vkCreateSwapchainKHR with an oldSwapchain that is not VK_NULL_HANDLE, oldSwapchain is retired — even if creation of the new swapchain fails. The new swapchain is created in the non-retired state whether or not oldSwapchain is VK_NULL_HANDLE.

Upon calling vkCreateSwapchainKHR with an oldSwapchain that is not VK_NULL_HANDLE, any images from oldSwapchain that are not acquired by the application may be freed by the implementation, which may occur even if creation of the new swapchain fails. The application can destroy oldSwapchain to free all memory associated with oldSwapchain.

Note

Multiple retired swapchains can be associated with the same VkSurfaceKHR through multiple uses of oldSwapchain that outnumber calls to vkDestroySwapchainKHR.

After oldSwapchain is retired, the application can pass to vkQueuePresentKHR any images it had already acquired from oldSwapchain. E.g., an application may present an image from the old swapchain before an image from the new swapchain is ready to be presented. As usual, vkQueuePresentKHR may fail if oldSwapchain has entered a state that causes VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DATE_KHR to be returned.

The application can continue to use a shared presentable image obtained from oldSwapchain until a presentable image is acquired from the new swapchain, as long as it has not entered a state that causes it to return VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DATE_KHR.

Valid Usage

surface must be a surface that is supported by the device as determined using vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceSupportKHR
minImageCount must be greater than or equal to the value returned in the minImageCount member of the VkSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR structure returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR for the surface
minImageCount must be less than or equal to the value returned in the maxImageCount member of the VkSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR structure returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR for the surface if the returned maxImageCount is not zero
minImageCount must be 1 if presentMode is either VK_PRESENT_MODE_SHARED_DEMAND_REFRESH_KHR or VK_PRESENT_MODE_SHARED_CONTINUOUS_REFRESH_KHR
imageFormat and imageColorSpace must match the format and colorSpace members, respectively, of one of the VkSurfaceFormatKHR structures returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceFormatsKHR for the surface
imageExtent must be between minImageExtent and maxImageExtent, inclusive, where minImageExtent and maxImageExtent are members of the VkSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR structure returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR for the surface
imageExtent members width and height must both be non-zero
imageArrayLayers must be greater than 0 and less than or equal to the maxImageArrayLayers member of the VkSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR structure returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR for the surface
If presentMode is VK_PRESENT_MODE_IMMEDIATE_KHR, VK_PRESENT_MODE_MAILBOX_KHR, VK_PRESENT_MODE_FIFO_KHR or VK_PRESENT_MODE_FIFO_RELAXED_KHR, imageUsage must be a subset of the supported usage flags present in the supportedUsageFlags member of the VkSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR structure returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR for surface
If presentMode is VK_PRESENT_MODE_SHARED_DEMAND_REFRESH_KHR or VK_PRESENT_MODE_SHARED_CONTINUOUS_REFRESH_KHR, imageUsage must be a subset of the supported usage flags present in the sharedPresentSupportedUsageFlags member of the VkSharedPresentSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR structure returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceCapabilities2KHR for surface
If imageSharingMode is VK_SHARING_MODE_CONCURRENT, pQueueFamilyIndices must be a valid pointer to an array of queueFamilyIndexCount uint32_t values
If imageSharingMode is VK_SHARING_MODE_CONCURRENT, queueFamilyIndexCount must be greater than 1
If imageSharingMode is VK_SHARING_MODE_CONCURRENT, each element of pQueueFamilyIndices must be unique and must be less than pQueueFamilyPropertyCount returned by either vkGetPhysicalDeviceQueueFamilyProperties or vkGetPhysicalDeviceQueueFamilyProperties2 for the physicalDevice that was used to create device
preTransform must be one of the bits present in the supportedTransforms member of the VkSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR structure returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR for the surface
compositeAlpha must be one of the bits present in the supportedCompositeAlpha member of the VkSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR structure returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR for the surface
presentMode must be one of the VkPresentModeKHR values returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfacePresentModesKHR for the surface
If the logical device was created with VkDeviceGroupDeviceCreateInfo::physicalDeviceCount equal to 1, flags must not contain VK_SWAPCHAIN_CREATE_SPLIT_INSTANCE_BIND_REGIONS_BIT_KHR
If oldSwapchain is not VK_NULL_HANDLE, oldSwapchain must be a non-retired swapchain associated with native window referred to by surface
The implied image creation parameters of the swapchain must be supported as reported by vkGetPhysicalDeviceImageFormatProperties
If flags contains VK_SWAPCHAIN_CREATE_MUTABLE_FORMAT_BIT_KHR then the pNext chain must contain an instance of VkImageFormatListCreateInfoKHR with a viewFormatCount greater than zero and pViewFormats must have an element equal to imageFormat
If flags contains VK_SWAPCHAIN_CREATE_PROTECTED_BIT_KHR, then VkSurfaceProtectedCapabilitiesKHR::supportsProtected must be VK_TRUE in the VkSurfaceProtectedCapabilitiesKHR structure returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceCapabilities2KHR for surface
If the pNext chain includes an instance of VkSurfaceFullScreenExclusiveInfoEXT with its fullScreenExclusive member set to VK_FULL_SCREEN_EXCLUSIVE_APPLICATION_CONTROLLED_EXT, and surface was created using vkCreateWin32SurfaceKHR, an instance of VkSurfaceFullScreenExclusiveWin32InfoEXT must be present in the pNext chain

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_SWAPCHAIN_CREATE_INFO_KHR
Each pNext member of any structure (including this one) in the pNext chain must be either NULL or a pointer to a valid instance of VkDeviceGroupSwapchainCreateInfoKHR or VkImageFormatListCreateInfoKHR
Each sType member in the pNext chain must be unique
flags must be a valid combination of VkSwapchainCreateFlagBitsKHR values
surface must be a valid VkSurfaceKHR handle
imageFormat must be a valid VkFormat value
imageColorSpace must be a valid VkColorSpaceKHR value
imageUsage must be a valid combination of VkImageUsageFlagBits values
imageUsage must not be 0
imageSharingMode must be a valid VkSharingMode value
preTransform must be a valid VkSurfaceTransformFlagBitsKHR value
compositeAlpha must be a valid VkCompositeAlphaFlagBitsKHR value
presentMode must be a valid VkPresentModeKHR value
If oldSwapchain is not VK_NULL_HANDLE, oldSwapchain must be a valid VkSwapchainKHR handle
If oldSwapchain is a valid handle, it must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from surface
Both of oldSwapchain, and surface that are valid handles must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from the same VkInstance

Bits which can be set in VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR::flags, specifying parameters of swapchain creation, are:

typedef enum VkSwapchainCreateFlagBitsKHR {
    VK_SWAPCHAIN_CREATE_SPLIT_INSTANCE_BIND_REGIONS_BIT_KHR = 0x00000001,
    VK_SWAPCHAIN_CREATE_PROTECTED_BIT_KHR = 0x00000002,
    VK_SWAPCHAIN_CREATE_MUTABLE_FORMAT_BIT_KHR = 0x00000004,
    VK_SWAPCHAIN_CREATE_FLAG_BITS_MAX_ENUM_KHR = 0x7FFFFFFF
} VkSwapchainCreateFlagBitsKHR;

VK_SWAPCHAIN_CREATE_SPLIT_INSTANCE_BIND_REGIONS_BIT_KHR specifies that images created from the swapchain (i.e. with the swapchain member of VkImageSwapchainCreateInfoKHR set to this swapchain’s handle) must use VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPLIT_INSTANCE_BIND_REGIONS_BIT.
VK_SWAPCHAIN_CREATE_MUTABLE_FORMAT_BIT_KHR specifies that the images of the swapchain can be used to create a VkImageView with a different format than what the swapchain was created with. The list of allowed image view formats are specified by chaining an instance of the VkImageFormatListCreateInfoKHR structure to the pNext chain of VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR. In addition, this flag also specifies that the swapchain can be created with usage flags that are not supported for the format the swapchain is created with but are supported for at least one of the allowed image view formats.

typedef VkFlags VkSwapchainCreateFlagsKHR;

VkSwapchainCreateFlagsKHR is a bitmask type for setting a mask of zero or more VkSwapchainCreateFlagBitsKHR.

If the pNext chain of VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR includes a VkDeviceGroupSwapchainCreateInfoKHR structure, then that structure includes a set of device group present modes that the swapchain can be used with.

The VkDeviceGroupSwapchainCreateInfoKHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkDeviceGroupSwapchainCreateInfoKHR {
    VkStructureType                     sType;
    const void*                         pNext;
    VkDeviceGroupPresentModeFlagsKHR    modes;
} VkDeviceGroupSwapchainCreateInfoKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to an extension-specific structure.
modes is a bitfield of modes that the swapchain can be used with.

If this structure is not present, modes is considered to be VK_DEVICE_GROUP_PRESENT_MODE_LOCAL_BIT_KHR.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_DEVICE_GROUP_SWAPCHAIN_CREATE_INFO_KHR
modes must be a valid combination of VkDeviceGroupPresentModeFlagBitsKHR values
modes must not be 0

As mentioned above, if vkCreateSwapchainKHR succeeds, it will return a handle to a swapchain that contains an array of at least minImageCount presentable images.

While acquired by the application, presentable images can be used in any way that equivalent non-presentable images can be used. A presentable image is equivalent to a non-presentable image created with the following VkImageCreateInfo parameters:

VkImageCreateInfo Field Value

`VkImageCreateInfo` Field	Value
`flags`	`VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPLIT_INSTANCE_BIND_REGIONS_BIT` is set if `VK_SWAPCHAIN_CREATE_SPLIT_INSTANCE_BIND_REGIONS_BIT_KHR` is set `VK_IMAGE_CREATE_MUTABLE_FORMAT_BIT` and `VK_IMAGE_CREATE_EXTENDED_USAGE_BIT_KHR` are both set if `VK_SWAPCHAIN_CREATE_MUTABLE_FORMAT_BIT_KHR` is set all other bits are unset
`imageType`	`VK_IMAGE_TYPE_2D`
`format`	`pCreateInfo`->`imageFormat`
`extent`	{`pCreateInfo`->`imageExtent.width`, `pCreateInfo`->`imageExtent.height`, `1`}
`mipLevels`	1
`arrayLayers`	`pCreateInfo`->`imageArrayLayers`
`samples`	`VK_SAMPLE_COUNT_1_BIT`
`tiling`	`VK_IMAGE_TILING_OPTIMAL`
`usage`	`pCreateInfo`->`imageUsage`
`sharingMode`	`pCreateInfo`->`imageSharingMode`
`queueFamilyIndexCount`	`pCreateInfo`->`queueFamilyIndexCount`
`pQueueFamilyIndices`	`pCreateInfo`->`pQueueFamilyIndices`
`initialLayout`	`VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_UNDEFINED`

flags

VK_IMAGE_CREATE_SPLIT_INSTANCE_BIND_REGIONS_BIT is set if VK_SWAPCHAIN_CREATE_SPLIT_INSTANCE_BIND_REGIONS_BIT_KHR is set

VK_IMAGE_CREATE_MUTABLE_FORMAT_BIT and VK_IMAGE_CREATE_EXTENDED_USAGE_BIT_KHR are both set if VK_SWAPCHAIN_CREATE_MUTABLE_FORMAT_BIT_KHR is set

all other bits are unset

imageType

VK_IMAGE_TYPE_2D

format

pCreateInfo->imageFormat

extent

{pCreateInfo->imageExtent.width, pCreateInfo->imageExtent.height, 1}

mipLevels

arrayLayers

pCreateInfo->imageArrayLayers

samples

VK_SAMPLE_COUNT_1_BIT

tiling

VK_IMAGE_TILING_OPTIMAL

usage

pCreateInfo->imageUsage

sharingMode

pCreateInfo->imageSharingMode

queueFamilyIndexCount

pCreateInfo->queueFamilyIndexCount

pQueueFamilyIndices

pCreateInfo->pQueueFamilyIndices

initialLayout

VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_UNDEFINED

The surface must not be destroyed until after the swapchain is destroyed.

If oldSwapchain is VK_NULL_HANDLE, and the native window referred to by surface is already associated with a Vulkan swapchain, VK_ERROR_NATIVE_WINDOW_IN_USE_KHR must be returned.

If the native window referred to by surface is already associated with a non-Vulkan graphics API surface, VK_ERROR_NATIVE_WINDOW_IN_USE_KHR must be returned.

The native window referred to by surface must not become associated with a non-Vulkan graphics API surface before all associated Vulkan swapchains have been destroyed.

Like core functions, several WSI functions, including vkCreateSwapchainKHR return VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST if the logical device was lost. See Lost Device. As with most core objects, VkSwapchainKHR is a child of the device and is affected by the lost state; it must be destroyed before destroying the VkDevice. However, VkSurfaceKHR is not a child of any VkDevice and is not otherwise affected by the lost device. After successfully recreating a VkDevice, the same VkSurfaceKHR can be used to create a new VkSwapchainKHR, provided the previous one was destroyed.

Note

As mentioned in Lost Device, after a lost device event, the VkPhysicalDevice may also be lost. If other VkPhysicalDevice are available, they can be used together with the same VkSurfaceKHR to create the new VkSwapchainKHR, however the application must query the surface capabilities again, because they may differ on a per-physical device basis.

To destroy a swapchain object call:

void vkDestroySwapchainKHR(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    VkSwapchainKHR                              swapchain,
    const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator);

device is the VkDevice associated with swapchain.
swapchain is the swapchain to destroy.
pAllocator is the allocator used for host memory allocated for the swapchain object when there is no more specific allocator available (see Memory Allocation).

The application must not destroy a swapchain until after completion of all outstanding operations on images that were acquired from the swapchain. swapchain and all associated VkImage handles are destroyed, and must not be acquired or used any more by the application. The memory of each VkImage will only be freed after that image is no longer used by the presentation engine. For example, if one image of the swapchain is being displayed in a window, the memory for that image may not be freed until the window is destroyed, or another swapchain is created for the window. Destroying the swapchain does not invalidate the parent VkSurfaceKHR, and a new swapchain can be created with it.

When a swapchain associated with a display surface is destroyed, if the image most recently presented to the display surface is from the swapchain being destroyed, then either any display resources modified by presenting images from any swapchain associated with the display surface must be reverted by the implementation to their state prior to the first present performed on one of these swapchains, or such resources must be left in their current state.

Valid Usage

All uses of presentable images acquired from swapchain must have completed execution
If VkAllocationCallbacks were provided when swapchain was created, a compatible set of callbacks must be provided here
If no VkAllocationCallbacks were provided when swapchain was created, pAllocator must be NULL

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
If swapchain is not VK_NULL_HANDLE, swapchain must be a valid VkSwapchainKHR handle
If pAllocator is not NULL, pAllocator must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure
Both of device, and swapchain that are valid handles must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from the same VkInstance

Host Synchronization

Host access to swapchain must be externally synchronized

When the VK_KHR_display_swapchain extension is enabled, multiple swapchains that share presentable images are created by calling:

VkResult vkCreateSharedSwapchainsKHR(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    uint32_t                                    swapchainCount,
    const VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR*             pCreateInfos,
    const VkAllocationCallbacks*                pAllocator,
    VkSwapchainKHR*                             pSwapchains);

device is the device to create the swapchains for.
swapchainCount is the number of swapchains to create.
pCreateInfos is a pointer to an array of VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR structures specifying the parameters of the created swapchains.
pAllocator is the allocator used for host memory allocated for the swapchain objects when there is no more specific allocator available (see Memory Allocation).
pSwapchains is a pointer to an array of VkSwapchainKHR handles in which the created swapchain objects will be returned.

vkCreateSharedSwapchainsKHR is similar to vkCreateSwapchainKHR, except that it takes an array of VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR structures, and returns an array of swapchain objects.

The swapchain creation parameters that affect the properties and number of presentable images must match between all the swapchains. If the displays used by any of the swapchains do not use the same presentable image layout or are incompatible in a way that prevents sharing images, swapchain creation will fail with the result code VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DISPLAY_KHR. If any error occurs, no swapchains will be created. Images presented to multiple swapchains must be re-acquired from all of them before transitioning away from VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_PRESENT_SRC_KHR. After destroying one or more of the swapchains, the remaining swapchains and the presentable images can continue to be used.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
pCreateInfos must be a valid pointer to an array of swapchainCount valid VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR structures
If pAllocator is not NULL, pAllocator must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAllocationCallbacks structure
pSwapchains must be a valid pointer to an array of swapchainCount VkSwapchainKHR handles
swapchainCount must be greater than 0

Host Synchronization

Host access to pCreateInfos[].surface must be externally synchronized
Host access to pCreateInfos[].oldSwapchain must be externally synchronized

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DISPLAY_KHR
VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST
VK_ERROR_SURFACE_LOST_KHR

To obtain the array of presentable images associated with a swapchain, call:

VkResult vkGetSwapchainImagesKHR(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    VkSwapchainKHR                              swapchain,
    uint32_t*                                   pSwapchainImageCount,
    VkImage*                                    pSwapchainImages);

device is the device associated with swapchain.
swapchain is the swapchain to query.
pSwapchainImageCount is a pointer to an integer related to the number of presentable images available or queried, as described below.
pSwapchainImages is either NULL or a pointer to an array of VkImage handles.

If pSwapchainImages is NULL, then the number of presentable images for swapchain is returned in pSwapchainImageCount. Otherwise, pSwapchainImageCount must point to a variable set by the user to the number of elements in the pSwapchainImages array, and on return the variable is overwritten with the number of structures actually written to pSwapchainImages. If the value of pSwapchainImageCount is less than the number of presentable images for swapchain, at most pSwapchainImageCount structures will be written. If pSwapchainImageCount is smaller than the number of presentable images for swapchain, VK_INCOMPLETE will be returned instead of VK_SUCCESS to indicate that not all the available values were returned.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
swapchain must be a valid VkSwapchainKHR handle
pSwapchainImageCount must be a valid pointer to a uint32_t value
If the value referenced by pSwapchainImageCount is not 0, and pSwapchainImages is not NULL, pSwapchainImages must be a valid pointer to an array of pSwapchainImageCount VkImage handles
Both of device, and swapchain must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from the same VkInstance

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS
VK_INCOMPLETE

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY

Note

By knowing all presentable images used in the swapchain, the application can create command buffers that reference these images prior to entering its main rendering loop.

Images returned by vkGetSwapchainImagesKHR are fully backed by memory before they are passed to the application. All presentable images are initially in the VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_UNDEFINED layout, thus before using presentable images, the application must transition them to a valid layout for the intended use.

Further, the lifetime of presentable images is controlled by the implementation, so applications must not destroy a presentable image. See vkDestroySwapchainKHR for further details on the lifetime of presentable images.

Images can also be created by using vkCreateImage with VkImageSwapchainCreateInfoKHR and bound to swapchain memory using vkBindImageMemory2KHR with VkBindImageMemorySwapchainInfoKHR. These images can be used anywhere swapchain images are used, and are useful in logical devices with multiple physical devices to create peer memory bindings of swapchain memory. These images and bindings have no effect on what memory is presented. Unlike images retrieved from vkGetSwapchainImagesKHR, these images must be destroyed with vkDestroyImage.

To acquire an available presentable image to use, and retrieve the index of that image, call:

VkResult vkAcquireNextImageKHR(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    VkSwapchainKHR                              swapchain,
    uint64_t                                    timeout,
    VkSemaphore                                 semaphore,
    VkFence                                     fence,
    uint32_t*                                   pImageIndex);

device is the device associated with swapchain.
swapchain is the non-retired swapchain from which an image is being acquired.
timeout specifies how long the function waits, in nanoseconds, if no image is available.
semaphore is VK_NULL_HANDLE or a semaphore to signal.
fence is VK_NULL_HANDLE or a fence to signal.
pImageIndex is a pointer to a uint32_t that is set to the index of the next image to use (i.e. an index into the array of images returned by vkGetSwapchainImagesKHR).

Valid Usage

swapchain must not be in the retired state
If semaphore is not VK_NULL_HANDLE it must be unsignaled
If semaphore is not VK_NULL_HANDLE it must not have any uncompleted signal or wait operations pending
If fence is not VK_NULL_HANDLE it must be unsignaled and must not be associated with any other queue command that has not yet completed execution on that queue
semaphore and fence must not both be equal to VK_NULL_HANDLE
If the number of currently acquired images is greater than the difference between the number of images in swapchain and the value of VkSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR::minImageCount as returned by a call to vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceCapabilities2KHR with the surface used to create swapchain, timeout must not be UINT64_MAX

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
swapchain must be a valid VkSwapchainKHR handle
If semaphore is not VK_NULL_HANDLE, semaphore must be a valid VkSemaphore handle
If fence is not VK_NULL_HANDLE, fence must be a valid VkFence handle
pImageIndex must be a valid pointer to a uint32_t value
If semaphore is a valid handle, it must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from device
If fence is a valid handle, it must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from device
Both of device, and swapchain that are valid handles must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from the same VkInstance

Host Synchronization

Host access to swapchain must be externally synchronized
Host access to semaphore must be externally synchronized
Host access to fence must be externally synchronized

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS
VK_TIMEOUT
VK_NOT_READY
VK_SUBOPTIMAL_KHR

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DATE_KHR
VK_ERROR_SURFACE_LOST_KHR

When successful, vkAcquireNextImageKHR acquires a presentable image from swapchain that an application can use, and sets pImageIndex to the index of that image within the swapchain. The presentation engine may not have finished reading from the image at the time it is acquired, so the application must use semaphore and/or fence to ensure that the image layout and contents are not modified until the presentation engine reads have completed. The order in which images are acquired is implementation-dependent, and may be different than the order the images were presented.

If timeout is zero, then vkAcquireNextImageKHR does not wait, and will either successfully acquire an image, or fail and return VK_NOT_READY if no image is available.

If the specified timeout period expires before an image is acquired, vkAcquireNextImageKHR returns VK_TIMEOUT. If timeout is UINT64_MAX, the timeout period is treated as infinite, and vkAcquireNextImageKHR will block until an image is acquired or an error occurs.

An image will eventually be acquired if the number of images that the application has currently acquired (but not yet presented) is less than or equal to the difference between the number of images in swapchain and the value of VkSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR::minImageCount. If the number of currently acquired images is greater than this, vkAcquireNextImageKHR should not be called; if it is, timeout must not be UINT64_MAX.

If an image is acquired successfully, vkAcquireNextImageKHR must either return VK_SUCCESS, or VK_SUBOPTIMAL_KHR if the swapchain no longer matches the surface properties exactly, but can still be used for presentation.

Note

This may happen, for example, if the platform surface has been resized but the platform is able to scale the presented images to the new size to produce valid surface updates. It is up to the application to decide whether it prefers to continue using the current swapchain in this state, or to re-create the swapchain to better match the platform surface properties.

If the swapchain images no longer match native surface properties, either VK_SUBOPTIMAL_KHR or VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DATE_KHR must be returned. If VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DATE_KHR is returned, no image is acquired and attempts to present previously acquired images to the swapchain will also fail with VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DATE_KHR. Applications need to create a new swapchain for the surface to continue presenting if VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DATE_KHR is returned.

If device loss occurs (see Lost Device) before the timeout has expired, vkAcquireNextImageKHR must return in finite time with either one of the allowed success codes, or VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST.

If semaphore is not VK_NULL_HANDLE, the semaphore must be unsignaled, with no signal or wait operations pending. It will become signaled when the application can use the image.

Note

Use of semaphore allows rendering operations to be recorded and submitted before the presentation engine has completed its use of the image.

If fence is not equal to VK_NULL_HANDLE, the fence must be unsignaled, with no signal operations pending. It will become signaled when the application can use the image.

Note

Applications should not rely on vkAcquireNextImageKHR blocking in order to meter their rendering speed. The implementation may return from this function immediately regardless of how many presentation requests are queued, and regardless of when queued presentation requests will complete relative to the call. Instead, applications can use fence to meter their frame generation work to match the presentation rate.

An application must wait until either the semaphore or fence is signaled before accessing the image’s data.

Note

When the presentable image will be accessed by some stage S, the recommended idiom for ensuring correct synchronization is:

The VkSubmitInfo used to submit the image layout transition for execution includes vkAcquireNextImageKHR::semaphore in its pWaitSemaphores member, with the corresponding element of pWaitDstStageMask including S.
The synchronization command that performs any necessary image layout transition includes S in both the srcStageMask and dstStageMask.

After a successful return, the image indicated by pImageIndex and its data will be unmodified compared to when it was presented.

Note

Exclusive ownership of presentable images corresponding to a swapchain created with VK_SHARING_MODE_EXCLUSIVE as defined in Resource Sharing is not altered by a call to vkAcquireNextImageKHR. That means upon the first acquisition from such a swapchain presentable images are not owned by any queue family, while at subsequent acquisitions the presentable images remain owned by the queue family the image was previously presented on.

The possible return values for vkAcquireNextImageKHR depend on the timeout provided:

VK_SUCCESS is returned if an image became available.
VK_ERROR_SURFACE_LOST_KHR if the surface becomes no longer available.
VK_NOT_READY is returned if timeout is zero and no image was available.
VK_TIMEOUT is returned if timeout is greater than zero and less than UINT64_MAX, and no image became available within the time allowed.
VK_SUBOPTIMAL_KHR is returned if an image became available, and the swapchain no longer matches the surface properties exactly, but can still be used to present to the surface successfully.

Note

This may happen, for example, if the platform surface has been resized but the platform is able to scale the presented images to the new size to produce valid surface updates. It is up to the application to decide whether it prefers to continue using the current swapchain indefinitely or temporarily in this state, or to re-create the swapchain to better match the platform surface properties.

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DATE_KHR is returned if the surface has changed in such a way that it is no longer compatible with the swapchain, and further presentation requests using the swapchain will fail. Applications must query the new surface properties and recreate their swapchain if they wish to continue presenting to the surface.

If the native surface and presented image sizes no longer match, presentation may fail. If presentation does succeed, the mapping from the presented image to the native surface is implementation-defined. It is the application’s responsibility to detect surface size changes and react appropriately. If presentation fails because of a mismatch in the surface and presented image sizes, a VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DATE_KHR error will be returned.

Note

For example, consider a 4x3 window/surface that gets resized to be 3x4 (taller than wider). On some window systems, the portion of the window/surface that was previously and still is visible (the 3x3 part) will contain the same contents as before, while the remaining parts of the window will have undefined contents. Other window systems may squash/stretch the image to fill the new window size without any undefined contents, or apply some other mapping.

To acquire an available presentable image to use, and retrieve the index of that image, call:

VkResult vkAcquireNextImage2KHR(
    VkDevice                                    device,
    const VkAcquireNextImageInfoKHR*            pAcquireInfo,
    uint32_t*                                   pImageIndex);

device is the device associated with swapchain.
pAcquireInfo is a pointer to a structure of type VkAcquireNextImageInfoKHR containing parameters of the acquire.
pImageIndex is a pointer to a uint32_t that is set to the index of the next image to use.

Valid Usage

If the number of currently acquired images is greater than the difference between the number of images in the swapchain member of pAcquireInfo and the value of VkSurfaceCapabilitiesKHR::minImageCount as returned by a call to vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceCapabilities2KHR with the surface used to create swapchain, the timeout member of pAcquireInfo must not be UINT64_MAX

Valid Usage (Implicit)

device must be a valid VkDevice handle
pAcquireInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkAcquireNextImageInfoKHR structure
pImageIndex must be a valid pointer to a uint32_t value

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS
VK_TIMEOUT
VK_NOT_READY
VK_SUBOPTIMAL_KHR

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DATE_KHR
VK_ERROR_SURFACE_LOST_KHR

The VkAcquireNextImageInfoKHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkAcquireNextImageInfoKHR {
    VkStructureType    sType;
    const void*        pNext;
    VkSwapchainKHR     swapchain;
    uint64_t           timeout;
    VkSemaphore        semaphore;
    VkFence            fence;
    uint32_t           deviceMask;
} VkAcquireNextImageInfoKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to an extension-specific structure.
swapchain is a non-retired swapchain from which an image is acquired.
timeout specifies how long the function waits, in nanoseconds, if no image is available.
semaphore is VK_NULL_HANDLE or a semaphore to signal.
fence is VK_NULL_HANDLE or a fence to signal.
deviceMask is a mask of physical devices for which the swapchain image will be ready to use when the semaphore or fence is signaled.

If vkAcquireNextImageKHR is used, the device mask is considered to include all physical devices in the logical device.

Note

vkAcquireNextImage2KHR signals at most one semaphore, even if the application requests waiting for multiple physical devices to be ready via the deviceMask. However, only a single physical device can wait on that semaphore, since the semaphore becomes unsignaled when the wait succeeds. For other physical devices to wait for the image to be ready, it is necessary for the application to submit semaphore signal operation(s) to that first physical device to signal additional semaphore(s) after the wait succeeds, which the other physical device(s) can wait upon.

Valid Usage

swapchain must not be in the retired state
If semaphore is not VK_NULL_HANDLE it must be unsignaled
If semaphore is not VK_NULL_HANDLE it must not have any uncompleted signal or wait operations pending
If fence is not VK_NULL_HANDLE it must be unsignaled and must not be associated with any other queue command that has not yet completed execution on that queue
semaphore and fence must not both be equal to VK_NULL_HANDLE
deviceMask must be a valid device mask
deviceMask must not be zero

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_ACQUIRE_NEXT_IMAGE_INFO_KHR
pNext must be NULL
swapchain must be a valid VkSwapchainKHR handle
If semaphore is not VK_NULL_HANDLE, semaphore must be a valid VkSemaphore handle
If fence is not VK_NULL_HANDLE, fence must be a valid VkFence handle
Each of fence, semaphore, and swapchain that are valid handles must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from the same VkInstance

Host Synchronization

Host access to swapchain must be externally synchronized
Host access to semaphore must be externally synchronized
Host access to fence must be externally synchronized

After queueing all rendering commands and transitioning the image to the correct layout, to queue an image for presentation, call:

VkResult vkQueuePresentKHR(
    VkQueue                                     queue,
    const VkPresentInfoKHR*                     pPresentInfo);

queue is a queue that is capable of presentation to the target surface’s platform on the same device as the image’s swapchain.
pPresentInfo is a pointer to an instance of the VkPresentInfoKHR structure specifying the parameters of the presentation.

Note

There is no requirement for an application to present images in the same order that they were acquired - applications can arbitrarily present any image that is currently acquired.

Valid Usage

Each element of pSwapchains member of pPresentInfo must be a swapchain that is created for a surface for which presentation is supported from queue as determined using a call to vkGetPhysicalDeviceSurfaceSupportKHR
If more than one member of pSwapchains was created from a display surface, all display surfaces referenced that refer to the same display must use the same display mode
When a semaphore unsignal operation defined by the elements of the pWaitSemaphores member of pPresentInfo executes on queue, no other queue must be waiting on the same semaphore.
All elements of the pWaitSemaphores member of pPresentInfo must be semaphores that are signaled, or have semaphore signal operations previously submitted for execution.

Any writes to memory backing the images referenced by the pImageIndices and pSwapchains members of pPresentInfo, that are available before vkQueuePresentKHR is executed, are automatically made visible to the read access performed by the presentation engine. This automatic visibility operation for an image happens-after the semaphore signal operation, and happens-before the presentation engine accesses the image.

Queueing an image for presentation defines a set of queue operations, including waiting on the semaphores and submitting a presentation request to the presentation engine. However, the scope of this set of queue operations does not include the actual processing of the image by the presentation engine.

If vkQueuePresentKHR fails to enqueue the corresponding set of queue operations, it may return VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY or VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY. If it does, the implementation must ensure that the state and contents of any resources or synchronization primitives referenced is unaffected by the call or its failure.

If vkQueuePresentKHR fails in such a way that the implementation is unable to make that guarantee, the implementation must return VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST.

However, if the presentation request is rejected by the presentation engine with an error VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DATE_KHR or VK_ERROR_SURFACE_LOST_KHR, the set of queue operations are still considered to be enqueued and thus any semaphore to be waited on gets unsignaled when the corresponding queue operation is complete.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

queue must be a valid VkQueue handle
pPresentInfo must be a valid pointer to a valid VkPresentInfoKHR structure

Host Synchronization

Host access to queue must be externally synchronized
Host access to pPresentInfo.pWaitSemaphores[] must be externally synchronized
Host access to pPresentInfo.pSwapchains[] must be externally synchronized

Command Properties

Command Buffer Levels	Render Pass Scope	Supported Queue Types	Pipeline Type
-	-	Any	-

Command Buffer Levels

Render Pass Scope

Supported Queue Types

Pipeline Type

Any

Return Codes

Success

VK_SUCCESS
VK_SUBOPTIMAL_KHR

Failure

VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DEVICE_MEMORY
VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST
VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DATE_KHR
VK_ERROR_SURFACE_LOST_KHR

The VkPresentInfoKHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkPresentInfoKHR {
    VkStructureType          sType;
    const void*              pNext;
    uint32_t                 waitSemaphoreCount;
    const VkSemaphore*       pWaitSemaphores;
    uint32_t                 swapchainCount;
    const VkSwapchainKHR*    pSwapchains;
    const uint32_t*          pImageIndices;
    VkResult*                pResults;
} VkPresentInfoKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to an extension-specific structure.
waitSemaphoreCount is the number of semaphores to wait for before issuing the present request. The number may be zero.
pWaitSemaphores, if not NULL, is an array of VkSemaphore objects with waitSemaphoreCount entries, and specifies the semaphores to wait for before issuing the present request.
swapchainCount is the number of swapchains being presented to by this command.
pSwapchains is an array of VkSwapchainKHR objects with swapchainCount entries. A given swapchain must not appear in this list more than once.
pImageIndices is an array of indices into the array of each swapchain’s presentable images, with swapchainCount entries. Each entry in this array identifies the image to present on the corresponding entry in the pSwapchains array.
pResults is an array of VkResult typed elements with swapchainCount entries. Applications that do not need per-swapchain results can use NULL for pResults. If non-NULL, each entry in pResults will be set to the VkResult for presenting the swapchain corresponding to the same index in pSwapchains.

Before an application can present an image, the image’s layout must be transitioned to the VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_PRESENT_SRC_KHR layout, or for a shared presentable image the VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_SHARED_PRESENT_KHR layout.

Note

When transitioning the image to VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_SHARED_PRESENT_KHR or VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_PRESENT_SRC_KHR, there is no need to delay subsequent processing, or perform any visibility operations (as vkQueuePresentKHR performs automatic visibility operations). To achieve this, the dstAccessMask member of the VkImageMemoryBarrier should be set to 0, and the dstStageMask parameter should be set to VK_PIPELINE_STAGE_BOTTOM_OF_PIPE_BIT.

Valid Usage

Each element of pImageIndices must be the index of a presentable image acquired from the swapchain specified by the corresponding element of the pSwapchains array, and the presented image subresource must be in the VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_PRESENT_SRC_KHR or VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_SHARED_PRESENT_KHR layout at the time the operation is executed on a VkDevice

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_PRESENT_INFO_KHR
Each pNext member of any structure (including this one) in the pNext chain must be either NULL or a pointer to a valid instance of VkDeviceGroupPresentInfoKHR, VkDisplayPresentInfoKHR, or VkPresentRegionsKHR
Each sType member in the pNext chain must be unique
If waitSemaphoreCount is not 0, pWaitSemaphores must be a valid pointer to an array of waitSemaphoreCount valid VkSemaphore handles
pSwapchains must be a valid pointer to an array of swapchainCount valid VkSwapchainKHR handles
pImageIndices must be a valid pointer to an array of swapchainCount uint32_t values
If pResults is not NULL, pResults must be a valid pointer to an array of swapchainCount VkResult values
swapchainCount must be greater than 0
Both of the elements of pSwapchains, and the elements of pWaitSemaphores that are valid handles must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from the same VkInstance

When the VK_KHR_incremental_present extension is enabled, additional fields can be specified that allow an application to specify that only certain rectangular regions of the presentable images of a swapchain are changed. This is an optimization hint that a presentation engine may use to only update the region of a surface that is actually changing. The application still must ensure that all pixels of a presented image contain the desired values, in case the presentation engine ignores this hint. An application can provide this hint by including the VkPresentRegionsKHR structure in the pNext chain of the VkPresentInfoKHR structure.

The VkPresentRegionsKHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkPresentRegionsKHR {
    VkStructureType              sType;
    const void*                  pNext;
    uint32_t                     swapchainCount;
    const VkPresentRegionKHR*    pRegions;
} VkPresentRegionsKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to an extension-specific structure.
swapchainCount is the number of swapchains being presented to by this command.
pRegions is NULL or a pointer to an array of VkPresentRegionKHR elements with swapchainCount entries. If not NULL, each element of pRegions contains the region that has changed since the last present to the swapchain in the corresponding entry in the VkPresentInfoKHR::pSwapchains array.

Valid Usage

swapchainCount must be the same value as VkPresentInfoKHR::swapchainCount, where VkPresentInfoKHR is in the pNext chain of this VkPresentRegionsKHR structure

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_PRESENT_REGIONS_KHR
If pRegions is not NULL, pRegions must be a valid pointer to an array of swapchainCount valid VkPresentRegionKHR structures
swapchainCount must be greater than 0

For a given image and swapchain, the region to present is specified by the VkPresentRegionKHR structure, which is defined as:

typedef struct VkPresentRegionKHR {
    uint32_t                 rectangleCount;
    const VkRectLayerKHR*    pRectangles;
} VkPresentRegionKHR;

rectangleCount is the number of rectangles in pRectangles, or zero if the entire image has changed and should be presented.
pRectangles is either NULL or a pointer to an array of VkRectLayerKHR structures. The VkRectLayerKHR structure is the framebuffer coordinates, plus layer, of a portion of a presentable image that has changed and must be presented. If non-NULL, each entry in pRectangles is a rectangle of the given image that has changed since the last image was presented to the given swapchain.

Valid Usage (Implicit)

If rectangleCount is not 0, and pRectangles is not NULL, pRectangles must be a valid pointer to an array of rectangleCount valid VkRectLayerKHR structures

The VkRectLayerKHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkRectLayerKHR {
    VkOffset2D    offset;
    VkExtent2D    extent;
    uint32_t      layer;
} VkRectLayerKHR;

offset is the origin of the rectangle, in pixels.
extent is the size of the rectangle, in pixels.
layer is the layer of the image. For images with only one layer, the value of layer must be 0.

Valid Usage

The sum of offset and extent must be no greater than the imageExtent member of the VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR structure given to vkCreateSwapchainKHR.
layer must be less than imageArrayLayers member of the VkSwapchainCreateInfoKHR structure given to vkCreateSwapchainKHR.

Some platforms allow the size of a surface to change, and then scale the pixels of the image to fit the surface. VkRectLayerKHR specifies pixels of the swapchain’s image(s), which will be constant for the life of the swapchain.

When the VK_KHR_display_swapchain extension is enabled additional fields can be specified when presenting an image to a swapchain by setting VkPresentInfoKHR::pNext to point to an instance of the VkDisplayPresentInfoKHR structure.

The VkDisplayPresentInfoKHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkDisplayPresentInfoKHR {
    VkStructureType    sType;
    const void*        pNext;
    VkRect2D           srcRect;
    VkRect2D           dstRect;
    VkBool32           persistent;
} VkDisplayPresentInfoKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to an extension-specific structure.
srcRect is a rectangular region of pixels to present. It must be a subset of the image being presented. If VkDisplayPresentInfoKHR is not specified, this region will be assumed to be the entire presentable image.
dstRect is a rectangular region within the visible region of the swapchain’s display mode. If VkDisplayPresentInfoKHR is not specified, this region will be assumed to be the entire visible region of the visible region of the swapchain’s mode. If the specified rectangle is a subset of the display mode’s visible region, content from display planes below the swapchain’s plane will be visible outside the rectangle. If there are no planes below the swapchain’s, the area outside the specified rectangle will be black. If portions of the specified rectangle are outside of the display’s visible region, pixels mapping only to those portions of the rectangle will be discarded.
persistent: If this is VK_TRUE, the display engine will enable buffered mode on displays that support it. This allows the display engine to stop sending content to the display until a new image is presented. The display will instead maintain a copy of the last presented image. This allows less power to be used, but may increase presentation latency. If VkDisplayPresentInfoKHR is not specified, persistent mode will not be used.

If the extent of the srcRect and dstRect are not equal, the presented pixels will be scaled accordingly.

Valid Usage

srcRect must specify a rectangular region that is a subset of the image being presented
dstRect must specify a rectangular region that is a subset of the visibleRegion parameter of the display mode the swapchain being presented uses
If the persistentContent member of the VkDisplayPropertiesKHR structure returned by vkGetPhysicalDeviceDisplayPropertiesKHR for the display the present operation targets then persistent must be VK_FALSE

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_DISPLAY_PRESENT_INFO_KHR

If the pNext chain of VkPresentInfoKHR includes a VkDeviceGroupPresentInfoKHR structure, then that structure includes an array of device masks and a device group present mode.

The VkDeviceGroupPresentInfoKHR structure is defined as:

typedef struct VkDeviceGroupPresentInfoKHR {
    VkStructureType                        sType;
    const void*                            pNext;
    uint32_t                               swapchainCount;
    const uint32_t*                        pDeviceMasks;
    VkDeviceGroupPresentModeFlagBitsKHR    mode;
} VkDeviceGroupPresentInfoKHR;

sType is the type of this structure.
pNext is NULL or a pointer to an extension-specific structure.
swapchainCount is zero or the number of elements in pDeviceMasks.
pDeviceMasks is an array of device masks, one for each element of VkPresentInfoKHR::pSwapchains.
mode is the device group present mode that will be used for this present.

If mode is VK_DEVICE_GROUP_PRESENT_MODE_LOCAL_BIT_KHR, then each element of pDeviceMasks selects which instance of the swapchain image is presented. Each element of pDeviceMasks must have exactly one bit set, and the corresponding physical device must have a presentation engine as reported by VkDeviceGroupPresentCapabilitiesKHR.

If mode is VK_DEVICE_GROUP_PRESENT_MODE_REMOTE_BIT_KHR, then each element of pDeviceMasks selects which instance of the swapchain image is presented. Each element of pDeviceMasks must have exactly one bit set, and some physical device in the logical device must include that bit in its VkDeviceGroupPresentCapabilitiesKHR::presentMask.

If mode is VK_DEVICE_GROUP_PRESENT_MODE_SUM_BIT_KHR, then each element of pDeviceMasks selects which instances of the swapchain image are component-wise summed and the sum of those images is presented. If the sum in any component is outside the representable range, the value of that component is undefined. Each element of pDeviceMasks must have a value for which all set bits are set in one of the elements of VkDeviceGroupPresentCapabilitiesKHR::presentMask.

If mode is VK_DEVICE_GROUP_PRESENT_MODE_LOCAL_MULTI_DEVICE_BIT_KHR, then each element of pDeviceMasks selects which instance(s) of the swapchain images are presented. For each bit set in each element of pDeviceMasks, the corresponding physical device must have a presentation engine as reported by VkDeviceGroupPresentCapabilitiesKHR.

If VkDeviceGroupPresentInfoKHR is not provided or swapchainCount is zero then the masks are considered to be 1. If VkDeviceGroupPresentInfoKHR is not provided, mode is considered to be VK_DEVICE_GROUP_PRESENT_MODE_LOCAL_BIT_KHR.

Valid Usage

swapchainCount must equal 0 or VkPresentInfoKHR::swapchainCount
If mode is VK_DEVICE_GROUP_PRESENT_MODE_LOCAL_BIT_KHR, then each element of pDeviceMasks must have exactly one bit set, and the corresponding element of VkDeviceGroupPresentCapabilitiesKHR::presentMask must be non-zero
If mode is VK_DEVICE_GROUP_PRESENT_MODE_REMOTE_BIT_KHR, then each element of pDeviceMasks must have exactly one bit set, and some physical device in the logical device must include that bit in its VkDeviceGroupPresentCapabilitiesKHR::presentMask.
If mode is VK_DEVICE_GROUP_PRESENT_MODE_SUM_BIT_KHR, then each element of pDeviceMasks must have a value for which all set bits are set in one of the elements of VkDeviceGroupPresentCapabilitiesKHR::presentMask
If mode is VK_DEVICE_GROUP_PRESENT_MODE_LOCAL_MULTI_DEVICE_BIT_KHR, then for each bit set in each element of pDeviceMasks, the corresponding element of VkDeviceGroupPresentCapabilitiesKHR::presentMask must be non-zero
The value of each element of pDeviceMasks must be equal to the device mask passed in VkAcquireNextImageInfoKHR::deviceMask when the image index was last acquired
mode must have exactly one bit set, and that bit must have been included in VkDeviceGroupSwapchainCreateInfoKHR::modes

Valid Usage (Implicit)

sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_DEVICE_GROUP_PRESENT_INFO_KHR
If swapchainCount is not 0, pDeviceMasks must be a valid pointer to an array of swapchainCount uint32_t values
mode must be a valid VkDeviceGroupPresentModeFlagBitsKHR value

vkQueuePresentKHR, releases the acquisition of the images referenced by imageIndices. The queue family corresponding to the queue vkQueuePresentKHR is executed on must have ownership of the presented images as defined in Resource Sharing. vkQueuePresentKHR does not alter the queue family ownership, but the presented images must not be used again before they have been reacquired using vkAcquireNextImageKHR.

The processing of the presentation happens in issue order with other queue operations, but semaphores have to be used to ensure that prior rendering and other commands in the specified queue complete before the presentation begins. The presentation command itself does not delay processing of subsequent commands on the queue, however, presentation requests sent to a particular queue are always performed in order. Exact presentation timing is controlled by the semantics of the presentation engine and native platform in use.

If an image is presented to a swapchain created from a display surface, the mode of the associated display will be updated, if necessary, to match the mode specified when creating the display surface. The mode switch and presentation of the specified image will be performed as one atomic operation.

The result codes VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DATE_KHR and VK_SUBOPTIMAL_KHR have the same meaning when returned by vkQueuePresentKHR as they do when returned by vkAcquireNextImageKHR. If multiple swapchains are presented, the result code is determined applying the following rules in order:

If the device is lost, VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST is returned.
If any of the target surfaces are no longer available the error VK_ERROR_SURFACE_LOST_KHR is returned.
If any of the presents would have a result of VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DATE_KHR if issued separately then VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DATE_KHR is returned.
If any of the presents would have a result of VK_SUBOPTIMAL_KHR if issued separately then VK_SUBOPTIMAL_KHR is returned.
Otherwise VK_SUCCESS is returned.

Presentation is a read-only operation that will not affect the content of the presentable images. Upon reacquiring the image and transitioning it away from the VK_IMAGE_LAYOUT_PRESENT_SRC_KHR layout, the contents will be the same as they were prior to transitioning the image to the present source layout and presenting it. However, if a mechanism other than Vulkan is used to modify the platform window associated with the swapchain, the content of all presentable images in the swapchain becomes undefined.

Note

The application can continue to present any acquired images from a retired swapchain as long as the swapchain has not entered a state that causes vkQueuePresentKHR to return VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_DATE_KHR.