NDEVR API Documentation

Introduction

The NDEVR SDK is a cross-platform C++/Qt framework for 3D visualization, hardware integration, design object management, and file I/O. It targets Windows, Android, and Web (WASM/Emscripten) platforms.

The API is organized into modular DLLs, each providing a focused set of functionality. All public types reside in the NDEVR namespace.

Topic Guide

Browse the API by topic:

Category	Topics	Description
Core	Design Core, Database, Threading	Design objects, table storage, concurrency
Data Types	Math, Color Types, Strings, Buffers	Vectors, colors, strings, containers
Design	Custom Models, Geometry, Design Commands	Model subclasses, geometry ops, undo/redo
Visualization	Graphics, Selection, Units and Projections	Rendering, selection, coordinate systems
Hardware	Devices, Scanners, Connections, Deployments	Sensors, scanners, communication, drill holes
File I/O	IO Factories, File IO	Format handlers, file access, serialization
UI	Widgets, Input	Qt widgets, keyboard/mouse controllers
Services	Software Services, Log Streams	Runtime services, logging

Architecture Overview

The SDK follows a layered architecture:

• Base provides fundamental types: String, Buffer, Vector, Matrix, Angle, File, Thread, UUID, and the module system.
• Database implements a columnar table storage engine with typed columns (TableColumn, Table).
• Design builds the scene graph on top of Database: DesignObject, Model, Geometry, Material, Effect, and Camera.
• Hardware abstracts physical devices: sensors (OrientationSensor, PositionSensor, RangeSensor), scanners (Scanner3D), and connections (SerialPort, Bluetooth, Network).
• IOFactory provides a plugin-based file I/O system supporting 40+ formats (NDV, E57, LAS, DXF, KML, SHP, etc.).
• Widgets extends Qt with NDEVR-specific controls: Button, QCustomComboBox, QCustomLineEdit, Ribbon, and dock management.
• Graphics renders the scene via Vulkan or OpenGL ES backends.

Getting Started

1. Run SetupEnvironment.bat from the repo root to set required environment variables.
2. Open VS/NDEVR.sln in Visual Studio with Qt 6.0+ integrated.
3. Build the solution. All modules compile as DLLs.

Key entry points:

• DesignObjectLookup – Central registry for all design objects in a project.
• ModelFactory – Reads and writes files via registered IOFactory plugins.
• Camera – Manages 3D viewport state (position, orientation, projection).
• Model – Base class for all scene graph nodes; subclassed by 60+ specialized types.

Namespace

All API types are in the NDEVR namespace:

using namespace NDEVR;
Model model = lookup->getModel(id);
RGBColor color(255, 0, 0);
String name = model.getProperty<String>(DesignParameterAccumulator::e_name);

See also

Design Core for the foundational design classes.

Custom Models for the full list of Model subclasses.

IO Factories for supported file formats.