Web/API/WebGLRenderingContext/drawElements

The WebGLRenderingContext.drawElements() method of the WebGL API renders primitives from array data.

Syntax

void gl.drawElements(mode, count, type, offset);

Parameters

mode: A GLenum specifying the type primitive to render. Possible values are:

gl.POINTS

Draws a single dot.
gl.LINE_STRIP: Draws a straight line to the next vertex.
gl.LINE_LOOP: Draws a straight line to the next vertex, and connects the last vertex back to the first.
gl.LINES: Draws a line between a pair of vertices.
gl.TRIANGLE_STRIP
gl.TRIANGLE_FAN
gl.TRIANGLES: Draws a triangle for a group of three vertices.

count: A GLsizei specifying the number of elements to be rendered.
type: A GLenum specifying the type of the values in the element array buffer. Possible values are:

gl.UNSIGNED_BYTE gl.UNSIGNED_SHORT When using the OES_element_index_uint extension:

gl.UNSIGNED_INT

offset: A GLintptr specifying a byte offset in the element array buffer. Must be a valid multiple of the size of the given type.

Return value

None.

Exceptions

If mode is not one of the accepted values, a gl.INVALID_ENUM error is thrown.
If offset is not a valid multiple of the size of the given type, a gl.INVALID_OPERATION error is thrown.
If count is negative, a gl.INVALID_VALUE error is thrown.

Examples

gl.drawElements(gl.POINTS, 8, gl.UNSIGNED_BYTE, 0);

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
WebGL 1.0The definition of 'drawElements' in that specification.	Recommendation	Initial definition.
OpenGL ES 2.0The definition of 'glDrawElements' in that specification.	Standard	Man page of the OpenGL API.

Browser compatibility

The compatibility table in this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
`drawElements`	Chrome Full support 9	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 4	IE Full support 11	Opera Full support 12	Safari Full support 5.1	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support 25	Firefox Android Full support Yes	Opera Android Full support 12	Safari iOS Full support 8	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.5

Legend

Full support: Full support