Can you write OpenGL shader in different file and later link it to the program?

Question

Can you write OpenGL shader in a different file and later link it to the program? and if it's possible how? writing OpenGL shader in string makes my code messy.

Here is example code for shaders:

const char* vertexShaderSource =
    "#version 330 core\n"
    "layout (location = 0) in vec3 aPos;\n"
    "layout (location = 1) in vec3 aColor;\n"
    "\n"
    "out vec3 ourColor;\n"
    "uniform vec2 angleValues;\n"
    "\n"
    "void main()\n"
    "{\n"
    "gl_Position = vec4(aPos.x * angleValues.x - aPos.y * angleValues.y, aPos.y * angleValues.x + aPos.x * angleValues.y , aPos.z, 1.0);\n"
    "ourColor = aColor;\n"
    "}\n";

const char* fragmentShaderSource =
    "#version 330 core\n"
    "out vec4 FragColor;\n"
    "in vec3 ourColor;\n"
    "\n"
    "void main()\n"
    "{\n"
    "FragColor = vec4(ourColor, 1.0);\n"
    "}\n";

"writing OpenGL shader in string makes my code messy." [C++11 raw string literals make it much cleaner](https://stackoverflow.com/a/13872584/44729), no need for all the `\n`'s. — genpfault, Aug 23 '22 at 15:19
yes, you can; it's very easy to read a file into a `const char*`. — new Q Open Wid, Aug 23 '22 at 15:27

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 23 '22 at 15:20

2

Yes, you can have files like my_shader.vs or my_fragment.fs and link them like in this Shader class

Just initialize it like this:

shader = Shader("./shaders/my_shader.vs", "./shaders/my_fragment.fs");

answered Aug 23 '22 at 15:20

Turgut

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1

Thanks, btw, can u tell me how to link those files into shader class? – NikoMolecule Aug 23 '22 at 15:28
1

Just use the example initialization I've given. Make sure the files are there and the path is proper, use absolute path if needed. If you need more documentation look at this example: https://learnopengl.com/code_viewer_gh.php?code=src/1.getting_started/3.3.shaders_class/shaders_class.cpp – Turgut Aug 23 '22 at 15:31
1

@NikoMolecule If these helped can you please accept my answer? – Turgut Aug 23 '22 at 15:32
3

This isn't linked - you made the program load the shader at run-time. – user253751 Aug 23 '22 at 15:32
2

@Turgut yes it helped, i forgot to accept it – NikoMolecule Aug 23 '22 at 15:37
1

also, pointing to an external tutorial isn't really accepted in SO answers – user253751 Aug 23 '22 at 15:45

Can you write OpenGL shader in different file and later link it to the program?

1 Answers1