Possible to create a ParaView plugin for a non-module based VTK library?

Development
1

Hi,

I want to create a new reader in a modular way:

  1. usable as a C++ library
  2. expose the main functionalities to Python
  3. create a ParaView plugin for it

Before implementing the main logic – reading our mesh format into a vtkUnstructuredGrid object – I plan to set up the overall project structure.

Until now, step 1 above is done. Since the reader is simple, I opted for the old way of linking with VTK, i.e simply.

target_link_libraries(my_lib PUBLIC VTK::CommonDataModel)

as demonstrated in the UsingVTK example, instead of using the newer VTK module system.

On the other hand, when I want to create a ParaView plugin (step 3 above), I only encountered examples in which the VTK module system is used.

Questions:

  1. Can I create a ParaView plugin for a non-module based VTK system?
  2. In my specific case, what advantages would the VTK module system bring with respect to the older way of building?

Thank you.

2

No

what advantages would the VTK module system bring with respect to the older way of building?

It would work :slight_smile:

See plugin examples here: https://gitlab.kitware.com/paraview/paraview/-/tree/master/Examples/Plugins?ref_type=heads

3

OK, thanks. :slight_smile:

See plugin examples here

Yes, that’s what I was looking at, especially the ComplexPluginArchitecture example.

4

Well, as its name indicate, you dont want to do that unless you have a complex architecture, specifically where you have a VTK module which multiple plugins depends on.

I suggest ElevationFilter for a simpler example.

1 Like
5

You could have a module-less plugin if you only add Qt widgets or the like. But anything that needs ClientServer wrapping needs a module as the module system provides a lot of extra metadata about how to properly wrap it (including, but not limited to, things like other dependencies that may need loaded and which headers to wrap).