using VTK on distribted computing system

[Robert Benjamin Harris]

Hi there,

Some thoughts about your problem.

My current use of vtk is similar enough to yours that you might benefit
from knowing this solution. I had to get data from MATLAB to a vtk
simulation, however, unlike your sitution, both are running on the
same computer. But this solution could be extended to yours. To solve the
problem I used DDE. If your workstation OS uses DDE perhaps you
could use Net DDE--that is if your workstation uses Win95/98/NT, OS/2 or
Mac. If you want I can share more about the class I used to implement DDE
in my vtk program.

Depending on how important this is to you, even if your application
doesn't use the (simplistic) IPC mechanism of DDE or Net DDE, you can use
other libraries to ferry information. I have had good experiences with the
RogueWave Libraries. Their concept of virtual streams is really
well implemented. The streams are flexible enough to account for big and
little endian differences between platforms. The RW libraries also sport
ASCII and DDE streams!

Finally if your information is static, have you considered passing it via
the file system? This is admittedly an ugly solution but well trodden. 

Hope this helps,
Ben


On Fri, 27 Aug 1999, Bo YANG wrote:

> Thanks for your help.
> 
> What I want to do exactly is display the VTK window
> in my MFC windows program. I am using VC ++ 5.0 to bulid
> my MFC project, and I want to show the VTK window in one
> window of my program, while the main caltulation is done
> by the WorkStation connected with my PC. Alough I can get
> the remote display from the X_WinPro, but how can I put
> the remote display into my MFC windows?
> 
> It seems that I need to rewrite all the rendering functions of VTK,
> putting the calculation part on the workstation. After the calculating,
> the result data is sent to my PC and the MFC program use the data to
> show the window. This is just what I am thinking. Can someone having
> this kind of experience tell me some details about it and whether I can
> realize it.
> 
> Thanks in advanced.
> 
>     Bo Yang,
>     Remote displays are trivial with Unix but almost impossible with
> windows.   You could get an X client which runs on windows and then do a
> remote display from your workstation.    If you mean by "PC" a pentium class
> machine, then I recommend you put Linux on it and go from there.    Of
> course, I am biased... Windows taught me to hate it while I tried get real
> work done without spending a fortune.     Windows put up such a resistence
> to doing real work that it convinced me to look elsewhere... which led me to
> Unix on the PC.
>     If you are required to use Win32 because of policy or preference, then
> there are two products that I know of which will allow you to do what you
> want.
>     You can try X-WinPro (www.labf.com) which runs an X server on your PC or
> you could try the MKS Toolkit (www.datafocus.com/products/tks)     I haven't
> used these, but I have used products like them.  Usually you take a bit of a
> performance hit because incoming X calls are translated to their Windows
> counterparts.
> 
>     Good Luck
> 
> 
> 



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