[Paraview] Empty Object Properties - Custom Reader Plugin

Mon Apr 18 22:09:56 EDT 2011

Thanks a  lot, David.
Both you and Karl nailed my problem. I was not aware of the XML aspect at all by following
http://www.cmake.org/Wiki/ParaView/Plugin_HowTo#Adding_a_Reader
http://www.kitware.com/products/html/WritingAParaViewReaderPlug-in.html
which all stopped at exposing WHOLE_EXTENT(), SPACING(), and ORIGIN(). Maybe my experience can be crafted into an updated reader plugin tutorial?
Best,
x

-----Original Message-----
From: David E DeMarle [mailto:dave.demarle at kitware.com] 
Sent: Monday, April 18, 2011 5:46 PM
To: Xunlei Wu
Cc: kkoenig11 at web.de; paraview at paraview.org
Subject: Re: [Paraview] Empty Object Properties - Custom Reader Plugin

Do you have the XML to tell paraview to use those?

The AVS UCD entry in filters.xml has the following, the first is an information_only (ie readback) property that tells ParaView what the available arrays are, the sencond is a normal (ie write) property that tells ParaView how to tell which arrays to enable. With these, ParaVIew should create the selection widget on the Properties tab and then be able to call those Set methods you added to the reader.

     <StringVectorProperty
        name="CellArrayInfo"
        information_only="1">
        <ArraySelectionInformationHelper attribute_name="Cell"/>
     </StringVectorProperty>

     <StringVectorProperty
        name="CellArrayStatus"
        command="SetCellArrayStatus"
        number_of_elements="2"
        repeat_command="1"
        number_of_elements_per_command="2"
        element_types="2 0"
        information_property="CellArrayInfo"
        label="Cell Arrays">
       <ArraySelectionDomain name="array_list">
          <RequiredProperties>
             <Property name="CellArrayInfo" function="ArrayList"/>
          </RequiredProperties>
       </ArraySelectionDomain>
       <Documentation>
         This property contains a list of the cell-centered arrays to read.
       </Documentation>
     </StringVectorProperty>

David E DeMarle
Kitware, Inc.
R&D Engineer
28 Corporate Drive
Clifton Park, NY 12065-8662
Phone: 518-371-3971 x109

On Sat, Apr 16, 2011 at 5:50 AM, Xunlei Wu <xunlei at renci.org> wrote:
> Hi Karl,
>
> Thanks a lot for the tip. I followed vtkAVSucdReader.h/cxx and hoped to solve my issue. I understood vtkAVSucdReader:: CellDataArraySelection and vtkAVSucdReader ::PointDataArraySelection are responsible filling the "Cell/Point Array Status" window. However, I am not sure how these two arrays are interfaced. I have added these two arrays and corresponding access functions (Get/Set) in my reader class. I still do not see anything within "Cell/Point Array Status" window.
> FYI, my reader is a plugin class. Is AVSucdReader a plugin class as well? Thanks a lot for the help.
>
> Best,
> xunlei
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: kkoenig11 at web.de [mailto:kkoenig11 at web.de]
> Sent: Friday, March 25, 2011 7:11 AM
> To: Xunlei Wu
> Cc: paraview at paraview.org
> Subject: Re: [Paraview] Empty Object Properties - Custom Reader Plugin
>
> By the way, don't let yourself confuse by the fact that that 
> particular reader currently does only fill "Cell/Point Array Status" 
> for binary AVS UCD files (vtkdata-5.6.1.zip:Data/cellsnd.bin.inp), but 
> not for ASCII AVS UCD files (vtkdata-5.6.1.zip:Data/cellsnd.ascii.inp)
>
> Karl
>
>
> Karl König wrote, On 25.03.2011 12:04:
>> Xunlei,
>>
>> Have a look at VTK/IO/vtkAVSucdReader.{h,cxx}, that's a simple 
>> self-contained reader. You'll need to integrate everything (headers, 
>> methods, code blocks etc.) mentioning "DataArraySelection" into your reader.
>>
>> Karl
>>
>>
>> Xunlei Wu wrote, On 25.03.2011 11:59:
>>> Hi Karl,
>>> Exactly as you said!
>>> Where should I look? Thanks a lot.
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> xunlei
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: kkoenig11 at web.de [mailto:kkoenig11 at web.de]
>>> Sent: Friday, March 25, 2011 6:54 AM
>>> To: Xunlei Wu
>>> Cc: paraview at paraview.org
>>> Subject: Re: [Paraview] Empty Object Properties - Custom Reader 
>>> Plugin
>>>
>>> Xunlei,
>>>
>>> There is no auto-generation of GUI elements for the properties tab of a reader. Your reader has to populate the tab.
>>> Are you looking for something like "Cell/Point Array Status" to pop up in the properties tab? Like the VTU-XML Reader and many others offer?
>>> Such that you can select the variables to actually import or ignore while loading, respectively?
>>>
>>> Karl
>>>
>>>
>>> Xunlei Wu wrote, On 25.03.2011 11:32:
>>>> Hello,
>>>>
>>>> I still cannot figure out why I had such problem. Would you please help?
>>>> Thanks a lot.
>>>>
>>>> Best,
>>>>
>>>> xunlei
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> *From:*Xunlei Wu
>>>> *Sent:* Monday, March 21, 2011 8:22 PM
>>>> *To:* paraview at paraview.org
>>>> *Subject:* Empty Object Properties - Custom Reader Plugin
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Hello,
>>>>
>>>> I am writing a reader plugin for ParaView following examples in
>>>>
>>>> http://www.kitware.com/products/html/WritingAParaViewReaderPlug-in.
>>>> h
>>>> tm
>>>> l
>>>>
>>>> However, after the file metadata is read by ::RequestInformation(), 
>>>> there are no scalar attributes shown in "Object Inspector" -> 
>>>> "Properties" illustrated in Empty_Object_Inspector_Properties.PNG.
>>>> After click "Apply", ::RequestData() gets all the attribute data 
>>>> and displays the information in "Object Inspector" -> "Information" -> "Data Arrays"
>>>> table as shown in Updated_Object_Inspector_Information.PNG. After 
>>>> the data is read, "Properties" page is still empty. Would you 
>>>> please suggest what I should do? Any functions that I should 
>>>> implement or call in my reader class? Thanks a lot.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Best,
>>>>
>>>> xunlei
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
>>
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>
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