The SDK contains resources needed to create applications using the Vulkan API. Vulkan header files (the vk_platform.h and vulkan.h files) need to be included in the source code of our application so we can use the Vulkan API functions, structures, enumerations, and so on, inside the code.
[PDF] Vulkan Cookbook
Download: https://shurll.com/2vENGI
The Vulkan Loader (vulkan-1.dll file on Windows, libvulkan.so.1 file on Linux systems) is a dynamic library responsible for exposing Vulkan API functions and forwarding them to the graphics driver. We connect with it in our application and load Vulkan API functions from it.
That's why, along with the drivers, Vulkan Loader is also installed. We can also install it from the folder in which the SDK was installed. It allows developers to access Vulkan API entry points, through a vulkan-1.dll library on Windows OS or libvulkan.so.1 library on Linux OS, no matter what driver, from what vendor, is installed.
Vulkan Loader is responsible for transmitting Vulkan API calls to an appropriate graphics driver. On a given computer, there may be more hardware components that support Vulkan, but with Vulkan Loader, we don't need to wonder which driver we should use, or which library we should connect with to be able to use Vulkan. Developers just need to know the name of a Vulkan library: vulkan-1.dll on Windows or libvulkan.so.1 on Linux. When we want to use Vulkan in our application, we just need to connect with it in our code (load it).
When we want to use Vulkan API in our application, we need to acquire procedures specified in the Vulkan documentation. In order to do that, we can add a dependency to the Vulkan Loader library, statically link with it in our project, and use function prototypes defined in the vulkan.h header file. The second approach is to disable the function prototypes defined in the vulkan.h header file and load function pointers dynamically in our application.
First we define a macro that is responsible for acquiring an address of a vkGetInstanceProcAddr() function. It gets it from the library represented by the vulkan_library variable, casts the result of this operation onto a PFN_kGetInstanceProcAddr type, and stores it in a variable named vkGetInstanceProcAddr. After that, the macro checks whether the operation succeeded, and displays the proper message on screen in the case of a failure.
Libraries that are loaded dynamically must be explicitly closed (released). To be able to use Vulkan in our application, we opened the Vulkan Loader (a vulkan-1.dll library on Windows, or libvulkan.so.1 library on Linux). So, before we can close the application, we should free it. 2ff7e9595c
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