[vtkusers] extending the graphics subsystem

[Will Schroeder]

Hi Wolfram-

At 10:54 PM 8/21/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>What are my options for extending a vtk binary installation?
>All I want to do is modify a few vtk classes.
>I can write my application to use a new class name or use the
>original class name, it does not matter to me.

I'm assuming that you want to extend vtk with C++.

The simplest thing to do is to create a new class with a new name.
It can inherit from an existing class if necessary. Just create the
appropriate .h/.cxx in your application (which will most likely
include some vtk .h files and of course will link into the vtk
libraries). This way your new class will not be in vtk, but rather will
exist in your application.

I've done this many times. Object factories work great also, but are
a little trickier to use.

Will



>The vtk3.1 Users Guide p202 says "If you want to extend the graphics
>subsystem, see Chapter 12 'Extending The Graphics System' on page 291."
>This must be a misprint because I can not find it in the guide.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll check into this.

Will