VTK/Examples/Cxx/PolyData/MiscCellData

This demo attaches a double to a cell (triangle) in a polydata.

MiscCellData.cxx

#include <vtkVersion.h>
#include <vtkCellData.h>
#include <vtkSmartPointer.h>
#include <vtkCellArray.h>
#include <vtkDoubleArray.h>
#include <vtkTriangle.h>
#include <vtkPoints.h>
#include <vtkPolyData.h>
#include <vtkXMLPolyDataWriter.h>

int main(int, char *[])
{
  // We will write the resulting file to Test.vtp so it can be inspected in Paraview
  std::string outputFilename = "output.vtp";

  // Setup 3 points
  vtkSmartPointer<vtkPoints> points = 
    vtkSmartPointer<vtkPoints>::New();
  points->InsertNextPoint(1.0, 0.0, 0.0);
  points->InsertNextPoint(0.0, 0.0, 0.0);
  points->InsertNextPoint(0.0, 1.0, 0.0);

  // Create a triangle
  vtkSmartPointer<vtkTriangle> triangle = 
    vtkSmartPointer<vtkTriangle>::New();
  triangle->GetPointIds()->SetId(0,0);
  triangle->GetPointIds()->SetId(1,1);
  triangle->GetPointIds()->SetId(2,2);
  
  // Add the triangle to a cell array
  vtkSmartPointer<vtkCellArray> triangles = 
    vtkSmartPointer<vtkCellArray>::New();
  triangles->InsertNextCell(triangle);

  // Setup data for the triangle. Attach a value of 1.45.
  // This can be anything you wish to store with it)
  vtkSmartPointer<vtkDoubleArray> triangleData = 
    vtkSmartPointer<vtkDoubleArray>::New();
  triangleData->SetNumberOfComponents(1); //we will have only 1 value associated with the triangle
  triangleData->SetName("TriangleData"); //set the name of the value
  triangleData->InsertNextValue(1.45); //set the actual value

  // Create a polydata that contains the points, 
  // the triangle on those points, and the data 
  // array (value) we created for the triangle
  vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyData> polydata = 
    vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyData>::New();
  polydata->SetPoints(points);
  polydata->SetPolys(triangles);
  polydata->GetCellData()->AddArray(triangleData);

  // Write the file
  vtkSmartPointer<vtkXMLPolyDataWriter> writer = 
    vtkSmartPointer<vtkXMLPolyDataWriter>::New();
#if VTK_MAJOR_VERSION <= 5
  writer->SetInput(polydata);
#else
  writer->SetInputData(polydata);
#endif
  writer->SetFileName(outputFilename.c_str());
  writer->Write();

  return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

Please try the new VTKExamples website.

CMakeLists.txt

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)

PROJECT(MiscCellData)

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

add_executable(MiscCellData MACOSX_BUNDLE MiscCellData.cxx)

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

Download and Build MiscCellData

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

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

cd MiscCellData/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:

./MiscCellData

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.