I'm happy to announce that SlimDX is officially going live. It's been a bit over three months since I originally posted a thread to gauge interest, and the response was clear. People want to see a real successor to Managed DirectX, and we're it. There's a couple announcements to go along with our launch. First, we have a homepage! The Wiki hosted there (courtesy of Rim van Wersch, aka Remigius) will serve as a source of non-reference documentation and status, as well as development and debugging tips, along with anything else useful to people. Second, our development homepage at Google Code is now hosting binary builds, as well as a samples package. There isn't a set release schedule for these right now; they'll be updated as appropriate when significant progress has been made. It's not that we're done. There's still a long way to go. While Direct3D 9 enjoys near-completion, there's plenty of other APIs to be filled in. We're working actively on Direct3D 10, DirectInput, and DirectSound. However, it was time to break out of the "prototype" feel and establish ourselves as a proper project. For those of you that haven't heard, the MDX samples and documentation are being discontinued, and will not be included in the DX SDK starting in November. Our goal is to fill out as a completely usable library for managed game development by then. Over the coming weeks, the wiki will be filled out with summaries of all of the SlimDX classes, including their current status. If you're just working with Direct3D 9, then I believe SlimDX is already ready for you to use. DirectSound should be usable right now, but I'm in the process of authoring a sample in order to make sure, as well as to provide a starting point for people working with it. DirectInput isn't ready yet, and Direct3D 10 is still somewhat volatile, but if people start trying to use those APIs and tell us what needs to be filled in, we will make progress much faster. Current Developers: Promit jpetrie Mike.Popoloski ravyne2001 [Edited by - Promit on September 23, 2007 2:25:11 AM]

Congratulations, mate! Glad to see it's moving forward nicely. Once the C# Workshop is completed I'll have some free time available if you're looking for any additional hands.

Cheers!

Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D:
-----------------------------------
BehaviorFlags -- This struct seems pointless, just OR together CreateFlags values.
CreateFlags -- We have this.
CustomVertex -- Gone. Write your own vertex structures as needed.
DepthFormat -- Gone, and folded into Format.
Light -- Known issue, will fix.
LightType -- Known issue, will fix.
RenderStateManager -- Gone. Use SetRenderState().
SamplerStateManager -- Gone. Use SetSamplerState().
SamplerStateManagerCollection -- Gone.
TextureStateManager -- Gone. Use SetTextureStageState().
TextureStateManagerCollection -- Gone.
VertexFormats -- No longer plural, use VertexFormat.

We have TechniqueDescription as well.

The RenderTo* bits will be put in soonish. However, the SH/PRT stuff, as well as the D3DX Mesh animation stuff, could be a long time coming.

Oh, one other thing I wanted to mention. That stupid bug where Dispose doesn't show up in Intellisense which has been affecting most builds for some time is finally fixed. Sometimes C++/CLI really just gets in the way. In any case, Dispose will show up correctly as a member now.

[Edited by - Promit on August 6, 2007 2:20:03 PM]

This is great news! I love to see this project progressing and it seems to be doing well :D

One thing I am a little fuzzy on: Why only a sumary of each class in the wiki documentation? Don't we need proper (complete, with ever details and examples) documentation for people that have little or no experience with (M)DX? Especially now that the MDX documentation is disappearing soon, I think it would be very usefull. And since it is a wiki, everyone can participate and make it even better than the original documentation (I would love to see some good examples on several topics that are not documented in any of Microsoft's documentation).

I am not sure I agree with you there. Sure, in the beginning its good to just focus on functionality, but as the library gets bigger and bigger it starts to make more and more sense to publish your own documentation/reference. Microsoft's documentation for native DirectX is very good, but I think it still makes sense to have at least a reference for each function/type/property.

I would be nice to at least see some setup code (you know the one that displays a triangle on the screen). Just so the newcomers can see it. I don't see the harm in it. Since it's a wiki, other people can post code and API documentation on what functions and classes do. Correct?

Quote:Original post by Alpha_ProgDes
I would be nice to at least see some setup code (you know the one that displays a triangle on the screen). Just so the newcomers can see it. I don't see the harm in it. Since it's a wiki, other people can post code and API documentation on what functions and classes do. Correct?

One of the sample apps is exactly that, a single coloured triangle, or do you mean have that code also posted on the wiki so users don't have to download it to see it? [smile]

I agree with Mike; if you don't feel like maintaining your own documentation, then perhaps you can make links to the MSDN for the methods/properties in your classes.