[vtk-developers] Patch for vtkHierarchicalBoxDataSet

[Matthew Turk]

Hi there,

I'm a developer of an analysis toolkit for Adaptive Mesh Refinement
data, and we're very interested in using VTK as a means of exploring
that data.  After browsing through the various available classes and
means of accessing this data, as well as reading over the plans for
inclusion in the future, it seemed to us that our best bet for
enabling this exploration now was to use the vtkHierarchicalBoxDataSet
interface.  In particular, we wanted a solution that would be
wrappable by Python, as our entry point will be via a Python-based
toolkit, probably through TVTK.

At first, we prepared a fairly extensive patch attempting to expose
vtkAMRBox as a vtkObject, implementing the various pure virtual
methods available there.  This would enable Python applications to
instantiate vtkAMRBoxes, set their properties, and feed them to the
existing vtkHierarchicalBoxDataSet::SetData(...) method.  However, the
reference counting was problematic, and it became clear that this
could be avoided by wrapping the creation of a vtkAMRBox.

The attached, rather modest, patch implements a new method
(vtkHierarchicalBoxDataSet::SetData(level, id, LoCorner, HiCorner,
dataSet) ) that accepts the metadata affiliated with a vtkAMRBox and
generates it inline to pass to the original, non-wrapped,
vtkHierarchicalBoxDataSet::SetData(...) .

I was hoping to have this considered for inclusion, as it would enable
us to have collaborators use an off-the-shelf VTK to visualize our
data.  If I can do anything to encourage its inclusion, please let me
know.

Thanks!

Matt Turk
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