This chapter will describe the EnSight User Defined Reader Version 1.0 API. Starting with EnSight Version 6.0, the 1.0 API has been available. It was designed to be friendly to those producing it (especially if a global coordinate array is a hallmark of your data format).

It does, however, require more manipulation internally by EnSight, which may require more memory and processing time. Thus, you may want to also consider the 2.0 API as described in User Defined Reader Version 2.0 API.

If you already have a working 1.0 API reader and are happy with it - there is probably no reason to modify it to the 2.0 API unless you deal with large models and the memory use and load times are a problem, or you need any of the additional capabilities that the 2.0 API provides.

If you are producing a new reader, you should consider which will work best for your needs.

Further discussion on the philosophical differences between the two API's can be found in User Defined Reader APIs.

If you wish to convert an existing 1.0 API reader to the 2.0 API, see Converting a 1.0 API Reader to a 2.0 API READER.

The process for producing the dynamic shared library is described in How To Produce A User Defined Reader.