2.2. Filters & Pipelines

To process data through DREAM3D-NX, the user will need to insert one or more Filters into a Pipeline, and then execute or “Run” the pipeline.

Filters

A Filter can be considered an operation that is performed on the DataStructure. The operation can be one of basic data array modification, creation of new data arrays, deletion of data arrays, reading data from disk, writing data to disk or any other operation that a developer can program. Filters typically require input from the user in the form of Filter Parameters. Each filter parameter allows the user to set a specific input value that the filter will use to properly execute itself. There are many kinds of filter parameters available through out DREAM3D-NX ranging from simple string and numeric values to more complex parameters such as reading data from a CSV data file.

For more information about how to find Filters in the interface, see the Filter List View section.

Pipeline

A Pipeline is a collection of filters that are executed in the order in which they are inserted into the pipeline. Pipelines execute in a linear order and do not have any ability to loop or branch (yet). Pipelines are saved as standard JSON fomratted text files. More information on creating Pipelines can be found in the Creating A Pipeline section.

A Visual Programming Paradigm

If one considers each filter to act like a ‘function’ from a programming language, then the filter parameters are the arguments to that function. By allowing the user to hook together multiple filters into processing ‘pipeline’ the real power of DREAM3D-NX can truly be realized. By using DREAM3D-NX user interface non-programmers can easily “program” a larger data processing algorithm that includes many smaller algorithms (filters).