C++ Plugins

Introduction

With the C++ Plugin capability, users may create custom contact models in C++ to be loaded at runtime. Custom contact models are loaded with the program load contactmodelmechanical command.

For Linux users, please use the following steps:

  1. Copy the contents of “/opt/itascasoftware/v900/pluginfiles/contactmodel/example” to a working directory.

  2. Follow the comments at the top of the “CMakeLists.txt” file from that directory to install the required Linux libraries and compile the shared object file from the command line. One could also use an IDE, such as Qt Creator.

  3. Copy the compiled shared object file to {“/opt/itascasoftware/v900/plugins/contactmodelmechanical2d” in 2D; “/opt/itascasoftware/v900/plugins/contactmodelmechanical3d” in 3D}.

For Windows users, please use the following steps:

  1. Download the the Qt installer from: https://www.qt.io/download-qt-installer. Run the installer. Once the meta information from the repository is loaded select the install location “c:\qt\5.15.2”. Select version 5.15.2 only to install. At a minimum, the MSVC2019 64-bit and Sources boxes must be checked. Set the system environment variable QTDIR515 to be the Qt installation path (i.e., “c:\qt\5.15.2”).

  2. Install Microsoft Visual Studio 2022, ensuring that the C++ CMake tools for Windows are installed as well.

  3. Copy the contents of “PluginFiles\contactmodel\example” from the PFC installation directory to a working directory.

  4. Use the Open File or Directory option in Visual Studio to open the working directory. The “CMakeLists.txt” file presumes that the PFC installation directory is “c:\Program Files\Itasca\ItascaSoftware900” and that the Qt installation directory is defined via the environment variable QTDIR515.

  5. Compile with target {Release2D in 2D; Release3D in 3D}. Copy the newly created dll file to {“exe64\plugins\contactmodelmechanical2d” in 2D; “exe64\plugins\contactmodelmechanical3d” in 3D}.