# IBM Visualization Data Explorer Programmer's Reference

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# About This Book

Partial Table-of-Contents

- Summary of Topics
- Typographic Conventions
- Related Publications and Sources
- IBM Publications
- Non-IBM Publications
- Other sources of information

  This reference is intended for programmers who:

  1. want to write their own modules for use with Data Explorer, or
  2. want to write applications which incorporate Data Explorer modules or use the Data Explorer data model, or
  3. want to write applications which directly control the Data Explorer executive or user interface. Programmers using this reference should be familiar with Data Explorer (in particular, its data model).
  In addition to covering various aspects of creating and implementing modules, this reference describes in detail the use of the Module Builder--a utility that simplifies the task of writing a module.

  ## Summary of Topics

  - Chapter 1. "Overview" briefly discusses the various ways the Data Explorer libraries can be used and points you to the appropriate sections, depending on what task you want to accomplish and how you want to use Data Explorer.
  - Chapter 2. "Writing a Simple Module" presents a simple example to outline the basic procedure for creating and implementing a module. It also summarizes the data and execution models of Data Explorer.
  - Chapter 3. "Module Builder", details the basic features of the Module Builder user interface.
  - Chapter 5. "Working with Data" shows how to write modules which are concerned only with "data" component of an object. A simple module which adds two fields together is described.
  - Chapter 6. "Working with Positions" shows how to write modules which operate on the "positions" component of an object. A simple "glyph" type module which places a mark at each position in a field is described.
  - Chapter 7. "Working with Connections" shows how to write modules which operate using the "connections" component of an object. A simple module which averages data over the nearby neighbors in a field is described.
  - Chapter 8. "Importing Data" shows how to write an import filter.
  - Chapter 9. "Using the Pick Structure" shows how to write a module which uses the structure output by the Pick tool to perform specific operations on objects "picked" using the mouse in the Image window.
  - Chapter 10. "Writing Modules for a Parallel Environment", explains how to write a module for execution on parallel processors.
  - Chapter 11. "Making a Module Work", deals with the main aspects of implementing a new module: module description files, compilation and linking, and debugging.
  - Chapter 12. "Working with Data Model Objects", details the programming interface of the Data Explorer data model.
  - Chapter 13. "System Services", Chapter 14. "Data Processing", and Chapter 15. "Geometric Objects" summarize the Data Explorer routines available for:
    - System services (e.g, error handling and storage allocation)
    - Data processing (e.g, partitioning and hashing)
    - Creating geometric objects.
  - Chapter 16. "Rendering", deals with several advanced aspects of rendering an image: transformations, shading, and tiling.
  - Chapter 17. "DXLink Developer's Toolkit", describes the main features of this aid to application programming for Data Explorer.
  - Appendix B. "Data Explorer Data Model Library: DXlite Routines", lists the subset of Data Explorer routines for creating, querying, and modifying Data Explorer Objects.
  - Appendix C. "Data Explorer Library Routines", lists and describes all the Data Explorer interface routines.
  - Chapter 18. "Glossary", a glossary of Data Explorer terms, follows the appendices.

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