AHM2012-Slicer-Architecture

Modularization Object Specialization

• Slicer is built on top libraries/toolkits/tools supported by the community.
• The new build system allows to optionally disable/enable most of them.
  • Core
    • CLAPACK
    • cmcurl
    • CTKAPPLAUNCHER
    • CTK
    • ITKv3
    • teem
    • VTK
  • Core <- CLI Support [Option Slicer_BUILD_CLI_SUPPORT - Enabled by default]
    • SlicerExecutionModel
  • Core <- Python [Option Slicer_USE_PYTHONQT - Enabled by default]
    • python
  • Core <- Python <- NUMPY [Option Slicer_USE_NUMPY - Enabled by default]
    • NUMPY
  • Core <- ExtensionManager [Option Slicer_BUILD_EXTENSIONMANAGER_SUPPORT - Enabled by default]
    • LibArchive
    • qMidasAPI
  • Core <- Python <- Tcl Compatibility layer [Option Slicer_USE_PYTHONQT_WITH_TCL - Enabled by default]
    • tcl
    • incrTcl
    • tk
  • Core <- BatchMake
    • BatchMake
  • Core <- OpenIGTLink [Option Slicer_USE_OpenIGTLink]
    • OpenIGTLink
  • Core <- OpenIGTLink <- OpenIGTLinkIF [Option Slicer_USE_OpenIGTLinkIF]
    • OpenIGTLinkIF
  • Core <- Built-in Extension
    • ABC
    • BRAINSTools
    • ChangeTrackerPy
    • EMSegment
  • Core <- ITKv4 [Experimental - Option ITK_VERSION_MAJOR = 4]
    • ITKv4
  • Core <- ITKv4 <- SimpleITK [Experimental - Option Slicer_USE_SimpleITK]
    • PCRE
    • SimpleITK
    • Swig

• Libraries living in Slicer repository - Look inside Slicer/Libs directory
  • FreeSurfer
  • IGT
  • MGHImageIO
  • MRML - Contains MRML/CLI, MRML/Core, MRML/DisplayableManager, MRML/IDImageIO, MRML/Logic, MRML/Widgets
  • RemoteIO
  • vtkITK
  • vtkTeem

• The Slicer base classes - Look inside Slicer/Base directory
  • CLI
  • Logic
  • Python
  • QTCLI
  • QTCore
  • QTGUI

• The Slicer application - Look inside Slicer/Applications directory
  • SlicerQT

• Slicer base classes relationship:

Displayable Managers

• Displayable manager: Specialized logic handling both RenderWindow <-> MRML and RenderWindow <-> Logic interactions.

• Motivation: Have a well-designed mechanism to ...
  • ...represent MRML node within a Renderer/RenderWindow.
  • ... handle mouse/keyboard interaction.
  • ... synchronize widget across different views.

• Overview:
  • Each time a viewer is instantiated, it asks a factory to provide him with a DisplayableManagerGroup.
  • DisplayableManagerGroup contain a list of DisplayableManager
  • Each DisplayableManager is associated with Renderer + InteractorStyle

• DisplayableManager
  • Currently, there are two type of DisplayableManager: ThreeD and Slice DisplayableManager - Similar API.
  • Both derive from vtkMRMLAbstractDisplayableManager.
  • ThreeDDisplayableManager [1]: deals with MRMLViewNode / ThreeDInteractorStyle
  • SliceDisplayableManager [2]: deals with MRMLSliceNode / SliceInteractorStyle

• Factories:
  • vtkMRMLThreeDViewDisplayableManagerFactory
  • vtkMRMLSliceViewDisplayableManagerFactory

• DisplayableManager within Module
  • Module can also register DisplayableManager. See qSlicerAnnotationsModule.cxx#L65

• DisplayableManager and Python
  • Mechanism to load python based DisplayableManager
  • Achieved using vtkMRMLScriptedDisplayableManager

• List of DisplayableManager (available in Libs/MRML/DisplayableManager directory)
  • vtkMRMLCameraDisplayableManager
  • vtkMRMLCrosshairDisplayableManager
  • vtkMRMLModelDisplayableManager
  • vtkMRMLModelSliceDisplayableManager
  • vtkMRMLThreeDReformatDisplayableManager
  • vtkMRMLViewDisplayableManager
  • vtkMRMLVolumeGlyphSliceDisplayableManager

Views and Layouts

• Implemented layouts
  • conventionalView
  • fourUpView
  • oneUp3DView
  • oneUpRedView
  • oneUpYellowView
  • oneUpGreenView
  • tabbed3DView
  • tabbedSliceView
  • dual3DView
  • triple3DView
  • conventionalWidescreenView
  • threeOverThreeView
  • fourOverFourView
  • compareView

• Concept
  • Management of Layout and their associated View have been revisited.
  • Layout are now described using a simple XML description. See vtkMRMLLayoutLogic

const char* triple3DEndoscopyView =
  "<layout type=\"vertical\" split=\"true\" >"
  " <item>"
  "  <view class=\"vtkMRMLViewNode\">"
  "   <property name=\"viewlabel\" action=\"default\">1</property>"
  "  </view>"
  " </item>"
  " <item>"
  "  <layout type=\"horizontal\">"
  "   <item>"
  "    <view class=\"vtkMRMLViewNode\" type=\"secondary\">"
  "     <property name=\"viewlabel\" action=\"default\">2</property>"
  "    </view>"
  "   </item>"
  "   <item>"
  "    <view class=\"vtkMRMLViewNode\" type=\"endoscopy\">"
  "     <property name=\"viewlabel\" action=\"default\">3</property>"
  "    </view>"
  "   </item>"
  "  </layout>"
  " </item>"
  "</layout>";

• MRMLLayoutManager
  • Bridge between MRML nodes, Layout description and corresponding Widgets layout.
  • Aggregates a MRMLLayoutLogic
  • Based on ctkLayoutManager

• vtkMRMLLayoutLogic
  • Observes LayoutNode and ViewNodes
  • Ensures that at least one 3D view and three slice views are always in the MRML scene (after a scene is closed or imported).
  • Keeps an up-to-date list of the different MRML view nodes (3D, slice ...) that are mapped into a given layout.

• What's next ?
  • API to ...
    • ... dynamically update a given layout description
    • ... register new layout.