These instructions are gathered from the different documents available on Paraview and Visualizer websites.
The following instructions are for Apache on Ubuntu, similar setup could be done with other servers.
- Install Apache packages
sudo apt-get install apache2-dev apache2 libapr1-dev apache2-utils- enable the required apache modules
sudo a2enmod vhost_alias
sudo a2enmod proxy
sudo a2enmod proxy_http
sudo a2enmod proxy_wstunnel
sudo a2enmod rewrite-
create a new site config file (e.g.
mysite.conf) in/etc/apache2/site-available -
configure it with your custom path (where you see
/path/to/), here is an example:
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName localhost
ServerAdmin admin@mycompany.com
DocumentRoot /path/to/data
ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log
CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log combined
<Directory "/path/to/data">
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
Order allow,deny
Allow from all
AllowOverride None
Require all granted
</Directory>
# Handle launcher forwarding
# port and endpoint should match launcher.config
ProxyPass /paraview http://localhost:8080/paraview
# Handle WebSocket forwarding
RewriteEngine On
# This is the path the mapping file Jetty creates
# path to proxy should match launcher.config
RewriteMap session-to-port txt:/path/to/proxy.txt
# This is the rewrite condition. Look for anything with a sessionId= in the query part of the URL and capture the value to use below.
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^sessionId=(.*)&path=(.*)$ [NC]
# This does the rewrite using the mapping file and the sessionId
RewriteRule ^/proxy.*$ ws://${session-to-port:%1}/%2 [P]
</VirtualHost>
- make a symlink in
site-enabled
cd /etc/apache2/site-enabled
ln -s ../site-available/mysite.conf mysite.conf- enable the virtual host and restart Apache
sudo a2ensite mysite.conf
sudo service apache2 restart
# Check the Apache log just to make sure
# If you get issue with Apache not properly listening,
# disable the default host
sudo a2dissite 000-default.confIn a nutshell, the server will receive requests from the client and act on it.
In case of our launcher, we get a POST request that will trigger a new instance
of Visualizer to be launched. To get the full detail on how the API works,
visit ParaViewWeb documentation.
-
Download the Paraview binaries and extract them under your path of choice.
-
create a new file
launcher.config, same as before, replace occurences of/path/to/with your custom path. In our case, the client will be sending an extra keydatawhich will point to the filename of a data file to be loaded by default. This extra key is treated on the launcher side by the keyword${data}:
{
"configuration": {
"host" : "localhost",
"port" : 8080,
"endpoint": "paraview",
"content": "/path/to/static/www",
"proxy_file" : "/path/to/proxy.txt",
"sessionURL" : "ws://${host}:${port}/ws",
"timeout" : 300,
"log_dir" : "/path/to/logs",
"upload_dir" : "/optional/path/to/upload/dir",
"fields" : ["file", "host", "port", "updir"]
},
"resources" : [ { "host" : "localhost", "port_range" : [9001, 9003] } ],
"properties" : {
"python_exec" : "/path/to/paraview/home/bin/pvpython",
},
"apps": {
"visualizer": {
"cmd": [
"${python_exec}", "-dr", "/path/to/visualizer/server/pvw-visualizer.py",
"--port", "${port}", "-f", "--authKey", "${secret}",
"--data", "/path/to/data", "--load-file", "${data}"
],
"ready_line" : "Starting factory"
}
}
}Note: JSON file do not accept comments line, remove them if you added any first.
It is important that the port, host and /path/to/proxy.txt match between the server config and the launcher.
Feel free to add extra-options, make sure they are sent by the web client from
dist/index.html when connecting to the server:
// grab the parameter from the URL
function getUrlParameter(name) {
name = name.replace(/[\[]/, '\\[').replace(/[\]]/, '\\]');
var regex = new RegExp('[\\?&]' + name + '=([^&#]*)');
var results = regex.exec(location.search);
return results === null ? '' : decodeURIComponent(results[1].replace(/\+/g, ' '));
};
Visualizer.connect({
application: 'visualizer',
data: getUrlParameter('data') + '.vti',
extra_param_1: 'extra_value_1',
[...]
});- Finally start the server
export PV_HOME=/path/to/paraview
$PV_HOME/bin/pvpython $PV_HOME/lib/python2.7/site-packages/vtk/web/launcher.py /path/to/launcher.config- Navigate with your web browser to host:port, it should start a new instance of Visualizer. To load data at startup, simply pass it as parameter in your query, e.g.:
http://localhost:8080/?data=my_data
Hi Claude,
I followed the instructions over here with some modifications since I was having problems. Finally, I was able to configure the Apache front end with the ParaView Web launcher, and now I can view the index page of the visualizer. However, when I choose any of the sample files, they are not being rendered in the visualizer pane. The changes I made are as follows:
{ "configuration": { "host" : "localhost", "port" : 9000, "endpoint": "paraview", "content": "C:/paraview/ParaView5.2.0/share/paraview-5.2/web/visualizer/www", "proxy_file" : "C:/paraview/ParaView5.2.0/proxy.txt", "sessionURL" : "ws://paraview:80/proxy?sessionId=${id}&path=ws", "timeout" : 300, "log_dir" : "C:/paraview/ParaView5.2.0/log/", "fields" : ["host", "port"] }, "resources" : [ { "host" : "localhost", "port_range" : [9001, 9999] } ], "properties" : { "python_exec" : "C:/paraview/ParaView5.2.0/bin/pvpython.exe", "visualizer": "C:/paraview/ParaView5.2.0/share/paraview-5.2/web/visualizer/server/pvw-visualizer.py", "data_dir": "C:/paraview/ParaView5.2.0/data" }, "apps": { "visualizer": { "cmd": [ "${python_exec}", "-dr", "${visualizer}", "--port", "${port}", "--data", "${data_dir}", "--authKey", "${secret}" ], "ready_line" : "Starting factory" } } }Note:
"sessionURL" : "ws://${host}:${port}/ws"-fbefore the--authKey. Was not sure why the-fwas thereThe ParaView Web server can be accessed through the url:
http://paraviewWith the above setup, I am able to open the visualizer page, but not able to open a file (eg: can.ex2) and render it in the Visualizer pane.
Screenshot:
However, I am able to move the orientation axes. Also, there are not errors being shown the the browsers developer's console.