QOpenGLBuffer Class

The QOpenGLBuffer class provides functions for creating and managing OpenGL buffer objects. More...

Header:	#include <QOpenGLBuffer>
CMake:	find_package(Qt6 COMPONENTS OpenGL REQUIRED) target_link_libraries(mytarget PRIVATE Qt6::OpenGL)
qmake:	QT += opengl
Since:	Qt 5.0

• List of all members, including inherited members

Public Types

enum	Access { ReadOnly, WriteOnly, ReadWrite }
enum	RangeAccessFlag { RangeRead, RangeWrite, RangeInvalidate, RangeInvalidateBuffer, RangeFlushExplicit, RangeUnsynchronized }
flags	RangeAccessFlags
enum	Type { VertexBuffer, IndexBuffer, PixelPackBuffer, PixelUnpackBuffer }
enum	UsagePattern { StreamDraw, StreamRead, StreamCopy, StaticDraw, StaticRead, …, DynamicCopy }

Public Functions

	QOpenGLBuffer(const QOpenGLBuffer &other)
	QOpenGLBuffer(QOpenGLBuffer::Type type)
	QOpenGLBuffer()
QOpenGLBuffer &	operator=(const QOpenGLBuffer &other)
	~QOpenGLBuffer()
void	allocate(const void *data, int count)
void	allocate(int count)
bool	bind()
GLuint	bufferId() const
bool	create()
void	destroy()
bool	isCreated() const
void *	map(QOpenGLBuffer::Access access)
void *	mapRange(int offset, int count, QOpenGLBuffer::RangeAccessFlags access)
bool	read(int offset, void *data, int count)
void	release()
void	setUsagePattern(QOpenGLBuffer::UsagePattern value)
int	size() const
QOpenGLBuffer::Type	type() const
bool	unmap()
QOpenGLBuffer::UsagePattern	usagePattern() const
void	write(int offset, const void *data, int count)

Static Public Members

void	release(QOpenGLBuffer::Type type)

Detailed Description

Buffer objects are created in the OpenGL server so that the client application can avoid uploading vertices, indices, texture image data, etc every time they are needed.

QOpenGLBuffer objects can be copied around as a reference to the underlying OpenGL buffer object:

QOpenGLBuffer buffer1(QOpenGLBuffer::IndexBuffer);
buffer1.create();

QOpenGLBuffer buffer2 = buffer1;

QOpenGLBuffer performs a shallow copy when objects are copied in this manner, but does not implement copy-on-write semantics. The original object will be affected whenever the copy is modified.

Member Type Documentation

enum QOpenGLBuffer::Access

This enum defines the access mode for QOpenGLBuffer::map().

Constant	Value	Description
QOpenGLBuffer::ReadOnly	0x88B8	The buffer will be mapped for reading only.
QOpenGLBuffer::WriteOnly	0x88B9	The buffer will be mapped for writing only.
QOpenGLBuffer::ReadWrite	0x88BA	The buffer will be mapped for reading and writing.

enum QOpenGLBuffer::RangeAccessFlagflags QOpenGLBuffer::RangeAccessFlags

This enum defines the access mode bits for QOpenGLBuffer::mapRange().

Constant	Value	Description
QOpenGLBuffer::RangeRead	0x0001	The buffer will be mapped for reading.
QOpenGLBuffer::RangeWrite	0x0002	The buffer will be mapped for writing.
QOpenGLBuffer::RangeInvalidate	0x0004	Discard the previous contents of the specified range.
QOpenGLBuffer::RangeInvalidateBuffer	0x0008	Discard the previous contents of the entire buffer.
QOpenGLBuffer::RangeFlushExplicit	0x0010	Indicates that modifications are to be flushed explicitly via glFlushMappedBufferRange.
QOpenGLBuffer::RangeUnsynchronized	0x0020	Indicates that pending operations should not be synchronized before returning from mapRange().

The RangeAccessFlags type is a typedef for QFlags<RangeAccessFlag>. It stores an OR combination of RangeAccessFlag values.

enum QOpenGLBuffer::Type

This enum defines the type of OpenGL buffer object to create with QOpenGLBuffer.

Constant	Value	Description
QOpenGLBuffer::VertexBuffer	0x8892	Vertex buffer object for use when specifying vertex arrays.
QOpenGLBuffer::IndexBuffer	0x8893	Index buffer object for use with glDrawElements().
QOpenGLBuffer::PixelPackBuffer	0x88EB	Pixel pack buffer object for reading pixel data from the OpenGL server (for example, with glReadPixels()). Not supported under OpenGL/ES.
QOpenGLBuffer::PixelUnpackBuffer	0x88EC	Pixel unpack buffer object for writing pixel data to the OpenGL server (for example, with glTexImage2D()). Not supported under OpenGL/ES.

enum QOpenGLBuffer::UsagePattern

This enum defines the usage pattern of a QOpenGLBuffer object.

Constant	Value	Description
QOpenGLBuffer::StreamDraw	0x88E0	The data will be set once and used a few times for drawing operations. Under OpenGL/ES 1.1 this is identical to StaticDraw.
QOpenGLBuffer::StreamRead	0x88E1	The data will be set once and used a few times for reading data back from the OpenGL server. Not supported under OpenGL/ES.
QOpenGLBuffer::StreamCopy	0x88E2	The data will be set once and used a few times for reading data back from the OpenGL server for use in further drawing operations. Not supported under OpenGL/ES.
QOpenGLBuffer::StaticDraw	0x88E4	The data will be set once and used many times for drawing operations.
QOpenGLBuffer::StaticRead	0x88E5	The data will be set once and used many times for reading data back from the OpenGL server. Not supported under OpenGL/ES.
QOpenGLBuffer::StaticCopy	0x88E6	The data will be set once and used many times for reading data back from the OpenGL server for use in further drawing operations. Not supported under OpenGL/ES.
QOpenGLBuffer::DynamicDraw	0x88E8	The data will be modified repeatedly and used many times for drawing operations.
QOpenGLBuffer::DynamicRead	0x88E9	The data will be modified repeatedly and used many times for reading data back from the OpenGL server. Not supported under OpenGL/ES.
QOpenGLBuffer::DynamicCopy	0x88EA	The data will be modified repeatedly and used many times for reading data back from the OpenGL server for use in further drawing operations. Not supported under OpenGL/ES.

Member Function Documentation

QOpenGLBuffer::QOpenGLBuffer(const QOpenGLBuffer &other)

Constructs a shallow copy of other.

Note: QOpenGLBuffer does not implement copy-on-write semantics, so other will be affected whenever the copy is modified.

QOpenGLBuffer::QOpenGLBuffer(QOpenGLBuffer::Type type)

Constructs a new buffer object of type.

Note: this constructor just creates the QOpenGLBuffer instance. The actual buffer object in the OpenGL server is not created until create() is called.

See also create().

QOpenGLBuffer::QOpenGLBuffer()

Constructs a new buffer object of type QOpenGLBuffer::VertexBuffer.

Note: this constructor just creates the QOpenGLBuffer instance. The actual buffer object in the OpenGL server is not created until create() is called.

See also create().

QOpenGLBuffer &QOpenGLBuffer::operator=(const QOpenGLBuffer &other)

Assigns a shallow copy of other to this object.

Note: QOpenGLBuffer does not implement copy-on-write semantics, so other will be affected whenever the copy is modified.

QOpenGLBuffer::~QOpenGLBuffer()

Destroys this buffer object, including the storage being used in the OpenGL server.

void QOpenGLBuffer::allocate(const void *data, int count)

Allocates count bytes of space to the buffer, initialized to the contents of data. Any previous contents will be removed.

It is assumed that create() has been called on this buffer and that it has been bound to the current context.

See also create(), read(), and write().

void QOpenGLBuffer::allocate(int count)

This is an overloaded function.

Allocates count bytes of space to the buffer. Any previous contents will be removed.

It is assumed that create() has been called on this buffer and that it has been bound to the current context.

See also create() and write().

bool QOpenGLBuffer::bind()

Binds the buffer associated with this object to the current OpenGL context. Returns false if binding was not possible, usually because type() is not supported on this OpenGL implementation.

The buffer must be bound to the same QOpenGLContext current when create() was called, or to another QOpenGLContext that is sharing with it. Otherwise, false will be returned from this function.

See also release() and create().

GLuint QOpenGLBuffer::bufferId() const

Returns the OpenGL identifier associated with this buffer; zero if the buffer has not been created.

See also isCreated().

bool QOpenGLBuffer::create()

Creates the buffer object in the OpenGL server. Returns true if the object was created; false otherwise.

This function must be called with a current QOpenGLContext. The buffer will be bound to and can only be used in that context (or any other context that is shared with it).

This function will return false if the OpenGL implementation does not support buffers, or there is no current QOpenGLContext.

See also isCreated(), allocate(), write(), and destroy().

void QOpenGLBuffer::destroy()

Destroys this buffer object, including the storage being used in the OpenGL server. All references to the buffer will become invalid.

bool QOpenGLBuffer::isCreated() const

Returns true if this buffer has been created; false otherwise.

See also create() and destroy().

void *QOpenGLBuffer::map(QOpenGLBuffer::Access access)

Maps the contents of this buffer into the application's memory space and returns a pointer to it. Returns null if memory mapping is not possible. The access parameter indicates the type of access to be performed.

It is assumed that create() has been called on this buffer and that it has been bound to the current context.

Note: This function is only supported under OpenGL ES 2.0 or earlier if the GL_OES_mapbuffer extension is present.

Note: On OpenGL ES 3.0 and newer, or, in case if desktop OpenGL, if GL_ARB_map_buffer_range is supported, this function uses glMapBufferRange instead of glMapBuffer.

See also unmap(), create(), bind(), and mapRange().

void *QOpenGLBuffer::mapRange(int offset, int count, QOpenGLBuffer::RangeAccessFlags access)

Maps the range specified by offset and count of the contents of this buffer into the application's memory space and returns a pointer to it. Returns null if memory mapping is not possible. The access parameter specifies a combination of access flags.

It is assumed that create() has been called on this buffer and that it has been bound to the current context.

Note: This function is not available on OpenGL ES 2.0 and earlier.

See also unmap(), create(), and bind().

bool QOpenGLBuffer::read(int offset, void *data, int count)

Reads the count bytes in this buffer starting at offset into data. Returns true on success; false if reading from the buffer is not supported. Buffer reading is not supported under OpenGL/ES.

It is assumed that this buffer has been bound to the current context.

See also write() and bind().

void QOpenGLBuffer::release()

Releases the buffer associated with this object from the current OpenGL context.

This function must be called with the same QOpenGLContext current as when bind() was called on the buffer.

See also bind().

[static] void QOpenGLBuffer::release(QOpenGLBuffer::Type type)

Releases the buffer associated with type in the current QOpenGLContext.

This function is a direct call to glBindBuffer(type, 0) for use when the caller does not know which QOpenGLBuffer has been bound to the context but wants to make sure that it is released.

QOpenGLBuffer::release(QOpenGLBuffer::VertexBuffer);

void QOpenGLBuffer::setUsagePattern(QOpenGLBuffer::UsagePattern value)

Sets the usage pattern for this buffer object to value. This function must be called before allocate() or write().

See also usagePattern(), allocate(), and write().

int QOpenGLBuffer::size() const

Returns the size of the data in this buffer, for reading operations. Returns -1 if fetching the buffer size is not supported, or the buffer has not been created.

It is assumed that this buffer has been bound to the current context.

See also isCreated() and bind().

QOpenGLBuffer::Type QOpenGLBuffer::type() const

Returns the type of buffer represented by this object.

bool QOpenGLBuffer::unmap()

Unmaps the buffer after it was mapped into the application's memory space with a previous call to map(). Returns true if the unmap succeeded; false otherwise.

It is assumed that this buffer has been bound to the current context, and that it was previously mapped with map().

Note: This function is only supported under OpenGL ES 2.0 and earlier if the GL_OES_mapbuffer extension is present.

See also map().

QOpenGLBuffer::UsagePattern QOpenGLBuffer::usagePattern() const

Returns the usage pattern for this buffer object. The default value is StaticDraw.

See also setUsagePattern().

void QOpenGLBuffer::write(int offset, const void *data, int count)

Replaces the count bytes of this buffer starting at offset with the contents of data. Any other bytes in the buffer will be left unmodified.

It is assumed that create() has been called on this buffer and that it has been bound to the current context.

See also create(), read(), and allocate().