glGetString
NAME
glGetString -- returns a string describing the current GL connection
C SPECIFICATION
const GLubyte *glGetString(GLenum name)
PARAMETERS
- name
-
Specifies a symbolic constant, one of GL_VENDOR,
GL_RENDERER, GL_VERSION, or GL_EXTENSIONS.
DESCRIPTION
glGetString returns a pointer to a static string describing some aspect
of the current GL connection. name can be one of the following:
- GL_VENDOR
-
Returns the company responsible for this GL implementation. This
name does not change from release to release.
- GL_RENDERER
-
Returns the name of the renderer. This name is typically
specific to a particular configuration of a hardware platform.
It does not change from release to release.
- GL_VERSION
-
Returns a version or release number.
- GL_EXTENSIONS
-
Returns a space-separated list of supported extensions to GL.
Because GL does not include queries for the performance characteristics
of an implementation, it is expected that some applications will be
written to recognize known platforms and will modify their GL usage based
on known performance characteristics of these platforms. Strings
GL_VENDOR and GL_RENDERER together uniquely specify a platform,
and will not change from release to release. They should be used by such
platform recognition algorithms. The format and contents of the
GL_VENDOR and the GL_RENDERER strings depend on the
implementation.
Some applications will want to make use of features which are not part of
the standard GL. These features are may be implemented as extensions to
the standard GL. The GL_EXTENSIONS string is a space seperated list of
supported GL extensions. (Extension names never contain a space character.)
The GL_VERSION string begins with a version number. The version number
is of the form major_number.minor_number or
major_number.minor_number.release_number.
Vendor specific information may follow the version number. It's format depends
on the implementation, but a space always seperates the version number and the
vendor specific information.
All strings are null-terminated.
NOTES
If an error is generated, glGetString returns zero.
The client and server may support different versions or extensions.
glGetString always returns a compatible version number or list of
extensions. The release number always describes the server.
ERRORS
GL_INVALID_ENUM is generated if name is not an accepted value.
GL_INVALID_OPERATION is generated if glGetString is called between
a call to glBegin and the corresponding
call to glEnd.
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© 1995 Uwe Behrens. All rights reserved.