C Specification

The VkWriteDescriptorSet structure is defined as:

// Provided by VK_VERSION_1_0
typedef struct VkWriteDescriptorSet {
    VkStructureType                  sType;
    const void*                      pNext;
    VkDescriptorSet                  dstSet;
    uint32_t                         dstBinding;
    uint32_t                         dstArrayElement;
    uint32_t                         descriptorCount;
    VkDescriptorType                 descriptorType;
    const VkDescriptorImageInfo*     pImageInfo;
    const VkDescriptorBufferInfo*    pBufferInfo;
    const VkBufferView*              pTexelBufferView;
} VkWriteDescriptorSet;

Members

  • sType is a VkStructureType value identifying this structure.

  • pNext is NULL or a pointer to a structure extending this structure.

  • dstSet is the destination descriptor set to update.

  • dstBinding is the descriptor binding within that set.

  • dstArrayElement is the starting element in that array.

  • descriptorCount is the number of descriptors to update. descriptorCount is one of

    • the number of elements in pImageInfo

    • the number of elements in pBufferInfo

    • the number of elements in pTexelBufferView

  • descriptorType is a VkDescriptorType specifying the type of each descriptor in pImageInfo, pBufferInfo, or pTexelBufferView, as described below. It must be the same type as the descriptorType specified in VkDescriptorSetLayoutBinding for dstSet at dstBinding. The type of the descriptor also controls which array the descriptors are taken from.

  • pImageInfo is a pointer to an array of VkDescriptorImageInfo structures or is ignored, as described below.

  • pBufferInfo is a pointer to an array of VkDescriptorBufferInfo structures or is ignored, as described below.

  • pTexelBufferView is a pointer to an array of VkBufferView handles as described in the Buffer Views section or is ignored, as described below.

Description

Only one of pImageInfo, pBufferInfo, or pTexelBufferView members is used according to the descriptor type specified in the descriptorType member of the containing VkWriteDescriptorSet structure, as specified below.

If the nullDescriptor feature is enabled, the buffer, imageView, or bufferView can be VK_NULL_HANDLE. Loads from a null descriptor return zero values and stores and atomics to a null descriptor are discarded.

Consecutive Binding Updates

If the dstBinding has fewer than descriptorCount array elements remaining starting from dstArrayElement, then the remainder will be used to update the subsequent binding - dstBinding+1 starting at array element zero. If a binding has a descriptorCount of zero, it is skipped. This behavior applies recursively, with the update affecting consecutive bindings as needed to update all descriptorCount descriptors. Consecutive bindings must have identical VkDescriptorType, VkShaderStageFlags, VkDescriptorBindingFlagBits, and immutable samplers references.

Valid Usage
Valid Usage (Implicit)

  • VUID-VkWriteDescriptorSet-sType-sType
    sType must be VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_WRITE_DESCRIPTOR_SET

  • VUID-VkWriteDescriptorSet-pNext-pNext
    pNext must be NULL

  • VUID-VkWriteDescriptorSet-descriptorType-parameter
    descriptorType must be a valid VkDescriptorType value

  • VUID-VkWriteDescriptorSet-descriptorCount-arraylength
    descriptorCount must be greater than 0

  • VUID-VkWriteDescriptorSet-commonparent
    Both of dstSet, and the elements of pTexelBufferView that are valid handles of non-ignored parameters must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from the same VkDevice

See Also

VK_VERSION_1_0, VkBufferView, VkDescriptorBufferInfo, VkDescriptorImageInfo, VkDescriptorSet, VkDescriptorType, VkStructureType, vkUpdateDescriptorSets

Document Notes

For more information, see the Vulkan Specification.

This page is extracted from the Vulkan Specification. Fixes and changes should be made to the Specification, not directly.

Copyright

Copyright 2014-2026 The Khronos Group Inc.

SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-4.0