Hi Chris, Are you sure this is really needed? GAL is also used in other dialogs, such as footprint browser or pad properties editor, and they do not seem to take a lot of time to load. What is the initialization time we are speaking about?
Anyway, if you are determined to optimize it, it is only a win for everyone. I do not think we have ever tried keeping a GAL instance without showing it, but IMHO it should be possible. OpenGL GAL/Linux combination might be whining if you start rendering when the window is not visible, but you may simply call DRAW_PANEL_GAL::StopDrawing() and DRAW_PANEL_GAL::StartDrawing() as necessary. Regarding rendering to memory, it actually happens behind the scenes. For Cairo the memory is easily accesible (CAIRO_GAL::wxOutput, CAIRO_GAL::bitmapBuffer). OpenGL renders most of the objects (grid is an exception) to a framebuffer. Admitted, this is GPU memory, but it might be read using glReadPixels(). Regards, Orson On 03/09/2017 08:27 PM, Chris Pavlina wrote: > I'm trying to speed up my new component selector, since the previous one > loaded and searched so quickly. I don't want a serious efficiency > regression in one of the most used dialogs in eeschema. > > Since optimizing the column sizing cache and data sorting, the slowest > part is now loading FOOTPRINT_PREVIEW_PANEL, which has to initialize a > GAL. > > Tom/Orson/anyone else who knows GAL - can you think of a reasonable way > to either speed up the initialization or retain an initialized copy > between dialog invocations? I'm thinking about just keeping the dialog > in memory all the time and hiding it when not in use instead of > destroying and reinstantiating it - will this cause any problems with > GAL no longer having something to draw to? (Bear in mind I'm unfamiliar > with both GAL and how wxWidgets handles graphics here.) > > If it provides any relevant information, I'm currently forcing Cairo > mode in the component selector, to avoid having to deal with graphics > support in a simple dialog (since drawing efficiency is not required). > _______________________________________________ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers Post to : [email protected] Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
