On Fri, May 14, 2004 at 08:10:32PM +0100, Steve Harris wrote: > On Fri, May 14, 2004 at 07:07:59 +0200, Fons Adriaensen wrote: > > On Fri, May 14, 2004 at 12:01:01PM -0400, Paul Davis wrote: > > > >I don't mind *IFF* the metadata file has a simple, human readable > > > >syntax (no XML please) that can be parsed line by line. > > > > > > no XML, and yes, parsable line by line, and yes, human readable. *but* > > > the plan should be to use the supplied library to get and set > > > values. nobody should be doing it themselves otherwise we end up with > > > an almighty mess. > > > > ??? Not if the data format is specified. I will fiercely resist any > > standard that is defined as a library interface. > > Me too, I'd like generic metadata handlign engines to be bale to process > the plugin descriptions (eg. for documentation servers and whatnot).
For this application, I'd very much like to see something based on OSC, or a subset of it. After all, we're dealing with sound plugins here. For example: (<plugin> stands for the unique name of a plugin) /<plugin>/addport <name> /<plugin>/port/<name>/range 0 10 /<plugin>/port/<name>/default 5 /<plugin>/port/<name>/unit octaves This is a trivial example of course, for a real format we'll have to think about grouping, port types, etc. The underlying idea here is that a command language can be used for configuration as well, and that the _description_ of a plugin is in fact used to _configure_ its host in order for it to be able to host the plugin. Now if a host has already the code to accept OSC commands for plugins, why not use a simple extension of the same code for initialisation as well? For example, AMS allows the user to redefine the range of a control port. Imagine an implementation where the audio part and the GUI are separete processes, talking to each other via OSC. The same message that is used to dynamically redefine a slider range can be used to set its initial range, so it would be natural to already have it in that format in the plugin description. Maybe I'm just dreaming... -- Fons
