Package com.openinventor.inventor

Class SoInput

java.lang.Object
com.openinventor.inventor.Inventor
com.openinventor.inventor.SoInput
public class SoInput extends Inventor
Used to read Open Inventor data files. This class is used by the SoDB reading routines when reading Open Inventor (.iv) format data or various geometry data formats that can be converted into an Open Inventor scene graph. The input source can be the standard input stream (default), a file (see openFile) or a buffer in memory (see setBuffer). SoInput can search for a file in a list of directories (see addDirectoryFirst etc). SoInput can report progress during the input operation (see updateReadPercent).

SoInput is typically used with SoDB.read or SoDB.readAll to load data and create a scene graph. There is an example code fragment on the SoDB page.

NOTE: Applications should always check the result of calling the openFile() method. If the call fails, the SoInput object itself is still valid and remains in the default state. Calling SoDB.readAll(), or methods like getHeader() and isValidFile(), with a default SoInput object will make the application appear to "hang" because it is waiting for data on standard input. To check if a file exists, get file properties, etc see SbFileHelper.

File formats

SoInput supports ASCII (default) and binary Open Inventor formats. Since Open Inventor 8.1, both the ASCII and binary formats can be compressed using the gz format (e.g. using gzip). The file extension 'ivz' is recognized for compressed Open Inventor files, but is not mandatory. In fact the initial bytes of the file are checked when the file is opened to automatically determine if it is compressed or not. This feature uses the module IvDLZlib.

SoInput also has built-in support for:

  • VRML97 format (.wrl)
  • X3D Classic VRML format (.x3dv) See VRML_LIMITATIONS for details.

Additional input readers are provided as plugins for:

  • DXF format (.dxf)
  • STL format (.stl)

These formats require redistributing the corresponding plugin library with the application.

  • DXF : fei_inventor_io_dxf (e.g. fei_inventor_io_dxf.dll on Windows).
  • STL : fei_inventor_io_stl (e.g. fei_inventor_io_stl.dll on Windows).

Open Inventor also supports many standard CAD file formats. See SoCADInputReader for the current list. These formats also require redistributing the corresponding plugin library (fei_inventor_io_cad) with the application.

SoInput can also be extended with custom file format readers. Input readers are defined as new classes inheriting from the SoInputReader class.. See SoInputReader class for more information about defining and loading new readers

For Open Inventor format files, users can also register additional valid file headers. When reading, SoInput skips over Open Inventor comments (from '#' to end of line) and can stack input files. When EOF is reached, the stack is popped.

Directory List

SoInput maintains a list of directories (initially empty). Generally Open Inventor classes that need to open a named file will search for the file in each of these directories in order. This includes SoInput (the openFile() method), SoTexture2, SoFragmentShader and other nodes that have a "filename" field.

Note: SoInput is not currently used for loading volume data files in VolumeViz. SoDataSet and its subclasses (SoVolumeData etc) do not search the list of directories maintained by SoInput when attempting to open a file. However the directory list is searched to find volume shader files (SoVolumeShader, SoVolumeRenderingQuality, etc).

The SoInput directory list is initialized from the environnment variable OIV_FILE_SEARCH_PATHS. This variable may be set to a semi-colon separated list of directory paths. The specified paths may use variables in $name format, e.g. "$OIVHOME", which will be replaced by the value returned by SoPreferences for that name. Additional directories may be added to the directory list using the static methods addDirectoryLast etc.

Static utility method findAbsolutePath() returns the full path of a file if it can be found in one of the directories in the list.

DXF Input Limitations:

The supported DXF file format release is 14.

The limitations are:

  • CLASSES, OBJECTS and THUMBNAILIMAGE sections are ignored.
  • TABLES section: APPID, BLOCK_RECORD,DIMSTYLE, LTYPE, LAYER, STYLE, UCS, VIEW, VIEWPORT are ignored.
  • ENTITIES section: ARCALIGNEDTEXT, DIMENSION, IMAGE, REGION, WIPEOUT are ignored.

VRML Input Limitations:

Starting from OIV10, it is no more possible to create VRML nodes. However, import of .vrml file is till supported but node are automatically converted to OIV nodes. Not all nodes are supported when reading VRML files. Here is list of supported nodes and their corresponding OIV nodes. Some VRML nodes will be converter to more or less complexe scenegraph. In this case, VRML node may be converted to an SoSeparator or an SoGroup containing scene graph.

GeoVRML nodes:

Special Group nodes:

Common nodes:

Geometry nodes:

Geometry properties:

Geometry appearance:

Group nodes:

Special nodes:

See Also:

  • Field Details

    • DIRECTORIES_SEPARATOR

      public static final String DIRECTORIES_SEPARATOR

  • Constructor Details

    • SoInput

      public SoInput()
      Constructor. The default SoInput reads from stdin.

  • Method Details

    • setBuffer

      public void setBuffer(byte[] buffer)
      Set up buffer to read from.
      Parameters:
      buffer - contains the binary iv representation

    • setBuffer

      public void setBuffer(byte[] buffer, int size)
      Set up buffer to read from.
      Parameters:
      buffer - contains the binary iv representation
      size - indicates how many bytes should be read from buffer

    • setBuffer

      public void setBuffer(String buffer, int size)
      Set up buffer to read from.
      Parameters:
      buffer - contains the iv representation in a string.
      size - indicates how many characters should be read from buffer

    • openURL

      public boolean openURL(URL fileURL)
      Using a java URL, open an IV file. If the URL indicates an address through the net, be sure that your machine is connected.
      Returns:
      false if the URL is not correct or if it could not be opened ; true if the resulting buffer is valid.

    • openFile

      public boolean openFile(String fileName)
      Calls openFile(fileName, false, false).

    • openFile

      public boolean openFile(String fileName, boolean okIfNotFound)
      Calls openFile(fileName, okIfNotFound, false).

    • addEnvDirectoriesLast

      public static void addEnvDirectoriesLast(String envVarName)
      Calls addEnvDirectoriesLast(envVarName, DIRECTORIES_SEPARATOR).

    • addEnvDirectoriesFirst

      public static void addEnvDirectoriesFirst(String envVarName)
      Calls addEnvDirectoriesFirst(envVarName, DIRECTORIES_SEPARATOR).

    • pushFile

      public boolean pushFile(String fileName)
      Opens named file. Returns false on error. When EOF is reached, the stack is popped.

      The file name may contain variables in $name format, e.g. "$OIVHOME", which will be replaced by the value returned by SoPreferences for that name.

    • addDirectoryFirst

      public static void addDirectoryFirst(String dirName)
      The SoInput class maintains a global list of directories that is searched to find files when opening them. Directories are searched in order. This routine adds a directory to the beginning of the list.

    • isValidFile

      public boolean isValidFile()
      Returns true if the currently open file is a valid Open Inventor file. File must begin with a standard Open Inventor header or one that has been registered with SoDB.registerHeader(). Note that by default (when no file or buffer is open), SoInput reads from standard input, which may make the application appear to "hang".

    • closeFile

      public void closeFile()
      Closes all files on stack opened with openFile() or pushFile().

    • openFile

      public boolean openFile(String fileName, boolean okIfNotFound, boolean aSync)
      Opens named file. Returns false on error. If okIfNotFound is false (the default), prints an error message if the file could not be found. If aSync is true (false by default) the file is read asynchronously (the reading starts immediately although it isn't fully buffered).

      The file name may contain variables in $name format, e.g. "$OIVHOME", which will be replaced by the value returned by SoPreferences for that name.

    • addEnvDirectoriesFirst

      public static void addEnvDirectoriesFirst(String envVarName, String dirSep)
      The SoInput class maintains a global list of directories that is searched to find files when opening them. Directories are searched in order. This routine adds directories named in the value of the given environment variable to the beginning of the list.

      NOTE: On Microsoft Windows systems the default dirSep value causes a problem. For example, the string "C:/myDir" will be interpreted as two different directories "C/" and "/myDir".. To avoid this problem explicitly set dirSep to ";" (semicolon).

      Parameters:
      envVarName - The name of the environment variable.

      dirSep - A string containing zero or more directory separator characters.

    • addEnvDirectoriesLast

      public static void addEnvDirectoriesLast(String envVarName, String dirSep)
      The SoInput class maintains a global list of directories that is searched to find files when opening them. Directories are searched in order. This routine adds directories named in the value of the given environment variable to the end of the list.

      NOTE: On Microsoft Windows systems the default dirSep value causes a problem. For example, the string "C:/myDir" will be interpreted as two different directories "C/" and "/myDir".. To avoid this problem explicitly set dirSep to ";" (semicolon).

      Parameters:
      envVarName - The name of the environment variable.

      dirSep - A string containing zero or more directory separator characters.

    • addDirectoryLast

      public static void addDirectoryLast(String dirName)
      The SoInput class maintains a global list of directories that is searched to find files when opening them. Directories are searched in order. This routine adds a directory to the end of the list.

    • clearDirectories

      public static void clearDirectories()
      Clears the list of directories (including the current directory).

    • findAbsolutePath

      public static String findAbsolutePath(String fileName)
      Returns absolute path of given file by looking in SoInput standard directories. Returns true on success.

      The file name may contain variables in $name format, e.g. "$OIVHOME", which will be replaced by the value returned by SoPreferences for that name.

    • removeDirectory

      public static void removeDirectory(String dirName)
      Removes named directory from the list.

    • getNumBytesRead

      public int getNumBytesRead()
      Returns the number of bytes read.

    • getHeader

      public String getHeader()
      Returns the header of the file being read. Note that by default (when no file or buffer is open), SoInput reads from standard input, which may make the application appear to "hang".

    • getCurStringFileName

      public String getCurStringFileName()
      Returns full name (including directory path) of current file. Returns an empty string (isEmpty() will be true) if no file is open or if reading from a buffer.

    • isValidBuffer

      public boolean isValidBuffer()
      Returns true if the current buffer is valid. Buffer must begin with a standard Open Inventor header or one that has been registered with SoDB.registerHeader(). Note that by default (when no file or buffer is open), SoInput reads from standard input, which may make the application appear to "hang".

    • getCurFileName

      public String getCurFileName()
      Returns full name (including directory path) of current file. Returns NULL if no file is open or if reading from a buffer.

    • getInputParameters

      public SoInputParameters getInputParameters()
      Return the current SoInputParameters.

    • setInputParameters

      public void setInputParameters(SoInputParameters parameters)
      Specify parameters to modify/control actions during the read of a file. For example, use an instance of SoCADInputReaderParameters for file formats handled by the SoCADFileFormat module (IGES, STEP, CATIA, ...).

    • getIVVersion

      public float getIVVersion()
      Returns the Open Inventor file version of the file being read (2.1). If the file has a header registered through SoDB.registerHeader(), the returned version is the Open Inventor version registered with the header. Returns 0.0 if no file or buffer is open.

    • updateReadPercent

      public void updateReadPercent(double readPercentage)
      Reports the percentage of bytes read from the file.
      Derive a new class and override this method if you want to implement a progress bar.