A but out of left field, but I have used a simple Python server to host a database lookup over OSC. The Pd patch then sent queries and the answer came over OSC. This of course is a "system" and not all "within Pd" however would be a relatively futureproof approach as long as you use stable Python APIs.
As for [text], if it's too focused/complicated, maybe we should make a [dict] proposal? > On Feb 9, 2026, at 3:09 PM, Alexandre Torres Porres <[email protected]> wrote: > > Like I said, pd has data structures for arrays whose elements can be symbols > or other arrays nested in any depth, but this is impractical to work with. If > anyone ever made discriminators with nested dictionaries on it or nested > lists, I’d like to know, but where I’m getting at is that maybe we already > have the structure in pd to work with such things and perhaps we can just > improve it a bit? > > If not, we’d need formally a new data type so we can do all of this. Lua has > something that allows us to deal with nested lists and dictionaries, so maybe > something like that. Of course, like I also said, we can natively support > lua, but if this is the sole reason, a better actual solution would be this > new data type. > > An object like dict from max would be cool and I don’t think it’s possible to > build it with a text object. We need to be able to set and visualize nested > data and text is only capable of setting and viewing lines > > Cheers > > On Mon, 9 Feb 2026 at 06:20 Patrice Colet <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> hello, >> >> [text] object is quite a powerfull tool for building data structures, >> meanwhile it often need some safe recursive search. >> >> I'm working on a lua script for experimenting json on pd world if anyone >> wants to try: >> >> critapec-pd-externals/pdjson at main · patricecolet/critapec-pd-externals >> github.com >> <apple-touch-icon-180x180-a80b8e11abe2.png> >> >> <https://github.com/patricecolet/critapec-pd-externals/tree/main/pdjson>critapec-pd-externals/pdjson >> at main · patricecolet/critapec-pd-externals >> <https://github.com/patricecolet/critapec-pd-externals/tree/main/pdjson> >> github.com >> <https://github.com/patricecolet/critapec-pd-externals/tree/main/pdjson> >> <apple-touch-icon-180x180-a80b8e11abe2.png> >> <https://github.com/patricecolet/critapec-pd-externals/tree/main/pdjson> >> >> It's still experimental, but maybe it could give some clues about sharing >> json and pd structures. >> >> >>> Le 9 févr. 2026 à 09:56, Dan Wilcox <[email protected] >>> <mailto:[email protected]>> a écrit : >>> >>> Maybe this is a good time to propose a *native* dictionary or dict-style >>> functionality. Maybe it comes down to a special mode for [text] etc? There >>> is a symbol name map in the rjlib but I'd also like something more flexible. >>> >>>> On Feb 9, 2026, at 9:15 AM, Pierre Alexandre Tremblay <[email protected] >>>> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >>>> >>>> we do tap on one of these in flucoma, so if I do a fluid.dictionary it’ll >>>> be this that I use indeed. I just try to keep maintenance of codebase to >>>> minimum, and dependencies to null. >>>> >>>> p >>>> >>>>> On 8 Feb 2026, at 20:53, Dan Wilcox <[email protected] >>>>> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Unless the usage is very basic, I think plain vanilla as a requirement >>>>> does not make sense for this. There are numerous C and C++ libraries >>>>> which handle the basics and should be leveraged instead of reading bytes >>>>> with [file] or something similar. Best of all, many of these libraries >>>>> are only 1-2 files, so making a light wrapper external with minimal >>>>> requirements for compilation should not be huge issue IMO. >>>>> >>>>>> On Feb 8, 2026, at 8:04 PM, hans w. koch <[email protected] >>>>>> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> hello pierre alexandre, >>>>>> >>>>>> a while ago i made a parser for .kml files (xml files recorded by >>>>>> bycicle route trackers) for a friend to sonify her tours. >>>>>> its plain vanilla and was a pita to make :-) >>>>>> if thats interesting for you, i can send you a copy of the patch. >>>>>> >>>>>> cheers >>>>>> >>>>>> hans >>>>>> >>>>>>> Am 08.02.2026 um 17:48 schrieb Pierre Alexandre Tremblay >>>>>>> <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>: >>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> did you have a look at the purest_json library, does it help? >>>>>>> I didn’t but I saw it was neither vanilla nor available for all CPUs, >>>>>>> so that won’t be helpful in my case (except if I decide to tackle a >>>>>>> fluid.dictionary external which i don’t want to if I can avoid it) >>>>>>> >>>>>>> hence asking if there was a native version/hack. I’ll look at >>>>>>> Alexandre’s abstraction, that might do the trick. The idea would be to >>>>>>> be able to dump fluid* status (mlp for instance) in text, edit, then >>>>>>> load them back. This has been seen as useful on other platforms, so I’m >>>>>>> trying to find a way… >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> BACH library for Pd. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> now, that is a fun challenge ;) I was talking to both Daniele and >>>>>>> Andrea about this in the last year… it would be a fantastic addition >>>>>>> obviously but I don’t envy the person who will do that job >>>>>>> >>>>>>> p >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> On 8 Feb 2026, at 17:38, João Pais <[email protected] >>>>>>>> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> did you have a look at the purest_json library, does it help? >>>>>>>>> Dear all >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Apart the fact that flucoma releases (and nightles soon) are on deken >>>>>>>>> (hurray!), I am slowly getting back in trying to add the last bit >>>>>>>>> missing to our interface… but the lack of native dictionary style >>>>>>>>> file/data structure is not helping us to keep the structured (json >>>>>>>>> style) states of objects simply yet programmatically editable (like >>>>>>>>> in max and supercollider) >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> here is an example of one of our user’s clever use of the text object >>>>>>>>> despite its limits >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> https://discourse.flucoma.org/t/way-of-modifying-state-of-fluid-robustscale-in-puredata/2717/16 >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> now I know there are “pd structure” magicians on here, and maybe >>>>>>>>> someone has had the idea to create a sort of hack to parse json >>>>>>>>> files, or even general dictionaries of associative key-values? >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Ideally, I’d be able to access those in the C api… but a temp json >>>>>>>>> file is also possible on the way, we do that with SuperCollider >>>>>>>>> anyway. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> any pointers (pun intended) welcome >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> p >>>>>>>>> --- >>>>>>>>> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> - the Pure Data >>>>>>>>> mailinglist >>>>>>>>> https://lists.iem.at/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/YWXEUDCIFKZH5ZHUAPXYZSCA6Q2J4OBX/ >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >>>>>>>>> <mailto:[email protected]> mailing list >>>>>>>>> UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> https://lists.i >>>>>>>>> <https://lists.i/> >>>>>>>> --- >>>>>>>> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> - the Pure Data >>>>>>>> mailinglist >>>>>>>> https://lists.iem.at/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/QI3VZVQVMYJG7XWAJSAHDBBGY76YH4UM/ >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >>>>>>>> <mailto:[email protected]> mailing list >>>>>>>> UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> https://lists.iem.at/ >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> --- >>>>>>> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> - the Pure Data >>>>>>> mailinglist >>>>>>> https://lists.iem.at/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/FDMWVTTF62B3D5JIPJM5Q4KOJVLV2OLM/ >>>>>>> >>>>>>> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >>>>>>> <mailto:[email protected]> mailing list >>>>>>> UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> https://lists.iem.at/ >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> --- >>>>>> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> - the Pure Data >>>>>> mailinglist >>>>>> https://lists.iem.at/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/V5ZSSTMQSAG53TNV65MQHHQ6MHE7VU4P/ >>>>>> >>>>>> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >>>>>> <mailto:[email protected]> mailing list >>>>>> UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> https://lists.iem.at/ >>>>> >>>>> -------- >>>>> Dan Wilcox >>>>> danomatika.com <http://danomatika.com/> >>>>> robotcowboy.com <http://robotcowboy.com/> >>>> >>> >>> -------- >>> Dan Wilcox >>> danomatika.com <http://danomatika.com/> >>> robotcowboy.com <http://robotcowboy.com/> >>> --- >>> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> - the Pure Data >>> mailinglist >>> https://lists.iem.at/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/WKWXXMDY5CXVIFUZSLICJPGALSJHFLRU/ >>> >>> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >>> <mailto:[email protected]> mailing list >>> UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> https://lists.iem.at/ >> >> --- >> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> - the Pure Data >> mailinglist >> https://lists.iem.at/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/D3DGTVM2RBPLN5CKWQYJAY4AEHH473XP/ >> >> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]> mailing list >> UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> https://lists.iem.at/ > --- > [email protected] - the Pure Data mailinglist > https://lists.iem.at/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/R3G4OAUQLNVMPQTTAOTYUM2MGDARCJGH/ > > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] mailing list > UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> https://lists.iem.at/ -------- Dan Wilcox danomatika.com <http://danomatika.com/> robotcowboy.com <http://robotcowboy.com/>
--- [email protected] - the Pure Data mailinglist https://lists.iem.at/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/OLHAH4YNCEUF7EKABOWN7P6MIGZ65CT6/ To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] mailing list UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> https://lists.iem.at/
