How to programmatically run "Grow from seeds" from a C++ module (CMake include issues)

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1

Hi everyone,

I am developing a custom C++ loadable module and I am trying to programmatically run the “Grow from seeds” effect on a segmentation node.

I already have my qMRMLSegmentEditorWidget and vtkMRMLSegmentEditorNode successfully set up, and I have populated the target segmentation and master volume nodes.

Originally, my plan was to grab the effect directly to run the preview and apply it. However, I am completely unable to include qSlicerSegmentEditorAbstractEffect.h. Even after modifying my CMakeLists.txt, I can’t seem to link the effects module, presumably because those headers are kept private/internal.

I also tried bypassing the C++ class entirely by setting attributes directly on the parameter node (e.g., parameterNode->SetAttribute("Grow from seeds.AutoUpdate", "1")). However, because the effect is Python-based, I run into timing issues where my C++ code finishes executing before the Python script actually generates the preview node in the background.

Since I can’t use the effect classes directly due to CMake restrictions, and I want to avoid messy UI-button-clicking hacks in my C++ code, what is the cleanest, recommended way to trigger the “Grow from seeds” calculation and retrieve the resulting preview node?

Thanks in advance for the guidance!

this the cmake


#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
set(MODULE_NAME customSegmentEditor)

string(TOUPPER ${MODULE_NAME} MODULE_NAME_UPPER)

#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
add_subdirectory(Logic)
add_subdirectory(Widgets)

#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
set(MODULE_EXPORT_DIRECTIVE "Q_SLICER_QTMODULES_${MODULE_NAME_UPPER}_EXPORT")

set(MODULE_DEPENDENCIES
  Segmentations
)

# Current_{source,binary} and Slicer_{Libs,Base} already included
set(MODULE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES
  ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/Logic
  ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/Logic
  ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/Widgets
  ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/Widgets
  ${qSlicerSegmentationsModuleWidgets_INCLUDE_DIRS}
  ${qSlicerplanManagerModule_INCLUDE_DIRS}
  ${vtkSlicerplanManagerModuleLogic_INCLUDE_DIRS}
  ${Slicer_SUPERBUILD_DIR}/slicersources-src/Modules/Loadable/Segmentations/EditorEffects
  ${Slicer_DIR}/Modules/Loadable/Segmentations/EditorEffects
  )

set(MODULE_SRCS
  qSlicer${MODULE_NAME}Module.cxx
  qSlicer${MODULE_NAME}Module.h
  qSlicer${MODULE_NAME}ModuleWidget.cxx
  qSlicer${MODULE_NAME}ModuleWidget.h
  )

set(MODULE_UI_SRCS
  Resources/UI/qSlicer${MODULE_NAME}ModuleWidget.ui
  )

set(MODULE_TARGET_LIBRARIES
  vtkSlicer${MODULE_NAME}ModuleLogic
  qSlicer${MODULE_NAME}ModuleWidgets
  qSlicerSegmentationsModuleWidgets
  vtkSlicerSegmentationsModuleLogic
  vtkSlicerSegmentationsModuleMRML
  vtkSlicerplanManagerModuleLogic
  qSlicerplanManagerModule
  vtkSliceracpcTransformCustomModuleLogic
  qSlicerSegmentationsEditorsEffects
  )

set(MODULE_RESOURCES
  Resources/qSlicer${MODULE_NAME}Module.qrc
  )

#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
slicerMacroBuildLoadableModule(
  NAME ${MODULE_NAME}
  EXPORT_DIRECTIVE ${MODULE_EXPORT_DIRECTIVE}
  INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES ${MODULE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES}
  SRCS ${MODULE_SRCS}
  UI_SRCS ${MODULE_UI_SRCS}
  TARGET_LIBRARIES ${MODULE_TARGET_LIBRARIES}
  RESOURCES ${MODULE_RESOURCES}
  WITH_GENERIC_TESTS
  )

#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
if(BUILD_TESTING)
  add_subdirectory(Testing)
endif()

This is my cmake. but still this is giving me this error.

/home/venkatesh-23803/vtitan/brain_probe_path_planning/src/vTitanNavWithPlanner/Planner/customSegmentEditor/qSlicercustomSegmentEditorModuleWidget.cxx:40:10: fatal error: qSlicerSegmentEditorAbstractEffect.h: No such file or directory40 | #include “qSlicerSegmentEditorAbstractEffect.h”|          ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~compilation terminated.

And this is how I changed the brush diameter without using the qSlicer abstract effect type.

if (d->SegmentEditorWidget)
  {
    // qSlicerSegmentEditorAbstractEffect *paintEffect = d->SegmentEditorWidget->effectByName("Paint");
    // qSlicerSegmentEditorAbstractEffect *eraseEffect = d->SegmentEditorWidget->effectByName("Erase");

    // if (paintEffect)
    //   paintEffect->setParameter(diameter);
    // if (eraseEffect)
    //   eraseEffect->setParameter(diameter);
    vtkMRMLSegmentEditorNode* parameterNode = d->SegmentEditorWidget->mrmlSegmentEditorNode();

    if (parameterNode)
    {
      //  Write the brush size directly into the node's background dictionary!
      // (We use std::to_string to convert the double into text)
      parameterNode->SetAttribute("BrushDiameterIsRelative", "0");
      parameterNode->SetAttribute("BrushAbsoluteDiameter", std::to_string(diameter).c_str());
    }
  }