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FloatBuffer

The class GL\Buffer\FloatBuffer comes with the PHP-GLFW extension to more efficiently handle large arrays of GLfloat values (float in php).

Don't confuse these objects with actual GPU buffers.

FloatBuffer stores an array of real GLfloat values internally, which saves a lot of memory and makes interaction with the GL API a lot easier. An instance of this object can be used similarly to an array but comes with obvious limitations. The internal implementation is similar to c++ std::vector, this means you do not have to specify the exact size / num of elements when constructing the object.

namespace GL\Buffer
{
    class FloatBuffer implements BufferInterface {}
}

Usage

Again the object can be used similarly to an array, but it's not a hash map, so all keys have to be of type int. They also have to be in order and explicitly created.

use GL\Buffer\FloatBuffer;

$buffer = new FloatBuffer;

// values can be pushed into the array using subscript
$buffer[] = 42.69;
$buffer[] = 3.14;

// values can be accessed like an array
echo $buffer[0]; // 42.69 

// values can be modifed like an array
// just make sure the used index actually exists, 
// it will NOT be created implicitly!
$buffer[0] = 1.23;

// dumping the buffer will display the first 127 value
var_dump($buffer);

Note

The buffer object resizes itself logarithmically, so if you are planning to insert 10 million elements, be sure to call the reserve method on the object first. As you might guess, it will reserve the given space, ensuring that the internal buffers are not unnecessarily resized multiple times.

Construct from PHP Array

For ease of use, the FloatBuffer constructor accepts a PHP array which will be pushed value by value into the buffer. The constructor does a sanity check, so you will receive an error when your array contains invalid values.

$buffer = new FloatBuffer([
    42.69, 3.14, 1.23 
]);

Methods

The FloatBuffer class exposes the following methods to userland.

push

pushes a value into the buffer, this is exactly the same as when you would write $buffer[] = 3.14.

function push(float $value) : void
arguments
  1. float $value The value to be pushed into the buffer.
returns

void

pushArray

pushes an array of values into the buffer. This works the same as when you pass inital data to the constructor.

function pushArray(array $values) : void
arguments
  1. float[] $values The values to be pushed into the buffer.
returns

void

pushVec2

Pushes the values of a Vec2 object into the buffer

function pushVec2(\GL\Math\Vec2 $vec) : void

pushVec3

Pushes the values of a Vec3 object into the buffer

function pushVec3(\GL\Math\Vec3 $vec) : void

pushVec4

Pushes the values of a Vec4 object into the buffer

function pushVec4(\GL\Math\Vec4 $vec) : void

pushMat4

Pushes the values of a Mat4 (16) object into the buffer

function pushMat4(\GL\Math\Mat4 $matrix) : void

fill

Fills the buffer with $count amount of values. The second argument is the value that is filled in.

function fill(int $count, float $value) : void
arguments
  1. int $count The number of elements to fill.
  2. float $value That value that will be filled in.
returns

void

Example:

$buffer = new FloatBuffer;
$buffer->fill(5, 3);
var_dump($buffer); // [3, 3, 3, 3, 3]

Note

Fill will never shrink a buffer down, meaing when you aleady pushed 10 values in, and then decide to fill 4 values, the other 6 values will remain at the end.

reserve

Reserves the $size amount of space. Values are still undefined.

function reserve(int $size) : void
arguments
  1. int $size The number of elements to reserve space for.
returns

void

clear

Will clear the Buffer, internally this will release all allocated data. Meaning any reserved space will be freed.

function clear() : void
returns

void

size

Returns the actual size / number of elements of the buffer.

function size() : int
returns

int buffer size in element count (not bytes)

capacity

Returns the current reserved space of the buffer.

function capacity() : int
returns

int buffer space in element count (not bytes)