SoSeparator Class Reference

The SoSeparator class is a state-preserving group node. More...

#include <Inventor/nodes/SoSeparator.h>

Inheritance diagram for SoSeparator:

Public Types
enum	CacheEnabled { OFF, ON, AUTO }
Public Types inherited from SoNode
enum	NodeType {   INVENTOR = 0x0000, VRML1 = 0x0001, VRML2 = 0x0002, INVENTOR_1 = 0x0004,   INVENTOR_2_0 = 0x0008, INVENTOR_2_1 = 0x0010, INVENTOR_2_5 = 0x0020, INVENTOR_2_6 = 0x0040,   COIN_1_0 = 0x0080, COIN_2_0 = 0x0100, EXTENSION = 0x0200, COIN_2_2 = 0x0400,   COIN_2_3 = 0x0800, COIN_2_4 = 0x1000, INVENTOR_5_0 = 0x2000, COIN_2_5 = 0x4000,   COIN_3_0 = 0x8000, INVENTOR_6_0 = 0x10000, COIN_4_0 = 0x20000 }

Public Member Functions
virtual SoType	getTypeId (void) const
	Returns the type identification of an object derived from a class inheriting SoBase. This is used for run-time type checking and "downward" casting. More...
	SoSeparator (void)
	SoSeparator (const int nchildren)
virtual void	doAction (SoAction *action)
virtual void	GLRender (SoGLRenderAction *action)
virtual void	GLRenderBelowPath (SoGLRenderAction *action)
virtual void	GLRenderInPath (SoGLRenderAction *action)
virtual void	GLRenderOffPath (SoGLRenderAction *action)
virtual void	callback (SoCallbackAction *action)
virtual void	getBoundingBox (SoGetBoundingBoxAction *action)
virtual void	getMatrix (SoGetMatrixAction *action)
virtual void	handleEvent (SoHandleEventAction *action)
virtual void	rayPick (SoRayPickAction *action)
virtual void	search (SoSearchAction *action)
virtual void	getPrimitiveCount (SoGetPrimitiveCountAction *action)
virtual void	audioRender (SoAudioRenderAction *action)
virtual void	notify (SoNotList *nl)
virtual SbBool	affectsState (void) const
Public Member Functions inherited from SoGroup
	SoGroup (void)
	SoGroup (int nchildren)
virtual void	addChild (SoNode *node)
virtual void	insertChild (SoNode *child, int newchildindex)
virtual SoNode *	getChild (int index) const
virtual int	findChild (const SoNode *node) const
virtual int	getNumChildren (void) const
virtual void	removeChild (int childindex)
virtual void	removeChild (SoNode *child)
virtual void	removeAllChildren (void)
virtual void	replaceChild (int index, SoNode *newchild)
virtual void	replaceChild (SoNode *oldchild, SoNode *newchild)
virtual void	pick (SoPickAction *action)
virtual void	write (SoWriteAction *action)
virtual SoChildList *	getChildren (void) const
virtual void	addWriteReference (SoOutput *out, SbBool isfromfield=FALSE)
Public Member Functions inherited from SoNode
void	setOverride (const SbBool state)
SbBool	isOverride (void) const
void	setNodeType (const NodeType type)
NodeType	getNodeType (void) const
virtual SoNode *	copy (SbBool copyconnections=FALSE) const
virtual void	grabEventsSetup (void)
virtual void	grabEventsCleanup (void)
virtual void	startNotify (void)
SbUniqueId	getNodeId (void) const
virtual void	writeInstance (SoOutput *out)
virtual SoNode *	addToCopyDict (void) const
virtual SoFieldContainer *	copyThroughConnection (void) const
Public Member Functions inherited from SoFieldContainer
void	setToDefaults (void)
SbBool	hasDefaultValues (void) const
SbBool	fieldsAreEqual (const SoFieldContainer *container) const
void	copyFieldValues (const SoFieldContainer *container, SbBool copyconnections=FALSE)
SbBool	set (const char *const fielddata)
void	get (SbString &fielddata)
virtual int	getFields (SoFieldList &l) const
virtual int	getAllFields (SoFieldList &l) const
virtual SoField *	getField (const SbName &name) const
virtual SoField *	getEventIn (const SbName &name) const
virtual SoField *	getEventOut (const SbName &name) const
SbBool	getFieldName (const SoField *const field, SbName &name) const
SbBool	enableNotify (const SbBool flag)
SbBool	isNotifyEnabled (void) const
SbBool	set (const char *fielddata, SoInput *input)
void	get (SbString &fielddata, SoOutput *out)
virtual SbBool	validateNewFieldValue (SoField *field, void *newval)
SbBool	getIsBuiltIn (void) const
virtual void	getFieldsMemorySize (size_t &managed, size_t &unmanaged) const
void	setUserData (void *userdata) const
void *	getUserData (void) const
Public Member Functions inherited from SoBase
void	ref (void) const
void	unref (void) const
void	unrefNoDelete (void) const
int32_t	getRefCount (void) const
void	touch (void)
SbBool	isOfType (SoType type) const
	Returns TRUE if the type of this object is either of the same type or inherited from type. More...
virtual SbName	getName (void) const
virtual void	setName (const SbName &newname)
void	addAuditor (void *const auditor, const SoNotRec::Type type)
void	removeAuditor (void *const auditor, const SoNotRec::Type type)
const SoAuditorList &	getAuditors (void) const
SbBool	shouldWrite (void)
void	assertAlive (void) const

Static Public Member Functions
static SoType	getClassTypeId (void)
static void	initClass (void)
static void	setNumRenderCaches (const int howmany)
static int	getNumRenderCaches (void)
Static Public Member Functions inherited from SoGroup
static SoType	getClassTypeId (void)
static void	initClass (void)
Static Public Member Functions inherited from SoNode
static uint32_t	getCompatibilityTypes (const SoType &nodetype)
static SoType	getClassTypeId (void)
static SoNode *	getByName (const SbName &name)
static int	getByName (const SbName &name, SoNodeList &l)
static void	initClass (void)
static void	initClasses (void)
static SbUniqueId	getNextNodeId (void)
static int	getActionMethodIndex (const SoType type)
static void	getBoundingBoxS (SoAction *action, SoNode *node)
static void	GLRenderS (SoAction *action, SoNode *node)
static void	callbackS (SoAction *action, SoNode *node)
static void	getMatrixS (SoAction *action, SoNode *node)
static void	handleEventS (SoAction *action, SoNode *node)
static void	pickS (SoAction *action, SoNode *node)
static void	rayPickS (SoAction *action, SoNode *node)
static void	searchS (SoAction *action, SoNode *node)
static void	writeS (SoAction *action, SoNode *node)
static void	audioRenderS (SoAction *action, SoNode *node)
static void	getPrimitiveCountS (SoAction *action, SoNode *node)
Static Public Member Functions inherited from SoFieldContainer
static void	initClass (void)
static SoType	getClassTypeId (void)
static void	cleanupClass (void)
static void	initCopyDict (void)
static void	addCopy (const SoFieldContainer *orig, const SoFieldContainer *copy)
static SoFieldContainer *	checkCopy (const SoFieldContainer *orig)
static SoFieldContainer *	findCopy (const SoFieldContainer *orig, const SbBool copyconnections)
static void	copyDone (void)
Static Public Member Functions inherited from SoBase
static void	initClass (void)
	Sets up initialization for data common to all instances of this class, like submitting necessary information to the Coin type system.
static SoType	getClassTypeId (void)
	This static method returns the SoType object associated with objects of this class.
static void	addName (SoBase *const base, const char *const name)
static void	removeName (SoBase *const base, const char *const name)
static void	incrementCurrentWriteCounter (void)
static void	decrementCurrentWriteCounter (void)
static SoBase *	getNamedBase (const SbName &name, SoType type)
static int	getNamedBases (const SbName &name, SoBaseList &baselist, SoType type)
static SbBool	read (SoInput *input, SoBase *&base, SoType expectedtype)
static void	setInstancePrefix (const SbString &c)
static void	setTraceRefs (SbBool trace)
static SbBool	getTraceRefs (void)
static SbBool	connectRoute (SoInput *input, const SbName &fromnodename, const SbName &fromfieldname, const SbName &tonodename, const SbName &tofieldname)
static SbBool	readRoute (SoInput *input)

Public Attributes
SoSFEnum	renderCaching
SoSFEnum	boundingBoxCaching
SoSFEnum	renderCulling
SoSFEnum	pickCulling

Protected Member Functions
virtual const SoFieldData *	getFieldData (void) const
virtual	~SoSeparator ()
virtual SbBool	cullTest (SoState *state)
virtual SbBool	cullTest (SoGLRenderAction *action, int &cullresults)
virtual SbBool	readInstance (SoInput *in, unsigned short flags)
Protected Member Functions inherited from SoGroup
virtual	~SoGroup ()
virtual SbBool	readChildren (SoInput *in)
virtual void	copyContents (const SoFieldContainer *from, SbBool copyconnections)
virtual SoNotRec	createNotRec (void)
void	setOperation (const SoNotRec::OperationType opType=SoNotRec::UNSPECIFIED, const SoNode *cc=NULL, const SoNode *pc=NULL, const int ci=-1)
Protected Member Functions inherited from SoNode
	SoNode (void)
virtual	~SoNode ()
Protected Member Functions inherited from SoFieldContainer
	SoFieldContainer (void)
virtual	~SoFieldContainer ()
Protected Member Functions inherited from SoBase
	SoBase (void)
virtual	~SoBase ()
virtual void	destroy (void)
SbBool	hasMultipleWriteRefs (void) const
SbBool	writeHeader (SoOutput *out, SbBool isgroup, SbBool isengine) const
void	writeFooter (SoOutput *out) const
virtual const char *	getFileFormatName (void) const

Static Protected Member Functions
static const SoFieldData **	getFieldDataPtr (void)
Static Protected Member Functions inherited from SoGroup
static const SoFieldData **	getFieldDataPtr (void)
Static Protected Member Functions inherited from SoNode
static const SoFieldData **	getFieldDataPtr (void)
static void	setNextActionMethodIndex (int index)
static int	getNextActionMethodIndex (void)
static void	incNextActionMethodIndex (void)
static void	setCompatibilityTypes (const SoType &nodetype, const uint32_t bitmask)
Static Protected Member Functions inherited from SoBase
static uint32_t	getCurrentWriteCounter (void)
static void	staticDataLock (void)
static void	staticDataUnlock (void)

Additional Inherited Members
Protected Types inherited from SoBase
enum	BaseFlags { IS_ENGINE = 0x01, IS_GROUP = 0x02 }
Protected Attributes inherited from SoGroup
SoChildList *	children
Protected Attributes inherited from SoNode
SbUniqueId	uniqueId
Protected Attributes inherited from SoFieldContainer
SbBool	isBuiltIn
Static Protected Attributes inherited from SoNode
static SbUniqueId	nextUniqueId = 1
static int	nextActionMethodIndex = 0

Detailed Description

The SoSeparator class is a state-preserving group node.

Subgraphs parented by SoSeparator nodes will not affect the state, as they push and pop the traversal state before and after traversal of its children.

SoSeparator nodes also provides options for traversal optimalization through the use of caching.

FILE FORMAT/DEFAULTS:

Separator {
    renderCaching AUTO
    boundingBoxCaching AUTO
    renderCulling AUTO
    pickCulling AUTO
}

See also

SoTransformSeparator

Member Enumeration Documentation

CacheEnabled

enum SoSeparator::CacheEnabled

Enumeration of flags for the fields deciding which optimalizations to do in SoSeparator nodes. There are two types of settings available: caching policies or culling policies. See doumentation of fields.

Enumerator
OFF	No caching.
ON	Always try to cache state.
AUTO	Use heuristics to try to figure out the optimal caching policy.

Constructor & Destructor Documentation

SoSeparator() [1/2]

SoSeparator::SoSeparator

(

void

)

Default constructor.

SoSeparator() [2/2]

SoSeparator::SoSeparator

(

const int

nchildren

)

Constructor.

The argument should be the approximate number of children which is expected to be inserted below this node. The number need not be exact, as it is only used as a hint for better memory resource allocation.

~SoSeparator()

SoSeparator::~SoSeparator ( )

protectedvirtual

Destructor. Frees resources used to implement caches.

Member Function Documentation

getTypeId()

SoType SoSeparator::getTypeId ( void  ) const

virtual

Returns the type identification of an object derived from a class inheriting SoBase. This is used for run-time type checking and "downward" casting.

Usage example:

void foo(SoNode * node)
{
  if (node->getTypeId() == SoFile::getClassTypeId()) {
    SoFile * filenode = (SoFile *)node;  // safe downward cast, knows the type
  }
}

For application programmers wanting to extend the library with new nodes, engines, nodekits, draggers or others: this method needs to be overridden in all subclasses. This is typically done as part of setting up the full type system for extension classes, which is usually accomplished by using the pre-defined macros available through for instance Inventor/nodes/SoSubNode.h (SO_NODE_INIT_CLASS and SO_NODE_CONSTRUCTOR for node classes), Inventor/engines/SoSubEngine.h (for engine classes) and so on.

For more information on writing Coin extensions, see the class documentation of the toplevel superclasses for the various class groups.

Reimplemented from SoGroup.

Reimplemented in SoExtSelection, SoSelection, SoWWWAnchor, SoGeoSeparator, SoShadowGroup, SoLocateHighlight, and SoAnnotation.

getFieldData()

const SoFieldData * SoSeparator::getFieldData ( void  ) const

protectedvirtual

Returns a pointer to the class-wide field data storage object for this instance. If no fields are present, returns NULL.

Reimplemented from SoGroup.

Reimplemented in SoExtSelection, SoSelection, SoWWWAnchor, SoGeoSeparator, SoShadowGroup, SoLocateHighlight, and SoAnnotation.

doAction()

void SoSeparator::doAction ( SoAction *  action )

virtual

This function performs the typical operation of a node for any action.

Reimplemented from SoGroup.

GLRender()

void SoSeparator::GLRender ( SoGLRenderAction *  action )

virtual

Action method for the SoGLRenderAction.

This is called during rendering traversals. Nodes influencing the rendering state in any way or who wants to throw geometry primitives at OpenGL overrides this method.

Reimplemented from SoGroup.

Reimplemented in SoAnnotation.

GLRenderBelowPath()

void SoSeparator::GLRenderBelowPath ( SoGLRenderAction *  action )

virtual

SGI Open Inventor v2.1 obsoleted support for SoGLRenderAction::addMethod(). Instead, GLRender() might be called directly, and to optimize traversal, the SoSeparator node calls GLRenderBelowPath whenever the path code is BELOW_PATH or NO_PATH (path code is guaranteed not to change). To be compatible with SGI's Inventor (and thereby also TGS') we have chosen to follow their implementation in this respect.

SoSeparator::GLRenderBelowPath() do not traverse its children using SoChildList::traverse(), but calls GLRenderBelowPath() directly for all its children.

Reimplemented from SoNode.

Reimplemented in SoExtSelection, SoShadowGroup, SoLocateHighlight, SoGeoSeparator, and SoAnnotation.

GLRenderInPath()

void SoSeparator::GLRenderInPath ( SoGLRenderAction *  action )

virtual

Implements the SoAction::IN_PATH traversal method for the rendering action.

Reimplemented from SoNode.

Reimplemented in SoShadowGroup, SoLocateHighlight, SoGeoSeparator, and SoAnnotation.

GLRenderOffPath()

void SoSeparator::GLRenderOffPath ( SoGLRenderAction *  action )

virtual

Implements the SoAction::OFF_PATH traversal method for the rendering action.

Reimplemented from SoNode.

Reimplemented in SoAnnotation.

callback()

void SoSeparator::callback ( SoCallbackAction *  action )

virtual

Action method for SoCallbackAction.

Simply updates the state according to how the node behaves for the render action, so the application programmer can use the SoCallbackAction for extracting information about the scene graph.

Reimplemented from SoGroup.

Reimplemented in SoGeoSeparator.

getBoundingBox()

void SoSeparator::getBoundingBox ( SoGetBoundingBoxAction *  action )

virtual

Action method for the SoGetBoundingBoxAction.

Calculates bounding box and center coordinates for node and modifies the values of the action to encompass the bounding box for this node and to shift the center point for the scene more towards the one for this node.

Nodes influencing how geometry nodes calculates their bounding box also overrides this method to change the relevant state variables.

Reimplemented from SoGroup.

Reimplemented in SoGeoSeparator.

getMatrix()

void SoSeparator::getMatrix ( SoGetMatrixAction *  action )

virtual

Action method for SoGetMatrixAction.

Updates action by accumulating with the transformation matrix of this node (if any).

Reimplemented from SoGroup.

Reimplemented in SoGeoSeparator.

handleEvent()

void SoSeparator::handleEvent ( SoHandleEventAction *  action )

virtual

Action method for SoHandleEventAction.

Inspects the event data from action, and processes it if it is something which this node should react to.

Nodes influencing relevant state variables for how event handling is done also overrides this method.

Reimplemented from SoGroup.

Reimplemented in SoExtSelection, SoSelection, SoWWWAnchor, and SoLocateHighlight.

rayPick()

void SoSeparator::rayPick ( SoRayPickAction *  action )

virtual

Action method for SoRayPickAction.

Checks the ray specification of the action and tests for intersection with the data of the node.

Nodes influencing relevant state variables for how picking is done also overrides this method.

Reimplemented from SoNode.

Reimplemented in SoGeoSeparator.

search()

void SoSeparator::search ( SoSearchAction *  action )

virtual

Action method for SoSearchAction.

Compares the search criteria from the action to see if this node is a match. Searching is done by matching up all criteria set up in the SoSearchAction – if any of the requested criteria is a miss, the search is not deemed successful for the node.

See also

SoSearchAction

Reimplemented from SoGroup.

getPrimitiveCount()

void SoSeparator::getPrimitiveCount ( SoGetPrimitiveCountAction *  action )

virtual

Action method for the SoGetPrimitiveCountAction.

Calculates the number of triangle, line segment and point primitives for the node and adds these to the counters of the action.

Nodes influencing how geometry nodes calculates their primitive count also overrides this method to change the relevant state variables.

Reimplemented from SoGroup.

Reimplemented in SoGeoSeparator.

audioRender()

void SoSeparator::audioRender ( SoAudioRenderAction *  action )

virtual

Action method for SoAudioRenderAction.

Does common processing for SoAudioRenderAction action instances.

Reimplemented from SoGroup.

notify()

void SoSeparator::notify ( SoNotList *  l )

virtual

Notifies all auditors for this instance when changes are made.

Reimplemented from SoNode.

Reimplemented in SoShadowGroup.

setNumRenderCaches()

void SoSeparator::setNumRenderCaches ( const int  howmany )

static

Set the maximum number of caches that SoSeparator nodes may allocate for render caching.

This is a global value which will be used for all SoSeparator nodes, but the value indicate the maximum number per SoSeparator node.

More caches might give better performance, but will use more memory. The built-in default value is 2.

The value can also be changed globally by setting the host system's environment variable IV_SEPARATOR_MAX_CACHES to the wanted number. This is primarily meant as an aid during debugging, to make it easy to turn off rendercaching completely (by setting "IV_SEPARATOR_MAX_CACHES=0") without having to change any application code.

getNumRenderCaches()

int SoSeparator::getNumRenderCaches ( void  )

static

Returns maximum number of caches SoSeparator nodes are allowed to use for render caching.

See also

setNumRenderCaches()

affectsState()

SbBool SoSeparator::affectsState ( void  ) const

virtual

Returns TRUE if the node could have any effect on the state during traversal.

If it returns FALSE, no data in the traversal-state will change from the pre-traversal state to the post-traversal state. The SoSeparator node will for instance return FALSE, as it pushes and pops the state before and after traversal of its children. All SoShape nodes will also return FALSE, as just pushing out geometry data to the rendering engine won't affect the actual rendering state.

The default method returns TRUE, on a "better safe than sorry" philosophy.

Reimplemented from SoNode.

cullTest() [1/2]

SbBool SoSeparator::cullTest ( SoState *  state )

protectedvirtual

Internal method which do view frustum culling. For now, view frustum culling is performed if the renderCulling field is AUTO or ON, and the bounding box cache is valid.

Returns TRUE if this separator is outside view frustum, FALSE if inside.

cullTest() [2/2]

SbBool SoSeparator::cullTest ( SoGLRenderAction *  action, int &  cullresults  )

protectedvirtual

This is an internal Open Inventor method. We've implemented view frustum culling in a different manner. Let us know if you need this function, and we'll consider implementing it.

readInstance()

SbBool SoSeparator::readInstance ( SoInput *  in, unsigned short  flags  )

protectedvirtual

This method is mainly intended for internal use during file import operations.

It reads a definition of an instance from the input stream in. The input stream state points to the start of a serialized / persistant representation of an instance of this class type.

TRUE or FALSE is returned, depending on if the instantiation and configuration of the new object of this class type went ok or not. The import process should be robust and handle corrupted input streams by returning FALSE.

flags is used internally during binary import when reading user extension nodes, group nodes or engines.

Reimplemented from SoGroup.

Member Data Documentation

renderCaching

SoSFEnum SoSeparator::renderCaching

Policy for caching of rendering instructions for faster execution. This will typically use the OpenGL displaylist mechanism.

Default value is SoSeparator::AUTO.

If you know that some parts of your scene will never change, rendering might happen faster if you explicitly set this field to SoSeparator::ON. If you on the other hand know that parts of the scene will change a lot (like for every redraw), it will be beneficial to set this field to SoSeparator::OFF for the top-level separator node of this (sub)graph.

Usually the default setting of AUTO will handle any scene very well. The advantages that can be had from setting SoSeparator::renderCaching to ON are:

• If you positively know that the geometry under the SoSeparator is static, you get the cache set up right away.

  Otherwise, the code in Coin will do a bit of testing and decide by some heuristics whether or not to enable it. That will make the rendering be a tiny bit slower right after start-up than with renderCaching set to ON.

  (The slow-down should hardly be noticable, though, so we don't advice application programmers to do this.)

• For many of the shape nodes that can contain many basic primitives, like e.g. SoFaceSet, SoIndexedFaceSet, SoLineSet, etc etc, there is an internal threshold for how many primitives a node can contain before we don't do caching when SoSeparator::renderCaching is set to AUTO.

  The reason we do this is because OpenGL renderlists can potentially suck up a lot of memory resources on the graphics card.

  But if you know that it will be advantageous on your particular platform, you can override this by setting SoSeparator::renderCaching equal to ON.

  (We don't advice application programmers to do this either. A better solution in these cases would simply be to get in touch with SIM and describe the platform and the problem, and we could integrate a proper fix into Coin.)

There are good reasons for setting renderCaching to OFF, like when you know the geometry will be changing a lot. Still, Coin should work fairly well without even this optimization. (If renderCaching is AUTO over a sub-graph with changing geometry or other cache smashing nodes, the caching heuristics will stop the SoSeparator node from trying to make caches – at least after a few tries has been made and failed.)

The short story about how auto-caching works is as follows:

• For vertex-based shapes with fewer than 100 triangles and where the geometry is detected to be fairly static, caching is enabled.

• For shapes with more than 1000 trangles, it is disabled, to avoid spending too much of the on-board graphics card's memory resources.

• For shapes with between 100 and 1000 shapes, displaylist caching will be turned on if our heuristics decides that the geometry can be considered static.

The maximum threshold (of 1000) is higher when doing remote rendering (as when rendering from one X11-based system to another).

Disabling the displaylist caching takes precedence over enabling, so if you have an SoSeparator with a shape with more than 1000 triangles and a shape with fewer than 100 triangles, caching will be disabled for the SoSeparator.

It's possible to tune the limits using some environment variables:

• COIN_AUTOCACHE_LOCAL_MIN can be used to change the enable-caching limit, while COIN_AUTOCACHE_LOCAL_MAX controls the disable-caching limit.

• The corresponding variables for remote rendering are COIN_AUTOCACHE_REMOTE_MIN and COIN_AUTOCACHE_REMOTE_MAX.

boundingBoxCaching

SoSFEnum SoSeparator::boundingBoxCaching

Policy for caching bounding box calculations. Default value is SoSeparator::AUTO.

See also documentation for SoSeparator::renderCaching.

renderCulling

SoSFEnum SoSeparator::renderCulling

Policy for doing viewport culling during rendering traversals. Default value is SoSeparator::AUTO.

When the render culling is turned off for Coin, it will be left to be done for the underlying immediate mode rendering library. This will often be faster than doing culling from within Coin, so be careful to monitor the change in execution speed if setting this field to SoSeparator::ON.

See also documentation for SoSeparator::renderCaching.

pickCulling

SoSFEnum SoSeparator::pickCulling

Policy for doing viewport culling during pick traversals. Default value is SoSeparator::AUTO.

See documentation for SoSeparator::renderCulling.

---

The documentation for this class was generated from the following files:

• SoSeparator.h
• SoSeparator.cpp