Sligthly rework validation layer logging to tet file

Author: SaschaWillems

base/VulkanDebug.cpp

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ namespace vks
 	namespace debug
 	{
 		bool logToFile{ false };
+		std::string logFileName{ "validation_output.txt" };
 
 		PFN_vkCreateDebugUtilsMessengerEXT vkCreateDebugUtilsMessengerEXT;
 		PFN_vkDestroyDebugUtilsMessengerEXT vkDestroyDebugUtilsMessengerEXT;
@@ -31,25 +32,33 @@ namespace vks
 			if (messageSeverity & VK_DEBUG_UTILS_MESSAGE_SEVERITY_VERBOSE_BIT_EXT) {
 				prefix = "VERBOSE: ";
 #if defined(_WIN32)
-				prefix = "\033[32m" + prefix + "\033[0m";
+				if (!logToFile) {
+					prefix = "\033[32m" + prefix + "\033[0m";
+				}
 #endif
 			}
 			else if (messageSeverity & VK_DEBUG_UTILS_MESSAGE_SEVERITY_INFO_BIT_EXT) {
 				prefix = "INFO: ";
 #if defined(_WIN32)
-				prefix = "\033[36m" + prefix + "\033[0m";
+				if (!logToFile) {
+					prefix = "\033[36m" + prefix + "\033[0m";
+				}
 #endif
 			}
 			else if (messageSeverity & VK_DEBUG_UTILS_MESSAGE_SEVERITY_WARNING_BIT_EXT) {
 				prefix = "WARNING: ";
 #if defined(_WIN32)
-				prefix = "\033[33m" + prefix + "\033[0m";
+				if (!logToFile) {
+					prefix = "\033[33m" + prefix + "\033[0m";
+				}
 #endif
 			}
 			else if (messageSeverity & VK_DEBUG_UTILS_MESSAGE_SEVERITY_ERROR_BIT_EXT) {
 				prefix = "ERROR: ";
 #if defined(_WIN32)
-				prefix = "\033[31m" + prefix + "\033[0m";
+				if (!logToFile) {
+					prefix = "\033[31m" + prefix + "\033[0m";
+				}
 #endif
 			}
 
@@ -76,10 +85,7 @@ namespace vks
 				std::cout << debugMessage.str() << "\n\n";
 			}
 			if (logToFile) {
-				std::ofstream logfile;
-				logfile.open("validation.txt", std::ios_base::app);
-				logfile << debugMessage.str() << std::endl;
-				logfile.close();
+				log(debugMessage.str());
 			}
 			fflush(stdout);
 #endif
@@ -99,6 +105,18 @@ namespace vks
 			debugUtilsMessengerCI.pfnUserCallback = debugUtilsMessageCallback;
 		}
 
+		void log(std::string message)
+		{
+			if (logToFile) {
+				time_t timestamp;
+				time(&timestamp);				
+				std::ofstream logfile;
+				logfile.open(logFileName, std::ios_base::app);
+				logfile << strtok(ctime(&timestamp), "\n") << ": " << message << std::endl;
+				logfile.close();
+			}
+		}
+
 		void setupDebugging(VkInstance instance)
 		{
 			vkCreateDebugUtilsMessengerEXT = reinterpret_cast<PFN_vkCreateDebugUtilsMessengerEXT>(vkGetInstanceProcAddr(instance, "vkCreateDebugUtilsMessengerEXT"));

base/VulkanDebug.h

@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ namespace vks
 	namespace debug
 	{
 		extern bool logToFile;
+		extern std::string logFileName;
 
 		// Default debug callback
 		VKAPI_ATTR VkBool32 VKAPI_CALL debugUtilsMessageCallback(
@@ -49,6 +50,7 @@ namespace vks
 		void freeDebugCallback(VkInstance instance);
 		// Used to populate a VkDebugUtilsMessengerCreateInfoEXT with our example messenger function and desired flags
 		void setupDebugingMessengerCreateInfo(VkDebugUtilsMessengerCreateInfoEXT& debugUtilsMessengerCI);
+		void log(std::string message);
 	}
 
 	// Wrapper for the VK_EXT_debug_utils extension

base/vulkanexamplebase.cpp

@@ -802,7 +802,7 @@ VulkanExampleBase::VulkanExampleBase()
 	// Command line arguments
 	commandLineParser.add("help", { "--help" }, 0, "Show help");
 	commandLineParser.add("validation", { "-v", "--validation" }, 0, "Enable validation layers");
-	commandLineParser.add("validationlog", { "-vl", "--validationlog" }, 0, "Log validation messages to a textfile (validation.txt)");
+	commandLineParser.add("validationlogfile", { "-vl", "--validationlogfile" }, 0, "Log validation messages to a textfile");
 	commandLineParser.add("vsync", { "-vs", "--vsync" }, 0, "Enable V-Sync");
 	commandLineParser.add("fullscreen", { "-f", "--fullscreen" }, 0, "Start in fullscreen mode");
 	commandLineParser.add("width", { "-w", "--width" }, 1, "Set window width");
@@ -831,12 +831,8 @@ VulkanExampleBase::VulkanExampleBase()
 	if (commandLineParser.isSet("validation")) {
 		settings.validation = true;
 	}
-	if (commandLineParser.isSet("validationlog")) {
+	if (commandLineParser.isSet("validationlogfile")) {
 		vks::debug::logToFile = true;
-		std::ofstream logfile;
-		logfile.open("validation.txt", std::ios_base::app);
-		logfile << std::endl << "Sample: " << name <<  std::endl;
-		logfile.close();
 	}
 	if (commandLineParser.isSet("vsync")) {
 		settings.vsync = true;
@@ -1034,6 +1030,11 @@ bool VulkanExampleBase::initVulkan()
 	this->settings.validation = true;
 #endif
 
+	// Validation messages can be stored, e.g. to be used in external tools like CI/CD
+	if (commandLineParser.isSet("validationlogfile")) {
+		vks::debug::log("Sample: " + title);
+	}
+
 	// Create the instance
 	VkResult result = createInstance();
 	if (result != VK_SUCCESS) {

examples/computecullandlod/computecullandlod.cpp

@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ class VulkanExample : public VulkanExampleBase
 
 	VulkanExample() : VulkanExampleBase()
 	{
-		title = "Vulkan Example - Compute cull and lod";
+		title = "Compute cull and lod";
 		camera.type = Camera::CameraType::firstperson;
 		camera.setPerspective(60.0f, (float)width / (float)height, 0.1f, 512.0f);
 		camera.setTranslation(glm::vec3(0.5f, 0.0f, 0.0f));

examples/imgui/main.cpp

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /*
 * Vulkan Example - imGui (https://github.com/ocornut/imgui)
 *
-* Copyright (C) 2017-2024 by Sascha Willems - www.saschawillems.de
+* Copyright (C) 2017-2025 by Sascha Willems - www.saschawillems.de
 *
 * This code is licensed under the MIT license (MIT) (http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)
 */
@@ -567,7 +567,7 @@ class VulkanExample : public VulkanExampleBase
 
 	VulkanExample() : VulkanExampleBase()
 	{
-		title = "Vulkan Example - ImGui";
+		title = "User interfaces with ImGui";
 		camera.type = Camera::CameraType::lookat;
 		camera.setPosition(glm::vec3(0.0f, 0.0f, -4.8f));
 		camera.setRotation(glm::vec3(4.5f, -380.0f, 0.0f));

examples/textoverlay/textoverlay.cpp

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 * This sample renders a basic text overlay on top of a 3D scene that can be used e.g. for debug purposes
 * For a more complete GUI sample see the ImGui sample
 * 
-* Copyright (C) 2016-2024 by Sascha Willems - www.saschawillems.de
+* Copyright (C) 2016-2025 by Sascha Willems - www.saschawillems.de
 *
 * This code is licensed under the MIT license (MIT) (http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)
 */
@@ -462,7 +462,7 @@ class VulkanExample : public VulkanExampleBase
 
 	VulkanExample() : VulkanExampleBase()
 	{
-		title = "Vulkan Example - Text overlay";
+		title = "Text overlay";
 		camera.type = Camera::CameraType::lookat;
 		camera.setPosition(glm::vec3(0.0f, 0.0f, -2.5f));
 		camera.setRotation(glm::vec3(-25.0f, -0.0f, 0.0f));

examples/texturecubemaparray/texturecubemaparray.cpp

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 * This sample shows how load and render an cubemap array texture. A single image contains multiple cube maps.
 * The cubemap to be displayed is selected in the fragment shader
 *
-* Copyright (C) 2020-2023 by Sascha Willems - www.saschawillems.de
+* Copyright (C) 2020-2025 by Sascha Willems - www.saschawillems.de
 *
 * This code is licensed under the MIT license (MIT) (http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)
 */
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ class VulkanExample : public VulkanExampleBase
 
 	VulkanExample() : VulkanExampleBase()
 	{
-		title = "Cube map textures";
+		title = "Cube map texture arrays";
 		camera.type = Camera::CameraType::lookat;
 		camera.setPosition(glm::vec3(0.0f, 0.0f, -4.0f));
 		camera.setRotationSpeed(0.25f);

examples/triangle/triangle.cpp

@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ class VulkanExample : public VulkanExampleBase
 
 	VulkanExample() : VulkanExampleBase()
 	{
-		title = "Vulkan Example - Basic indexed triangle";
+		title = "Basic indexed triangle";
 		// To keep things simple, we don't use the UI overlay from the framework
 		settings.overlay = false;
 		// Setup a default look-at camera

examples/trianglevulkan13/trianglevulkan13.cpp

@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ class VulkanExample : public VulkanExampleBase
 
 	VulkanExample() : VulkanExampleBase()
 	{
-		title = "Vulkan Example - Basic indexed triangle using Vulkan 1.3";
+		title = "Basic indexed triangle using Vulkan 1.3";
 		// To keep things simple, we don't use the UI overlay from the framework
 		settings.overlay = false;
 		// Setup a default look-at camera

examples/vulkanscene/vulkanscene.cpp

@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 /*
 * Vulkan Demo Scene
 *
-* Don't take this a an example, it's more of a personal playground
+* Don't take this a an example, it's more of a playground
 *
-* Copyright (C) 2016-2023 by Sascha Willems - www.saschawillems.de
+* Copyright (C) 2016-2025 by Sascha Willems - www.saschawillems.de
 *
 * This code is licensed under the MIT license (MIT) (http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)
 */
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ class VulkanExample : public VulkanExampleBase
 
 	VulkanExample() : VulkanExampleBase()
 	{
-		title = "Vulkan Demo Scene (c) by Sascha Willems";
+		title = "Vulkan Demo Scene";
 		camera.type = Camera::CameraType::lookat;
 		//camera.flipY = true;
 		camera.setPosition(glm::vec3(0.0f, 0.0f, -3.75f));