7 thoughts on “A managed path to DirectCompute”

1. Hi, I tried for hours to make your sample code work.
   First your project requires VS 2008 debug dlls so I dwl the latest WindowsApiCodePack and after I pointed the sample project to use the new library I found that I have to remap calls and enums..etc. After getting itto compile I basically get all kind of run-time errors (e.g. Value does not fall within the expected range. when I tried to create the D3DBuffer of the D3DBuffer buffer has some strange option flags..etc)
   Can you please review your project to work with WindowsApiCodePack v.1.1 and VS2010? As you mentioned in your article is nearly impossible to find documentation about this thing.
   Best regards,
   Dan

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   1. Hi Dan,

      I opened the project in Visual Studio 2010 just fine. Had no problems converting it.
      What problems do you face when converting to VS2010?

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2. Using your project "as is" gives me the following error

   Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack.DirectX, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null' or one of its dependencies. The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect. Please see the application event log or use the command-line sxstrace.exe tool for more detail. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800736B1) … than looking into the ApplicationEvent log is showing

   Activation context generation failed for "C:\tests\DirectComputeManaged\bin\Debug\Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack.DirectX.dll". Dependent Assembly Microsoft.VC90.DebugCRT,processorArchitecture="x86",publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b",type="win32",version="9.0.21022.8" could not be found. Please use sxstrace.exe for detailed diagnosis.

   That's probably because I don't have VS 2008 design time libraries.

   However I decided to use the newer Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack.DirectX v1.1
   After fixing and translating all the compilation errors looking into the old metadata and new one I don't get the program to run because I get an error on the following line

   static D3DBuffer CreateBuffer(D3DDevice device, BuffType[] buffer, bool init) <<< init = false

   >>>> result = device.CreateBuffer(desc); throws the Value does not fall within the expected range. exception.

   I don't know how to fix this probably the only way is to read a HLSL book and probably will do that soon.

   IT WOULD BE AWESOME IF YOU FIX THE SAMPLE TO WORK WITH v 1.1 🙂
   This might be the only good article on the web to give the reader a taste of this technology!

   Best regards,
   Dan

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   1. That's odd. I'll try to check out why that error. What OS do you use?

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      1. Windows 7 x64
         VS2010 Premium
         DirectX SDK (June 2010)
         Windows API Code Pack v1.1 (Binaries, Source, Docs)
         Intel Core 2 Quad 9450 8Gb
         Nvidia 560 GTX 1Gb driver 296.10

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   2. HERE IS THE UPDATED SOURCE CODE TO MAKE IT COMPATIBLE WITH 1.1

      using System;
      using System.Collections.Generic;
      using System.Text;
      using Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack.DirectX.Direct3D11;
      using Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack.DirectX.Direct3D;
      using System.IO;
      using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
      using Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack.DirectX.Graphics;

      namespace TestSimple
      {
      struct BuffType
      {
      public int I;
      public float F;

      /// <summary>
      /// Initializes a new instance of the BuffType structure.
      /// </summary>
      /// <param name="i"></param>
      /// <param name="f"></param>
      public BuffType(int i, float f)
      {
      I = i;
      F = f;
      }
      }

      class Program
      {
      static int ELEMENT_SIZE = Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(BuffType));

      static void Main1(string[] args)
      {
      const int NUM_ELEMENTS = 1024;

      FeatureLevel[] level = new FeatureLevel[] { FeatureLevel.Ten };
      using (D3DDevice device = D3DDevice.CreateDevice(null, DriverType.Hardware, null, CreateDeviceOptions.SingleThreaded | CreateDeviceOptions.Debug, level))
      {

      DeviceContext context = device.ImmediateContext;
      Console.WriteLine(device.DeviceFeatureLevel);
      FeatureDataD3D10XHardwareOptions options;

      //if (device.CheckFeatureDataD3D10XHardwareOptions(out options))
      // Console.WriteLine(options.ComputeShadersPlusRawAndStructuredBuffersViaShader4x);
      if (!device.IsComputeShaderWithRawAndStructuredBuffersSupported)
      Console.WriteLine("Failed to check hw options");

      ComputeShader shader = null;
      try
      {

      using (Stream hlsl = File.OpenRead("unit.fx"))
      shader = device.CreateComputeShader(hlsl);
      BuffType[] buffer;

      buffer = new BuffType[NUM_ELEMENTS];
      for (int i = 0; i < NUM_ELEMENTS; i++)
      {
      buffer[i] = new BuffType { I = i, F = i };
      }

      using (D3DBuffer buf0 = CreateBuffer(device, buffer, true))
      using (D3DBuffer buf1 = CreateBuffer(device, buffer, true))
      using (D3DBuffer buf2 = CreateBuffer(device, buffer, false))
      {
      using (ShaderResourceView view0 = CreateView(device, buf0))
      using (ShaderResourceView view1 = CreateView(device, buf1))
      using (UnorderedAccessView view2 = CreateUnorderedAccessView(device, buf2))
      {
      RunComputerShader(context, shader, new ShaderResourceView[] { view0, view1 }, new UnorderedAccessView[] { view2 }, NUM_ELEMENTS, 1, 1);
      D3DBuffer debugbuf = CreateAndCopyToDebugBuf(device, context, buf2);
      MappedSubresource mappedResource = (MappedSubresource)context.Map(debugbuf, 0, Map.Read, Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack.DirectX.Direct3D11.MapOptions.None);
      IntPtr p = mappedResource.Data;
      int cursor = p.ToInt32();
      for (int i = 0; i < NUM_ELEMENTS; i++)
      {
      p = new IntPtr(cursor);
      BuffType bt = (BuffType)Marshal.PtrToStructure(p, typeof(BuffType));
      cursor += ELEMENT_SIZE;
      if (bt.I != buffer[i].I * 2 || bt.F != buffer[i].F * 2)
      {
      Console.WriteLine("Failed");
      }
      }
      }
      }
      }
      finally
      {
      if (shader != null)
      shader.Dispose();
      }
      }
      Console.WriteLine("End");
      Console.ReadLine();
      }

      static void Main(string[] args)
      {
      const int NUM_ELEMENTS = 1024;

      FeatureLevel[] level = new FeatureLevel[] { FeatureLevel.Ten };
      using (D3DDevice device = D3DDevice.CreateDevice(null, DriverType.Hardware, null, CreateDeviceOptions.SingleThreaded | CreateDeviceOptions.Debug, level))
      {
      DeviceContext context = device.ImmediateContext;
      Console.WriteLine(device.DeviceFeatureLevel);
      FeatureDataD3D10XHardwareOptions options;

      if (device.IsComputeShaderWithRawAndStructuredBuffersSupported)
      Console.Write("IsComputeShaderWithRawAndStructuredBuffersSupported");
      else
      Console.WriteLine("Failed to check hw options");

      ComputeShader shader = null;
      try
      {

      using (Stream hlsl = File.OpenRead("unit.fx"))
      shader = device.CreateComputeShader(hlsl);
      BuffType[] buffer;

      buffer = new BuffType[NUM_ELEMENTS];
      for (int i = 0; i < NUM_ELEMENTS; i++)
      {
      buffer[i] = new BuffType { I = i, F = i };
      }

      using (D3DBuffer buf0 = CreateBuffer(device, buffer, true))
      using (D3DBuffer buf1 = CreateBuffer(device, buffer, true))
      using (D3DBuffer buf2 = CreateBuffer(device, buffer, false))
      {
      using (ShaderResourceView view0 = CreateView(device, buf0))
      using (ShaderResourceView view1 = CreateView(device, buf1))
      using (UnorderedAccessView view2 = CreateUnorderedAccessView(device, buf2))
      {
      RunComputerShader(context, shader, new ShaderResourceView[] { view0, view1 }, new UnorderedAccessView[] { view2 }, NUM_ELEMENTS, 1, 1);
      D3DBuffer debugbuf = CreateAndCopyToDebugBuf(device, context, buf2);
      MappedSubresource mappedResource = (MappedSubresource)context.Map(debugbuf, 0, Map.Read, Microsoft.WindowsAPICodePack.DirectX.Direct3D11.MapOptions.None);
      IntPtr p = mappedResource.Data;
      int cursor = p.ToInt32();
      for (int i = 0; i < NUM_ELEMENTS; i++)
      {
      p = new IntPtr(cursor);
      BuffType bt = (BuffType)Marshal.PtrToStructure(p, typeof(BuffType));
      cursor += ELEMENT_SIZE;
      if (bt.I != buffer[i].I * 2 || bt.F != buffer[i].F * 2)
      {
      Console.WriteLine("Failed");
      }
      }
      }
      }
      }
      finally
      {
      if (shader != null)
      shader.Dispose();
      }
      }
      Console.WriteLine("End");
      Console.ReadLine();
      }

      static D3DBuffer CreateAndCopyToDebugBuf(D3DDevice device, DeviceContext context, D3DBuffer buffer)
      {
      BufferDescription desc = buffer.Description;
      desc.CpuAccessOptions = CpuAccessOptions.Read;
      desc.Usage = Usage.Staging;
      desc.BindingOptions = BindingOptions.None;
      desc.MiscellaneousResourceOptions = MiscellaneousResourceOptions.None;
      D3DBuffer result = device.CreateBuffer(desc);
      context.CopyResource(result, buffer);
      return result;
      }

      static void RunComputerShader(DeviceContext context, ComputeShader shader, ShaderResourceView[] views, UnorderedAccessView[] unordered, uint x, uint y, uint z)
      {
      ComputeShaderPipelineStage cs = context.CS;
      cs.Shader = shader;
      cs.SetShaderResources(0, views);
      // 4 size of handle?
      cs.SetUnorderedAccessViews(0, unordered, new uint[] { 0 });
      context.Dispatch(x, y, z);
      // cs.SetUnorderedAccessViews(0, null, new uint[] { 0 });
      // cs.SetShaderResources(0, 1, null);
      }

      static ShaderResourceView CreateView(D3DDevice device, D3DBuffer buffer)
      {
      ExtendedBufferShaderResourceView exBuffer;
      Format format;

      //desc.ExtendedBuffer.FirstElement = 0;
      if ((buffer.Description.MiscellaneousResourceOptions & MiscellaneousResourceOptions.BufferAllowRawViews) == MiscellaneousResourceOptions.BufferAllowRawViews)
      {
      //desc.Format = Format.R32Typeless;
      //desc.ExtendedBuffer.BindingOptions = ExtendedBufferBindingOptions.Raw;
      //desc.ExtendedBuffer.ElementCount = buffer.Description.ByteWidth / 4;

      format = Format.R32Typeless;
      exBuffer = new ExtendedBufferShaderResourceView
      {
      FirstElement = 0,
      BindingOptions = ExtendedBufferBindingOptions.Raw,
      ElementCount = buffer.Description.ByteWidth / 4

      };

      }
      else if ((buffer.Description.MiscellaneousResourceOptions & MiscellaneousResourceOptions.BufferStructured) == MiscellaneousResourceOptions.BufferStructured)
      {
      //desc.Format = Format.Unknown;
      //desc.ExtendedBuffer.ElementCount = buffer.Description.ByteWidth / buffer.Description.StructureByteStride;

      format = Format.Unknown;
      exBuffer = new ExtendedBufferShaderResourceView
      {
      FirstElement = 0,
      ElementCount = buffer.Description.ByteWidth / buffer.Description.StructureByteStride
      };
      }
      else
      throw new Exception("Unsupported buffer format");

      ShaderResourceViewDescription desc = new ShaderResourceViewDescription
      {
      ViewDimension = ShaderResourceViewDimension.ExtendedBuffer,
      Format = format,
      ExtendedBuffer = exBuffer
      };

      return device.CreateShaderResourceView(buffer, desc);
      }

      static UnorderedAccessView CreateUnorderedAccessView(D3DDevice device, D3DBuffer buffer)
      {

      Format format;
      BufferUnorderedAccessView buff;

      //desc.Buffer.FirstElement = 0;

      if ((buffer.Description.MiscellaneousResourceOptions & MiscellaneousResourceOptions.BufferAllowRawViews) == MiscellaneousResourceOptions.BufferAllowRawViews)
      {
      //desc.Format = Format.R32Typeless;
      //desc.Buffer.BufferOptions = UnorderedAccessViewBufferOptions.Raw;
      //desc.Buffer.ElementCount = buffer.Description.ByteWidth / 4;
      format = Format.R32Typeless;
      buff = new BufferUnorderedAccessView
      {
      BufferOptions = UnorderedAccessViewBufferOptions.Raw,
      ElementCount = buffer.Description.ByteWidth / 4
      };
      }
      else if ((buffer.Description.MiscellaneousResourceOptions & MiscellaneousResourceOptions.BufferStructured) == MiscellaneousResourceOptions.BufferStructured)
      {
      //desc.Format = Format.Unknown;
      //desc.Buffer.ElementCount = buffer.Description.ByteWidth / buffer.Description.StructureByteStride;
      format = Format.Unknown;
      buff = new BufferUnorderedAccessView
      {
      ElementCount = buffer.Description.ByteWidth / buffer.Description.StructureByteStride
      };
      }
      else
      throw new Exception("Unsupported buffer format");

      UnorderedAccessViewDescription desc = new UnorderedAccessViewDescription
      {
      ViewDimension = UnorderedAccessViewDimension.Buffer,
      Format = format,
      Buffer = buff
      };

      return device.CreateUnorderedAccessView(buffer, desc);
      }

      static D3DBuffer CreateBuffer(D3DDevice device, BuffType[] buffer, bool init)
      {

      BufferDescription desc = new BufferDescription
      {
      BindingOptions = BindingOptions.UnorderedAccess | BindingOptions.ShaderResource,
      ByteWidth = (uint)(ELEMENT_SIZE * buffer.Length),
      MiscellaneousResourceOptions = MiscellaneousResourceOptions.BufferStructured,
      StructureByteStride = (uint)ELEMENT_SIZE
      };
      IntPtr ptr = Marshal.AllocHGlobal((int)desc.ByteWidth);
      int current = ptr.ToInt32();
      foreach (BuffType bt in buffer)
      {
      IntPtr offset = new IntPtr(current);
      Marshal.StructureToPtr(bt, offset, false);
      current += ELEMENT_SIZE;
      }
      D3DBuffer result;
      SubresourceData initData;
      if (init)
      {
      initData = new SubresourceData
      {
      SystemMemory = ptr
      };
      result = device.CreateBuffer(desc, initData);
      }
      else
      {
      initData = new SubresourceData();
      result = device.CreateBuffer(desc);
      }
      return result;
      }

      }
      }

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3. hello,

   does this webpage still active,
   i hade the same problem buidling the testsimple project

   thank you
   elwolv@comcast.net

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