# Adding a reader plugin via VisIt Bridge
**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/adding-a-reader-plugin-via-visit-bridge/2177
**Category:** Development
**Created:** [July 8, 2019, 11:54am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/adding-a-reader-plugin-via-visit-bridge/2177 "2019-07-08T11:54:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@bfovet](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/bfovet)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2019, 11:54am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/adding-a-reader-plugin-via-visit-bridge/2177/1 "2019-07-08T11:54:42Z")
Hello,
I’ve got a VisIt database plugin that i’d like to add to Paraview (which I built from source with PARAVIEW\_USE\_VISITBRIDGE=ON and Boost\_INCLUDE\_DIR is set).
In my plugin directory, I created a CMakeLists.txt similar to the one here : [https://www.paraview.org/Wiki/VisIt\_Database\_Bridge#Custom\_Plugin\_of\_VisIt\_Reader](https://www.paraview.org/Wiki/VisIt_Database_Bridge#Custom_Plugin_of_VisIt_Reader)
Except I get this error when configuring I don’t know how to solve :
```
CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:14 (ADD_VISIT_PLUGIN_READER):
Unknown CMake command "ADD_VISIT_PLUGIN_READER".
```
Does anyone know what I’m missing ?
Thanks
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2019, 11:55am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/adding-a-reader-plugin-via-visit-bridge/2177/2 "2019-07-08T11:55:29Z")
Which version of ParaView are you using ?
---
### Author:  [@bfovet](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/bfovet)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2019, 11:56am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/adding-a-reader-plugin-via-visit-bridge/2177/3 "2019-07-08T11:56:49Z")
Version 5.6.0
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2019, 11:59am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/adding-a-reader-plugin-via-visit-bridge/2177/4 "2019-07-08T11:59:52Z")
Did you try first to use the example visit plugin from paraview sources :
`Examples/Plugins/VisItReader/`
---
### Author:  [@bfovet](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/bfovet)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2019, 12:17pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/adding-a-reader-plugin-via-visit-bridge/2177/5 "2019-07-08T12:17:25Z")
I just did, and I the same thing happens. So I guess my custom installation must be the problem.
---
### Author:  [@ben.boeckel](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/ben.boeckel)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2019, 2:52pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/adding-a-reader-plugin-via-visit-bridge/2177/6 "2019-07-08T14:52:34Z")
That example plugin has been commented out for a long time (last touched in 2012 and it was commented before that too). I suspect that ParaView is not making the required CMake API available to external consumers (likely true on `master` as well). However, on `master`, the required CMake code is a lot cleaner and we can look at making it available. This would involve some work since the code ultimately assumes that there is only one consumer of the global properties used by the API (which is not a valid assumption for installed CMake APIs).
---
### Author:  [@cessenat](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/cessenat)
#### Post date: [September 8, 2021, 12:18pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/adding-a-reader-plugin-via-visit-bridge/2177/8 "2021-09-08T12:18:38Z")
I encounter the same problem.
I installed Paraview on Ubuntu 21 using sudo apt install paraview and then all the apt dev packages required by cmake. Then it fails on:
```auto
> CMake Deprecation Warning at /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/cmake/paraview-5.9/paraview-use-file-deprecated.cmake:1 (message):
> The `PARAVIEW_USE_FILE` is no longer used starting with 5.7.
> Call Stack (most recent call first):
> CMakeLists.txt:8 (INCLUDE)
>
>
> CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:14 (ADD_VISIT_PLUGIN_READER):
> Unknown CMake command "ADD_VISIT_PLUGIN_READER".
>
>
> -- Configuring incomplete, errors occurred!
```
Then I tried to build paraview from sources (with an enhanced version of the paraview spack package.py). I failed to make the bridge:
```auto
-- Generating done
CMake Warning:
Manually-specified variables were not used by the project:
BOOST_LIBRARY_DIR
BOOST_ROOT
Boost_INCLUDE_DIR
MPI_Fortran_COMPILER
PARAVIEW_ENABLE_EXAMPLES
PARAVIEW_QT_VERSION
PARAVIEW_USE_VISITBRIDGE
PYTHON_EXECUTABLE
SILO_INCLUDE_DIR
SILO_LIBRARY
SILO_LIBRARY_DIR
```
Is this feature abandoned or is there a pointer to a newer documentation ?
Thanks in advance.
Olivier Cessenat
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2021, 9:33am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/adding-a-reader-plugin-via-visit-bridge/2177/9 "2021-09-15T09:33:47Z")
@nicolas.vuaille
---
### Author:  [@nicolas.vuaille](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/nicolas.vuaille)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2021, 12:05pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/adding-a-reader-plugin-via-visit-bridge/2177/10 "2021-09-15T12:05:52Z")
This feature is indeed unavailable / unimplemented for now. Some dev were started on VisItBridge ([https://gitlab.kitware.com/paraview/visitbridge/-/merge\_requests/83](https://gitlab.kitware.com/paraview/visitbridge/-/merge_requests/83)) to reintroduce it, but it was never merged due to lack of human resources 🙂
---
### Author:  [@cessenat](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/cessenat)
#### Post date: [September 15, 2021, 3:45pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/adding-a-reader-plugin-via-visit-bridge/2177/11 "2021-09-15T15:45:03Z")
Thanks a lot for you feedback.
Well, if it were to be reactivated, I would be interested, this would help me to try ParaView with Silo files.
---
### Author:  [@nicolas.vuaille](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/nicolas.vuaille)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2021, 7:06am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/adding-a-reader-plugin-via-visit-bridge/2177/12 "2021-09-16T07:06:47Z")
also note that if you are ready to build ParaView itself, there is cmake options to build Silo support:
- `PARAVIEW_ENABLE_VISIT_BRIDGE` to globally enable VisIt readers
- then `VISIT_BRIDGE_READER_Silo` to explictily enable Silo
---
### Author:  [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [September 16, 2021, 10:02am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/adding-a-reader-plugin-via-visit-bridge/2177/13 "2021-09-16T10:02:20Z")
Let us know if you want to contribute to this effort.
> [@How are features and bug fixes incorporated into ParaView?](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/how-are-features-and-bug-fixes-incorporated-into-paraview/4735):
>
> As with all open source projects, adding features and fixing bugs takes developer effort. That effort may originate from volunteer community contributors, or through paid professional services offered by companies like [Kitware](https://www.kitware.com). Features and bug fixes are prioritized by the needs of contributing community members and by professional services customers. Note that contributions are vetted by a rigorous community review and testing process; therefore it is recommended that significant changes are d…
---
### Author:  [@cessenat](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/cessenat)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2021, 1:20pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/adding-a-reader-plugin-via-visit-bridge/2177/14 "2021-09-17T13:20:20Z")
Thanks for that but I failed to make it work still.
With 5.9.1 I get
```auto
CMake Warning:
Manually-specified variables were not used by the project:
BOOST_LIBRARY_DIR
BOOST_ROOT
Boost_INCLUDE_DIR
MPI_Fortran_COMPILER
PARAVIEW_ENABLE_EXAMPLES
PARAVIEW_ENABLE_VISIT_BRIDGE
PARAVIEW_QT_VERSION
PARAVIEW_USE_VISITBRIDGE
PYTHON_EXECUTABLE
SILO_INCLUDE_DIR
SILO_LIBRARY
SILO_LIBRARY_DIR
VISIT_BRIDGE_READER_Silo
```
---
### Author:  [@cessenat](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/cessenat)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2021, 1:24pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/adding-a-reader-plugin-via-visit-bridge/2177/15 "2021-09-17T13:24:10Z")
I could contribute testing the feature:
- reading a Silo database from ParaView,
- testing a VisIt plugin in ParaView (I’ve got 2 that I could try),
Then I could also contribute
- cheking the documentation,
- French translation.
But contributing as a developper is another story, now I am not be able to do that.
---
### Author:  [@cessenat](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/cessenat)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2021, 1:31pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/adding-a-reader-plugin-via-visit-bridge/2177/16 "2021-09-17T13:31:17Z")
And with git master I get a basic error
```auto
1 error found in build log:
129 -- Looking for finite - found
130 -- Looking for fenv.h
131 -- Looking for fenv.h - found
132 -- Looking for feenableexcept
133 -- Looking for feenableexcept - found
134 -- Could NOT find ExprTk (missing: ExprTk_INCLUDE_DIR) (Required is at least version "2.7")
>> 135 CMake Error at VTK/CMake/vtkModule.cmake:4371 (message):
136 Could not find the ExprTk external dependency.
137 Call Stack (most recent call first):
138 VTK/CMake/vtkModule.cmake:4965 (vtk_module_find_package)
139 VTK/CMake/vtkModule.cmake:4836 (vtk_module_third_party_external)
140 VTK/ThirdParty/exprtk/CMakeLists.txt:1 (vtk_module_third_party)
141
```