The Windows 8 Metro SwapChainBackgroundPanel
Microsoft has provided a nice facility for inter-operation between XAML user interface elements and DirectX graphics: the SwapChainBackgroundPanel. In fact they have provided three alternatives, but here we focus on the high performance alternative that also leaves most control to the developer.
Microsoft was kind enough to provide a sample program that shows how to use the SwapChainBackgroundPanel. However, this program also does a fairly large number of other things. So, I decided to create a small project in which the use of the SwapChainBackgroundPanel is central, but that can also be used as a starting point for a larger program.
You can download the Visual Studio 2012 project from here. You will need Windows 8 (Release Preview) and Visual Studio 2012 (Release Candidate) to build and run the application.
The starter project combines elements from the XAML DirectX 3D shooting game sample (which exemplifies the use of the SwapChainBackgroundPanel, with elements of the standard Visual Studio Metro DirectX application template. All the application does is show a rotating colored cube.
Well, that is not entirely true. Couldn’t resist the temptation to add a slider (and a data bound TextBox that shows the value) that controls the rotation speed and direction of the cube.
The behavior of the slider is not (yet) as desired, see this screen capture video; the slider moves uncontrollably back and forth (albeit once in each direction) when the setting has changed. I’ve issued a feedback item for this, and trust that this problem will be solved in the RTM version.
Some other controls also suffer from this type of problems concerning the sharing of screen ’real estate’ between raw DirectX and the XAML render engine, try e.g. the ComboBox control.
The project setup follows a specific pattern. A Visual C++ project may collect files in filters – much like folders, but not physical. A blank Metro style project already contains the Assets and Common filters, for Metro specific files. I found it is becoming standard practice to collect basic DirectX code under a DirectXBase filter. This filter hides all DirectX related code the can easily be reused in other projects. The Precompiled Headers filter hides just what it says it will hide. It advances build performance (pretty much) to collect all standard and / or multiply used headers in pch.h. For application specific rendering you create your own render engine – hidden by the Render Engines filter. Your render engine will use Shaders – see the Shaders filter. Finally, application specific DirectX render logic, like your standard Update method, is situated in the custom Controller class, hidden by the Controllers filter. Architecturally speaking, the Controller class inherits from RenderEngine, which in turn inherits from DirectXBase. The App class is responsible for application management, and the MainPage class is responsible for management of the visual state.
The intended architecture is also depicted in the UML class diagram below.
This setup is a copy of the shooting game sample. It seems, however, more natural to attach the controller to the MainPage, since the SwapChainBackgroundPanel, which provide the render surface for the DirectX code is in the MainPage as well.
Of course, If you really want to do a clean job, you could separate off the DirectX part into a WinRT dll. This would allow for reuse and interop with C# code. Alternatively, the controller for the SwapChainBackgroundPanel could be attached to, conforming to the MVVM pattern. At this point, however, I was happy to have a working first application and left pimping up the project for another occasion.
Clatter from the Byte Kitchen 