[Paraview] Reader Plugin Dev: "NA" extents & how to print debug messages?

[Peter Schmitt]

Thanks Burlen!  `this->DebugOn()` helped me find the problems with my plugin
reader.

Cheers,
Pete

On Tue, Nov 9, 2010 at 4:32 PM, burlen <burlen.loring at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Peter,
>
> To use the vtkDebugMacro, do a "this->DebugOn()" in your constructor.
>
> You could just use cerr if you are Linux/mac and launch paraview/pvserver
> from a terminal.  Doing a "output->Print(cerr);" at the end of request data
> would prove that you did what you think.
>
> You could use vtkErrorMacro to get stuff into PV 's window.
>
> Burlen
>
>
> Peter Schmitt wrote:
>
>> Hi ParaViewers,
>>
>> (Sorry if this double-posts!)
>>
>> I am writing a ParaView Reader Plugin to get my data into ParaView via a
>> vtkStructuredGrid object.  I can load my plugin into ParaView via "Manage
>> Plugins".  My file type shows up in the "File-> Open" dialog.  When
>> PV_PLUGIN_DEBUG is set, the "Output Messages" window shows that the library
>> was loaded successfully.
>>
>> When I select a file and click "Apply" in the object inspector, Paraview
>> thinks for a split second before returning to an interactive state.
>>  However, no data appears & the "Information" tab of the object inspector
>> sets nCells = 0; nPoints = 0; Memory = 0 MB and the X,Y,Z extents are "NA".
>>
>> My plugin reader derives from "vtkStructuredGridReader" and implements:
>>
>> * SetFileName
>> * GetFileName
>> * CanReadFile * RequestInformation, where I set the extents via:
>>  outInfo->Set(vtkStreamingDemandDrivenPipeline::WHOLE_EXTENT(),extent,6);
>> * RequestData, where I obtain a vtkStructuredGrid via:
>>  vtkStructuredGrid *output =
>>
>>  vtkStructuredGrid::SafeDownCast(outInfo->Get(vtkDataObject::DATA_OBJECT()));
>>
>> I am not sure why the "Information" tab is showing an empty structured
>> grid.  My questions are:
>>
>> 1.  How can I print debugging messages to stdout or Paraview's own "Output
>> Messages" window?  Specifically, I'd like to make sure that my X,Y,Z extents
>> are being read properly from file.   I tried vtkDebugMacro, but the data
>> isn't being printed.
>>
>> 2.  Have I implemented the appropriate functions that derive from
>> vtkStructuredGridReader?
>> 3.  Should I derive instead from another class?  When I derive from
>> vtkStructuredGridAlgorithm, I get three error messages from
>> vtkCompositeDataPipeline:  "Input port 0 of algorithm
>> vtkLFMReader(0x11f98a720) has 0 connections but is not optional".
>>
>> Can you offer any hints of how I can proceed to debug my reader?
>>
>> Thanks!
>> Pete
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