Metal

A MTLArgument object describes a single argument to a Metal function. Your app uses the MTLArgument properties to read details about a function argument as it was defined in the Metal Shading Language. You can determine the argument’s data type, access restrictions, and its associated resource type. For buffer, texture, and threadgroup memory arguments, additional properties can be read to determine more details about the argument.

A MTLArrayType object provides details about a MTLStructMember object that is an array. Your app does not create a MTLArrayType or MTLStructMember object directly. A reflection object, MTLRenderPipelineReflection or MTLComputePipelineReflection, can contain a MTLStructMember object, if one of its arguments is a struct (that is, if the bufferDataType property of MTLArgument is struct). If the dataType property of MTLStructMember is array, then the MTLStructMember object is an array, and the arrayType() method of MTLStructMember returns a MTLArrayType object that contains array details such as length, stride, and element type.

An object which represents the attributes of a function.

An object that determines how attribute data is stored in memory and how it is mapped to arguments for a function.

An array of objects that define how attribute data is formatted and assigned to an index in the attribute argument table.

An object that is used to configure how function input and attribute data are fetched by a function.

An array of buffer layout states.

A MTLCompileOptions object is used to specify how a new Metal shader library should be compiled. If you want to set the following options, use standard allocation and initialization techniques to create a MTLCompileOptions object and then set any or all of these properties:

The MTLComputePipelineDescriptor object specifies the compute configuration state used during a compute operation pass. Use standard allocation and initialization techniques to create a MTLComputePipelineDescriptor object. A MTLComputePipelineDescriptor object is later used to create a MTLComputePipelineState object.

A MTLComputePipelineReflection object provides access to the arguments of the compute function used in a MTLComputePipelineState object. A MTLComputePipelineReflection object can be created along with a MTLComputePipelineState object. Do not use standard allocation and initialization techniques to create a MTLComputePipelineReflection object.

A MTLDepthStencilDescriptor object is used to define a specific configuration of the depth and stencil stages of a rendering pipeline. To create a MTLDepthStencilDescriptor object, use standard allocation and initialization techniques.

A MTLFunctionConstant object describes a function constant referenced in a graphics or compute function.

A MTLFunctionConstantValues object contains a set of constant values that specialize a graphics or compute function.

A MTLHeapDescriptor object is used to configure new MTLHeap objects.

A MTLRenderPassAttachmentDescriptor object is used to configure an individual render target of a framebuffer. Each MTLRenderPassAttachmentDescriptor object specifies one texture that a graphics rendering pass can write into.

A MTLRenderPassColorAttachmentDescriptor object is used to configure an individual render target whose texture has a color-renderable pixel format.

An array of MTLRenderPassColorAttachmentDescriptor objects.

A MTLRenderPassDepthAttachmentDescriptor object is used to configure an individual render target whose texture has a depth-renderable pixel format.

A MTLRenderPassDescriptor object contains a collection of attachments that are the rendering destination for pixels generated by a rendering pass. The MTLRenderPassDescriptor class is also used to set the destination buffer for visibility information generated by a rendering pass.

A MTLRenderPassStencilAttachmentDescriptor object is used to configure an individual render target that has a texture with a stencil-renderable pixel format.

A MTLRenderPipelineColorAttachmentDescriptor object defines the configuration of a color attachment associated with a rendering pipeline.

A MTLRenderPipelineColorAttachmentDescriptorArray object contains an array of render pipeline states for an array of color attachments. The methods of MTLRenderPipelineColorAttachmentDescriptorArray set the render pipeline state or retrieve a copy of the render pipeline state for one of the color attachments in the array.

The MTLRenderPipelineDescriptor object specifies the rendering configuration state used during a rendering pass, including rasterization (such as multisampling), visibility, blending, tessellation, and graphics function state. Use standard allocation and initialization techniques to create a MTLRenderPipelineDescriptor object. A MTLRenderPipelineDescriptor object is later used to create a MTLRenderPipelineState object.

A MTLRenderPipelineReflection object provides access to the arguments of a vertex or fragment function of a MTLRenderPipelineState object. A MTLRenderPipelineReflection object can be created along with a MTLRenderPipelineState object. Do not use standard allocation and initialization techniques to create a MTLRenderPipelineReflection object.

MTLSamplerDescriptor objects are used to define a specific configuration of a MTLSamplerState object.

An object that describes the inputs, outputs, and attribute data to Metal vertex, fragment or compute functions.

A MTLStencilDescriptor object is used to configure a stencil test operation.

MTLStructMember is part of the reflection API that allows Metal framework code to query details about an argument of a Metal shading language function. A MTLStructMember object describes the data type of one field in a struct that is passed as a MTLFunction argument, which is represented by MTLArgument.

MTLStructType is part of the reflection API that allows Metal framework code to query details of a struct that is passed as an argument of a Metal shading language function. You do not allocate or initialize MTLStructType objects. To obtain a MTLStructType object, you can query the bufferStructType property of a MTLArgument object, or call the structType() method for a MTLStructMember object. To examine the details of the struct, you can recursively drill down the members property of the MTLStructType object, which contains details about struct members, each of which is represented by a MTLStructMember object.

A MTLTextureDescriptor object is used to configure new texture objects.

A MTLVertexAttribute object represents an attribute for per-vertex input in a vertex function. You use vertex attribute objects to inspect the inputs of a vertex function by examining the vertexAttributes property of the corresponding MTLFunction object.

MTLVertexAttributeDescriptor determines how vertex attribute data is stored in memory and how it is mapped to arguments for a vertex shader function.

A MTLVertexAttributeDescriptorArray object is an array of objects that defines how vertex attribute data is formatted and assigned to an index in the attribute argument table. The methods of MTLVertexAttributeDescriptorArray set or retrieve the attribute formatting information from the array.

A MTLVertexBufferLayoutDescriptor object is used to configure how vertex and attribute data are fetched by a vertex function.

A MTLVertexBufferLayoutDescriptorArray holds an array of vertex buffer layout states. The methods of MTLVertexBufferLayoutDescriptorArray set the vertex buffer layout state in the array or retrieve the state from the array.

A MTLVertexDescriptor object is used to configure how vertex data stored in memory is mapped to attributes in a vertex shader.