How To: Compile a Shader

You typically use the fxc.exe HLSL code compiler as part of the build process to compile shader code. For more info about this, see Compiling Shaders. This topic shows how to use the D3DCompileFromFile function at run time to compile shader code.

To compile a shader:

• Compile HLSL shader code by calling D3DCompileFromFile.

      UINT flags = D3DCOMPILE_ENABLE_STRICTNESS;
  #if defined( DEBUG ) || defined( _DEBUG )
      flags |= D3DCOMPILE_DEBUG;
  #endif
      // Prefer higher CS shader profile when possible as CS 5.0 provides better performance on 11-class hardware.
      LPCSTR profile = ( device->GetFeatureLevel() >= D3D_FEATURE_LEVEL_11_0 ) ? "cs_5_0" : "cs_4_0";
      const D3D_SHADER_MACRO defines[] = 
      {
          "EXAMPLE_DEFINE", "1",
          NULL, NULL
      };
      ID3DBlob* shaderBlob = nullptr;
      ID3DBlob* errorBlob = nullptr;
      HRESULT hr = D3DCompileFromFile( srcFile, defines, D3D_COMPILE_STANDARD_FILE_INCLUDE,
                                       entryPoint, profile,
                                       flags, 0, &shaderBlob, &errorBlob );
  

The following code example shows how to compile various shaders.

Note

For this example code, you need the Windows SDK 8.0 and the d3dcompiler_44.dll file from the %PROGRAM_FILE%\Windows Kits\8.0\Redist\D3D\<arch> folder in your path. Windows Store apps support run time compilation for development but not for deployment.

 

#define _WIN32_WINNT 0x600
#include <stdio.h>

#include <d3dcompiler.h>

#pragma comment(lib,"d3dcompiler.lib")

HRESULT CompileShader( _In_ LPCWSTR srcFile, _In_ LPCSTR entryPoint, _In_ LPCSTR profile, _Outptr_ ID3DBlob** blob )
{
    if ( !srcFile || !entryPoint || !profile || !blob )
       return E_INVALIDARG;

    *blob = nullptr;

    UINT flags = D3DCOMPILE_ENABLE_STRICTNESS;
#if defined( DEBUG ) || defined( _DEBUG )
    flags |= D3DCOMPILE_DEBUG;
#endif

    const D3D_SHADER_MACRO defines[] = 
    {
        "EXAMPLE_DEFINE", "1",
        NULL, NULL
    };

    ID3DBlob* shaderBlob = nullptr;
    ID3DBlob* errorBlob = nullptr;
    HRESULT hr = D3DCompileFromFile( srcFile, defines, D3D_COMPILE_STANDARD_FILE_INCLUDE,
                                     entryPoint, profile,
                                     flags, 0, &shaderBlob, &errorBlob );
    if ( FAILED(hr) )
    {
        if ( errorBlob )
        {
            OutputDebugStringA( (char*)errorBlob->GetBufferPointer() );
            errorBlob->Release();
        }

        if ( shaderBlob )
           shaderBlob->Release();

        return hr;
    }    

    *blob = shaderBlob;

    return hr;
}

int main()
{
    // Compile vertex shader
    ID3DBlob *vsBlob = nullptr;
    HRESULT hr = CompileShader( L"BasicHLSL11_VS.hlsl", "VSMain", "vs_4_0_level_9_1", &vsBlob );
    if ( FAILED(hr) )
    {
        printf("Failed compiling vertex shader %08X\n", hr );
        return -1;
    }

    // Compile pixel shader
    ID3DBlob *psBlob = nullptr;
    hr = CompileShader( L"BasicHLSL11_PS.hlsl", "PSMain", "ps_4_0_level_9_1", &psBlob );
    if ( FAILED(hr) )
    {
        vsBlob->Release();
        printf("Failed compiling pixel shader %08X\n", hr );
        return -1;
    }

    printf("Success\n");

    // Clean up
    vsBlob->Release();
    psBlob->Release();

    return 0;
}

The preceding code example compiles the pixel and vertex shader code blocks in the BasicHLSL11_PS.hlsl and BasicHLSL11_VS.hlsl files. Here is the code in BasicHLSL11_PS.hlsl:

//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// File: BasicHLSL11_PS.hlsl
//
// The pixel shader file for the BasicHLSL11 sample.  
// 
// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Globals
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
cbuffer cbPerObject : register( b0 )
{
    float4        g_vObjectColor            : packoffset( c0 );
};

cbuffer cbPerFrame : register( b1 )
{
    float3        g_vLightDir                : packoffset( c0 );
    float        g_fAmbient                : packoffset( c0.w );
};

//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Textures and Samplers
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Texture2D    g_txDiffuse : register( t0 );
SamplerState g_samLinear : register( s0 );

//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Input / Output structures
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
struct PS_INPUT
{
    float3 vNormal        : NORMAL;
    float2 vTexcoord    : TEXCOORD0;
};

//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Pixel Shader
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
float4 PSMain( PS_INPUT Input ) : SV_TARGET
{
    float4 vDiffuse = g_txDiffuse.Sample( g_samLinear, Input.vTexcoord );
    
    float fLighting = saturate( dot( g_vLightDir, Input.vNormal ) );
    fLighting = max( fLighting, g_fAmbient );
    
    return vDiffuse * fLighting;
}

Here is the code in BasicHLSL11_VS.hlsl:

//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// File: BasicHLSL11_VS.hlsl
//
// The vertex shader file for the BasicHLSL11 sample.  
// 
// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Globals
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
cbuffer cbPerObject : register( b0 )
{
    matrix        g_mWorldViewProjection    : packoffset( c0 );
    matrix        g_mWorld                : packoffset( c4 );
};

//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Input / Output structures
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
struct VS_INPUT
{
    float4 vPosition    : POSITION;
    float3 vNormal        : NORMAL;
    float2 vTexcoord    : TEXCOORD0;
};

struct VS_OUTPUT
{
    float3 vNormal        : NORMAL;
    float2 vTexcoord    : TEXCOORD0;
    float4 vPosition    : SV_POSITION;
};

//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Vertex Shader
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VS_OUTPUT VSMain( VS_INPUT Input )
{
    VS_OUTPUT Output;
    
    Output.vPosition = mul( Input.vPosition, g_mWorldViewProjection );
    Output.vNormal = mul( Input.vNormal, (float3x3)g_mWorld );
    Output.vTexcoord = Input.vTexcoord;
    
    return Output;
}

Related topics

How to Use Direct3D 11