# DeleteCells

VTKExamples/Cxx/PolyData/DeleteCells

### Description

This example demonstrates how to delete a cell from a vtkPolyData. This is a three-step process: first, build upward-links from points to cells; second, mark cells for deletion; third, delete the marked cells. The first step is necessary to create a data structure suitable for efficient delete operations. Creating this data structure is computationally expensive, so it is only carried out before operations that need it, e.g. those that require changes to the topology.

### Code

DeleteCells.cxx

    #include <vtkActor.h>
    #include <vtkCellArray.h>
    #include <vtkLine.h>
    #include <vtkPoints.h>
    #include <vtkPolyData.h>
    #include <vtkPolyDataMapper.h>
    #include <vtkRenderer.h>
    #include <vtkRenderWindow.h>
    #include <vtkRenderWindowInteractor.h>
    #include <vtkSmartPointer.h>

    int main(int, char *[])
    {
      vtkSmartPointer<vtkPoints> points =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkPoints>::New();
      points->InsertNextPoint(0,0,0);
      points->InsertNextPoint(1,0,0);
      points->InsertNextPoint(1,1,0);
      points->InsertNextPoint(0,1,0);

      vtkSmartPointer<vtkLine> line0 =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkLine>::New();
      line0->GetPointIds()->SetId(0, 0);
      line0->GetPointIds()->SetId(1, 1);

      vtkSmartPointer<vtkLine> line1 =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkLine>::New();
      line1->GetPointIds()->SetId(0, 1);
      line1->GetPointIds()->SetId(1, 2);

      vtkSmartPointer<vtkLine> line2 =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkLine>::New();
      line2->GetPointIds()->SetId(0, 2);
      line2->GetPointIds()->SetId(1, 3);

      vtkSmartPointer<vtkCellArray> lines =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkCellArray>::New();
      lines->InsertNextCell(line0);
      lines->InsertNextCell(line1);
      lines->InsertNextCell(line2);

      vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyData> polydata =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyData>::New();
      polydata->SetPoints(points);
      polydata->SetLines(lines);

      // Tell the polydata to build 'upward' links from points to cells.
      polydata->BuildLinks();
      // Mark a cell as deleted.
      polydata->DeleteCell(1);
      // Remove the marked cell.
      polydata->RemoveDeletedCells();

      // Visualize
      vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyDataMapper> mapper =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkPolyDataMapper>::New();
      mapper->SetInputDataObject(polydata);

      vtkSmartPointer<vtkActor> actor =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkActor>::New();
      actor->SetMapper(mapper);

      vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderer> renderer =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderer>::New();
      vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderWindow> renderWindow =
        vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderWindow>::New();
      renderWindow->AddRenderer(renderer);
      vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderWindowInteractor> renderWindowInteractor =
          vtkSmartPointer<vtkRenderWindowInteractor>::New();
      renderWindowInteractor->SetRenderWindow(renderWindow);
      renderer->AddActor(actor);

      renderWindow->Render();
      renderWindowInteractor->Start();

      return EXIT_SUCCESS;
    }

### CMakeLists.txt

    cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)

    PROJECT(DeleteCells)

    find_package(VTK REQUIRED)
    include(${VTK_USE_FILE})

    add_executable(DeleteCells MACOSX_BUNDLE DeleteCells.cxx)

    target_link_libraries(DeleteCells ${VTK_LIBRARIES})

### Download and Build DeleteCells

Danger

The generation of tar files has not been ported to the new VTKExamples. Some tarballs may be missing or out-of-date.

Click here to download DeleteCells and its CMakeLists.txt file. Once the tarball DeleteCells.tar has been downloaded and extracted,

    cd DeleteCells/build

If VTK is installed:

    cmake ..

If VTK is not installed but compiled on your system, you will need to specify the path to your VTK build:

    cmake -DVTK_DIR:PATH=/home/me/vtk_build ..

Build the project:

    make

and run it:

    ./DeleteCells

WINDOWS USERS PLEASE NOTE: Be sure to add the VTK bin directory to your path. This will resolve the VTK dll's at run time.