Current best practice for compiling pixel shaders in WPF? - wpf

Question

I'd like to color some icons in a WPF application using a pixel shader. However, when I go to get the DirectX SDK to get fxc, I see that it's deprecated -- I find links to DirectX11 and the new "Effects" system in WPF. However, that seems to be deprecated as well.
I'm wondering: what is the current practice to get a pixel shader into WPF? For context (though this shouldn't matter technically), I'm using a Prism/Unity-based MVVM architecture, so I'd like to eventually handle these colors through XAML binding.
I see alot of people using SlimDX, but I'd really like to avoid introducing yet another library dependency into my application.

Answer 1

The DirectX SDK was merged into the Windows SDK back when Windows 8 was released [source], which is where you can find the newer versions of FXC.

Answer 2

Took me a few hours to get find a solution so i wanted to share it:
Visual Studio:
Add below batch script to Project(right click Project in the Solution Explorer Window)>Properties>BuildEvents>"Pre-build event command line:"-field) and adapt the path.
echo COMPILING SHADERS:
set Compiler=C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.18362.0\x86\fxc.exe
set OutputFile=$(ProjectDir)Resources\SearchColorFilter.ps
set InputFile=$(ProjectDir)Resources\SearchColorFilter.fx
"%Compiler%" /O0 /Fc /Zi /T ps_2_0 /Fo "%OutputFile%" "%InputFile%"
here is an Example of a pixel shader, it replaces magenta-like colors with white, keeps yellow and greys out the rest
SearchColorFilter.ps:
sampler2D implicitInputSampler : register(S0);
float filterControl : register(C0);
float4 main(float2 uv : TEXCOORD) : COLOR{
float4 color = tex2D(implicitInputSampler, uv);
if (filterControl == 1) {
//modify magenta tint into white, Magenta: float4(1,0,1,1)
if (color.r > 0.35 && color.g < 0.2 && color.b > 0.35) return float4(color.r, color.r * 0.5 + color.b * 0.5, color.b, 1);//MAGENTA-->WHITE
//keep yellow, Yellow: float4(1,0,1,1)
if (color.r > 0.35 && color.g > 0.35 && color.b < 0.2) return color;//YELLOW-->YELLOW
//grey out rest
return float4(color.r * 0.5, color.g * 0.5, color.b * 0.5, color.a);//OTHER -> HALF VALUE (= grey out)
}
return color;
}
Don't forget to:
add the created .ps-file to your project via the Solution Explorer and set its Build Action to "Resource"
save the .fx file with correct Encoding: "US-ASCII - Codepage 20127"
BONUS:
In order to apply a shader to an UIElement, this can be done by creating a class
SearchColorFilter.cs:
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Media.Effects;
public class SearchColorFilter : ShaderEffect
{
static SearchColorFilter()
{
var uri = MakePackUri("Resources/SearchColorFilter.ps");
_pixelShader.UriSource = uri;
}
private static PixelShader _pixelShader = new PixelShader();
public SearchColorFilter()
{
this.PixelShader = _pixelShader;
UpdateShaderValue(InputProperty);
UpdateShaderValue(FilterControlProperty);
}
public Brush Input
{
get { return (Brush)GetValue(InputProperty); }
set { SetValue(InputProperty, value); }
}
public static readonly System.Windows.DependencyProperty InputProperty =
ShaderEffect.RegisterPixelShaderSamplerProperty("Input", typeof(SearchColorFilter), 0);
public double FilterControl
{
get { return (double)GetValue(FilterControlProperty); }
set { SetValue(FilterControlProperty, value); }
}
public static System.Uri MakePackUri(string relativeFile)
{
System.Reflection.Assembly a = typeof(SearchColorFilter).Assembly;
string assemblyShortName = a.ToString().Split(',')[0];
string uriString = "pack://application:,,,/" + assemblyShortName + ";component/" + relativeFile;
return new System.Uri(uriString);
}
public static readonly DependencyProperty FilterControlProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register("FilterControl", typeof(double), typeof(SearchColorFilter),
new UIPropertyMetadata(0.0d, PixelShaderConstantCallback(0)));
}
Now you can assign the shader to any UIElement using
SearchColorFilter recolorShader = new SearchColorFilter();
recolorShader.FilterControl = 1;
MyUIElement.Effect = recolorShader;