38. Locating files and resources

All resources (images, models, scripts) and runtime libraries (.dll/.so) are located using the singleton class agxIO::Environment. Currently there are two separate types of files:

• Runtime files: .dll (WIN32), .so (Unix), .dylib (OSX)

• Resource files: (.png, .obj, .png, .cfg, .agxPy, .schema, .agxKernel)

• Textures and models: (For example .png, jpg, .obj, .stl etc.)

The path where these files can be found can be either controlled using environment variables as specified in Section 39, or programmatically using the agxIO::Environment class. This should be done before creating any other AGX object where file reading will be involved.

// Get a file path container to where runtime files are searched
agx::FilePathContainer& runtime_path =
  agxIO::Environment::instance()->getFilePath(
      agxIO::Environment::RUNTIME_PATH );

runtime_path.clear(); // Remove all previous settings
runtime_path.pushbackPath( "MyPath/plugins" );

// Try to find a file in the specified path
std::string filename = runtime_path.find( "plugin.dll" );

Same procedure can be done for RESOURCE_PATH to specify in what directories images, models, scripts and other non-runtime resources should be searched for.

// Get a file path container to where resource files are searched
agx::FilePathContainer& resource_path =
  agxIO::Environment::instance()->getFilePath(
      agxIO::Environment::RESOURCE_PATH );

resource_path.clear(); // Remove all previous settings
resource_path.pushbackPath( "MyPath/data/images;MyPath/data/models;" );
resource_path.pushbackPath( "MyPath/data/textures" );

// Try to find a file in the specified path
std::string filename = resource_path.find( "heightfield.png" );

In the windows version ‘;’ should be used to separate paths, and under UNIX the ‘:’ letter is used. Paths can be absolute or relative.