VTK/Examples/Cxx/IO/FindAllArrayNames

This example shows how to find out the names of all of the data arrays stored in a vtkPolyData.

FindAllArrayNames.cxx

#include <vtkSmartPointer.h>
#include <vtkPolyData.h>
#include <vtkPointData.h>
#include <vtkCellData.h>
#include <vtkXMLPolyDataReader.h>
#include <vtkSphereSource.h>
#include <vtkCubeSource.h>
#include <vtkXMLPolyDataWriter.h>
 
#include <vector>
#include <string>
 
void FindAllData(vtkPolyData* polydata);
 
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
  vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyData> polydata =
    vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyData>::New();
 
  if(argc < 2)
    {
    vtkSmartPointer<vtkSphereSource> sphereSource =
      vtkSmartPointer<vtkSphereSource>::New();
    sphereSource->Update();
    vtkSmartPointer<vtkXMLPolyDataWriter> writer =
      vtkSmartPointer<vtkXMLPolyDataWriter>::New();
    writer->SetFileName("test.vtp");
    writer->SetInputConnection(sphereSource->GetOutputPort());
    writer->Write();
 
    polydata = sphereSource->GetOutput();
    }
  else
    {
    vtkSmartPointer<vtkXMLPolyDataReader> reader =
      vtkSmartPointer<vtkXMLPolyDataReader>::New();
    reader->SetFileName(argv[1]);
    reader->Update();
    polydata = reader->GetOutput();
    }
 
  FindAllData(polydata);
 
  return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}
 
void FindAllData(vtkPolyData* polydata)
{
  std::cout << "Normals: " << polydata->GetPointData()->GetNormals() << std::endl;
 
  vtkIdType numberOfPointArrays = polydata->GetPointData()->GetNumberOfArrays();
  std::cout << "Number of PointData arrays: " << numberOfPointArrays << std::endl;
 
  vtkIdType numberOfCellArrays = polydata->GetCellData()->GetNumberOfArrays();
  std::cout << "Number of CellData arrays: " << numberOfCellArrays << std::endl;
 
  std::cout << "Type table/key: " << std::endl;;
  //more values can be found in <VTK_DIR>/Common/vtkSetGet.h
  std::cout << VTK_UNSIGNED_CHAR << " unsigned char" << std::endl;
  std::cout << VTK_UNSIGNED_INT << " unsigned int" << std::endl;
  std::cout << VTK_FLOAT << " float" << std::endl;
  std::cout << VTK_DOUBLE << " double" << std::endl;
 
  for(vtkIdType i = 0; i < numberOfPointArrays; i++)
    {
    // The following two lines are equivalent
    //arrayNames.push_back(polydata->GetPointData()->GetArray(i)->GetName());
    //arrayNames.push_back(polydata->GetPointData()->GetArrayName(i));
    int dataTypeID = polydata->GetPointData()->GetArray(i)->GetDataType();
    std::cout << "Array " << i << ": " << polydata->GetPointData()->GetArrayName(i)
              << " (type: " << dataTypeID << ")" << std::endl;
    }
 
  for(vtkIdType i = 0; i < numberOfCellArrays; i++)
    {
    // The following two lines are equivalent
    //polydata->GetPointData()->GetArray(i)->GetName();
    //polydata->GetPointData()->GetArrayName(i);
    int dataTypeID = polydata->GetCellData()->GetArray(i)->GetDataType();
    std::cout << "Array " << i << ": " << polydata->GetCellData()->GetArrayName(i)
              << " (type: " << dataTypeID << ")" << std::endl;
    }
}

Please try the new VTKExamples website.

CMakeLists.txt

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)

PROJECT(FindAllArrayNames)

find_package(VTK REQUIRED)
include(${VTK_USE_FILE})

add_executable(FindAllArrayNames MACOSX_BUNDLE FindAllArrayNames.cxx)

if(VTK_LIBRARIES)
  target_link_libraries(FindAllArrayNames ${VTK_LIBRARIES})
else()
  target_link_libraries(FindAllArrayNames vtkHybrid vtkWidgets)
endif()

Download and Build FindAllArrayNames

Click here to download FindAllArrayNames. and its CMakeLists.txt file.

Once the tarball FindAllArrayNames.tar has been downloaded and extracted,

cd FindAllArrayNames/build 

• If VTK is installed:

cmake ..

• If VTK is not installed but compiled on your system, you will need to specify the path to your VTK build:

cmake -DVTK_DIR:PATH=/home/me/vtk_build ..

Build the project:

make

and run it:

./FindAllArrayNames

WINDOWS USERS PLEASE NOTE: Be sure to add the VTK bin directory to your path. This will resolve the VTK dll's at run time.