[vtkusers] VTK graphical interface idea

[Matt Valerio]

Hello VTK Users,

I've just recently started learning VTK and am _very_ impressed with its
capabilities.

I see how the classes can be assembled into a graphical pipeline that go
from sources to data to actors to mappers to renderers to renderwindows.

So, I have an idea.  Take it for what it's worth, discuss it, ignore it,
I don't care.  Just throwing it out on the table for general consumption.

How about a "Visual VTK" graphical programming interface?  I've attached 
a picture of something I whipped up from the 
Examples/Tutorial/Step1/Cxx/Cone.cxx example (with a 
vtkRenderWindowInteractor tacked on.)

The program could perform all type checking for the interconnecting 
arrows so that you don't do something silly like connect the output of 
the vtkConeSource directly to the vtkRenderWindowInteractor.

Benefits of such a program:
-Would make constructing the VTK pipeline a snap
-Would reduce development time for simple applications
-Would decrease the learning curve for VTK and increase the user base 
(similar to LabVIEW, which made instrumentation control programming 
easily more accessible to scientists and researchers without any coding 
experience)

Possible feature ideas:
-The program could load XML-based data about the member functions of 
each class.  This XML data could be generated directly from the 
documentation.
-The classes could be grouped into menus.  To use a class just drag it 
onto the working area to create a block.  The block would show the type 
of class and let you give it a name.
-To add a member function to a block, just right-click and select one 
from a context menu.
-Program would perform all type checking between blocks.
-Program would output a .cpp code snippet.  Then that code snipped would 
only need slight modifications to turn into a fully-functioning application
-Program could show a preview window to show the output.
-Program would check to make sure all required member functions have 
been accessed correctly.  For example, the SetMapper() member function 
of a vtkActor would be added to the block as soon as it is dragged out 
of the menu.

Again, this is just an idea.  I taught myself how to use VTK over the 
last 2 weeks in my spare time, and am only a novice (so far).  I don't 
know a whole lot about GUI programming (I'm trying to learn wxWindows 
too), otherwise I would start writing some code for such an application. 
   If someone wants to take the idea and run with it, more power to you!


-Matt











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