DirectX 11 API Reference

DirectX 11 provides a high‑performance, low‑level graphics API for Windows desktop applications. It enables developers to harness the power of modern GPUs for rendering, compute, and multimedia tasks.

Key Features

Installation & Setup ▾

To develop with DirectX 11, install the Windows 10 SDK and use Visual Studio 2019 or later.

# Install Windows SDK
winget install Microsoft.WindowsSDK

# Create a new project in Visual Studio
File → New → Project → Desktop Development → DirectX App (C++)
Sample Code: Initializing a Device ▾ 
#include <d3d11.h>
#pragma comment(lib, "d3d11.lib")

HRESULT InitDevice(HWND hWnd, ID3D11Device** ppDevice, ID3D11DeviceContext** ppContext)
{
    DXGI_SWAP_CHAIN_DESC scDesc = {};
    scDesc.BufferCount = 1;
    scDesc.BufferDesc.Format = DXGI_FORMAT_R8G8B8A8_UNORM;
    scDesc.BufferUsage = DXGI_USAGE_RENDER_TARGET_OUTPUT;
    scDesc.OutputWindow = hWnd;
    scDesc.SampleDesc.Count = 1;
    scDesc.Windowed = TRUE;

    return D3D11CreateDeviceAndSwapChain(
        nullptr, D3D_DRIVER_TYPE_HARDWARE,
        nullptr, 0, nullptr, 0,
        D3D11_SDK_VERSION,
        &scDesc, nullptr, ppDevice,
        nullptr, ppContext);
}

This function creates a Direct3D 11 device and immediate context for the given window handle.

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