Attempting to contribute to VTK open source

We use the Visualization Toolkit a lot around here to make standalone applications or to use in our CAVE. I usually write the applications in Python using wxPython, but sometimes the client needs an installer and a regular windows application, so I like to use Windows Forms in that case. To that end, I normally wrap VTK code in managed C++. There were, and still are, compiled wrappers provided by a group in Slovenia, but this seems to have been a masters thesis, and they never released the code.

It seemed like a great chance to contribute to the project, so I've created wrappers that could fold into the source tree.

• Managed C++ wrappers for VTK.
• Allow use in C#, managed C++, VB, and others.
• .NET 2.0 only, meaning Visual Studio 2005.
• Builds within the typical CMake build system for VTK.
• Includes a .NET Windows Forms Control for drag-and-drop in Visual Studio designer.

We'll have to see how successful these are. Because the CMake build system does not handle managed C++ projects, the build isn't entirely hands-free. Just before hitting Build in Visual Studio, the user has to execute a macro to convert the projects to managed code. That problem means this wrapper couldn't be built in nightly dashboard tests. I'd be willing to extend CMake to handle managed projects if that's what it takes.

Drew Dolgert