[vtk-developers] QVTKWidget

[Wylie, Brian]

All,

There are several QT/VTK widgets out there and I've tried them all...

We have a guy working with us.. Clinton Stimpson from ElemTech and he
has put together a very nice implementation that IMHO is superior to
other implementations....blah...blah...blah...

Anyway I would like to add the class to VTK, and will do so in a couple
days unless I here otherwise.

Here's a description from Clint...

QVTKWidget is a package which allows putting a vtkRenderWindow in a Qt 
GUI.  I know there are already a bunch out there, but I didn't like any 
of them.  I thought they were too complicated and awkward for such a 
simple problem.  And also, VTK doesn't have any examples of using a Qt 
GUI with VTK as it does with MFC and others.

To be consistent with the other GUI/VTK integration packages/examples.
I'd probably recommend putting QVTKWidget in VTK/Examples/GUI/Qt along 
with a few examples of using it.
On the otherhand, it is more than just an example as it is usable in 
several projects as-is without any changes.
So, perhaps it goes under Utilities with an option to build it.

It's design is more Qt-ish design than other Qt/VTK packages.  As a 
result, better Qt integration is possible.
The design philosophy is to let VTK do what it does best and let Qt do 
what it does best.  The class name starts with 'Q' to emphasize the 
Qt-ishness of it.

The design allows the following features:
1. Has a designer plugin for rapid development of GUI's using VTK.
2. Significantly less code than other Qt/VTK packages.
3. Can even use the same widget class with image viewer classes in VTK.
4. Instead of using Qt's opengl extension, it uses VTK to initialize the

windows.  As a result, QVTKWidget is "device independent".  For example,

on Unix, one can use Mangled Mesa or OpenGL without rebuilding 
QVTKWidget and use them concurrently in the same application.

Other features include
1. Works with all of VTK such as, 3d widgets, interactor styles, scroll 
wheel events, etc..
2. Works and tested on Windows, Linux, MacOSX, HP-UX, IRIX, SunOS.
3. Supports reparenting (either at the Qt level, or by swapping 
instances of vtkRenderWindow).
4. Works with Qt3 and Qt4 (preview 2).

There are also some examples in using it.

*Note:  For the MacOSX, there are some exceptions.  I made some AppleGL 
calls to make up for deficiencies in VTK and Qt3.  With Qt4, HIViews can

be used, but VTK isn't ready for that yet.  Once VTK's deficiencies are 
removed, then most of the MacOSX specific code goes away.


	Brian Wylie
	Sandia National Laboratories
	MS 0822 - Org 9227 - Building 880/A1-J
      (505) 844-2238   FAX (505) 845-0833