Add option to save validation messages to a text file

Author: SaschaWillems

base/VulkanDebug.cpp

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /*
  * Vulkan examples debug wrapper
  *
- * 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)
  */
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ namespace vks
 {
 	namespace debug
 	{
+		bool logToFile{ false };
+
 		PFN_vkCreateDebugUtilsMessengerEXT vkCreateDebugUtilsMessengerEXT;
 		PFN_vkDestroyDebugUtilsMessengerEXT vkDestroyDebugUtilsMessengerEXT;
 		VkDebugUtilsMessengerEXT debugUtilsMessenger;
@@ -73,6 +75,12 @@ namespace vks
 			} else {
 				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();
+			}
 			fflush(stdout);
 #endif
 

base/VulkanDebug.h

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /*
  * Vulkan examples debug wrapper
  *
- * 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)
  */
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ namespace vks
 {
 	namespace debug
 	{
+		extern bool logToFile;
+
 		// Default debug callback
 		VKAPI_ATTR VkBool32 VKAPI_CALL debugUtilsMessageCallback(
 			VkDebugUtilsMessageSeverityFlagBitsEXT messageSeverity,

base/vulkanexamplebase.cpp

@@ -793,6 +793,7 @@ 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("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");
@@ -821,6 +822,13 @@ VulkanExampleBase::VulkanExampleBase()
 	if (commandLineParser.isSet("validation")) {
 		settings.validation = true;
 	}
+	if (commandLineParser.isSet("validationlog")) {
+		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;
 	}