glGetString
NAME
glGetString - return 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 the GL does not include queries for the performance
characteristics of an implementation, some applications are
written to recognize known platforms and modify their GL
usage based on known performance characteristics of these
platforms. Strings GL_VENDOR and GL_RENDERER together
uniquely specify a platform. They do not change from release
to release and should be used by platform-recognition
algorithms.
Some applications want to make use of features that are not
part of the standard GL. These features may be implemented
as extensions to the standard GL. The GL_EXTENSIONS string
is a space-separated list of supported GL extensions.
(Extension names never contain a space character.)
The GL_VERSION string begins with a version number. The
version number uses one of these forms:
major_number.minor_number
major_number.minor_number.release_number
Vendor-specific information may follow the version number.
Its format depends on the implementation, but a space always
separates the version number and the vendor-specific
information.
All strings are NULL-terminated.
NOTES
If an error is generated, glGetString returns 0.
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 executed
between the execution of glBegin and the
corresponding execution of glEnd.