[vtkusers] vtk and .net, How?

[Abhishek]

Hi,

 

Is VTK functionality available from managed code specifically C# .Net? I
understand that one can write wrappers between managed and unmanaged code,
and I believe there is a MS thesis on doing that. However, I have concerns
advert to that:

 

1.	The slowdown resulting due data conversion layer. 
2.	Possible memory leaks, which might be hard to catch and correct
because of different memory management architectures. 
3.	Roadblocks in unmanaged-managed conversion because some data types
might not have managed equivalents. 
4.	Kitware provides wrappers for Java, TCL but not .Net, so lot of work
might be needed to write wrappers for the existing unmanaged API. 

 

Are my concerns legitimate? My requirement is that I want to use VTK as a
back-end for my product and a Windows-RAD tool as the front-end. My
alternatives for the front-end tools are:

 

1.	Visual C++ (MFC Style) 
2.	Visual Basic 
3.	.Net (C#, Visual Basic) 

 

If I use option #1 than I don't have to worry about managed-unmanaged
conversions and I can use VTK as it is. The problem here is that Visual C++
is not a rapid front-end development tool as compared to #2 and#3, esp. if I
use the Doc/View architecture. Problems with options #2 & #3 are that I
don't know if VTK can be used easily and efficiently. An early response
would be highly appreciated because I have to make a choice between IDL and
VTK as the API for visualization of our product and I really prefer VTK,
only if there is some sensible solution to my problems. Thanks,

 

Abhishek

 

 

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