[LV2] Morph extension

David Robillard d at drobilla.net
Tue May 29 19:03:56 PDT 2012


Hi all,

I propose the attached extension which allows ports to change type.  It
is relatively straightforward and defined such that plugins using it
still work in hosts that do not support it (which provides backwards
compatibility for new port types).

Essentially it adds two new port types: MorphPort and AutoMorphPort, and
an interface for setting the type of the former, and getting the type of
the latter.

The MorphPort case is trivial, essentially adding a function like:

LV2_Morph_Status
morph_port(LV2_Handle instance,
           uint32_t   port,
           LV2_URID   type);

to the plugin.  This, I expect, is the 99% case.  There are however
cases where the type of some ports depend on others.  For this,
AutoMorphPort exists, which adds a function like:

LV2_URID (*port_type)(LV2_Handle instance,
                      uint32_t   port);

which the host MUST use to check the type of all AutoMorphPorts after it
changes the type of any MorphPorts.

I am using this to port the blop plugins while eliminating different
plugin variants (which really suck from a user POV).  By default,
controls are ControlPort (and will work fine in hosts that only support
them) but the host can switch them to CVPort.  The AutoMorphPort is for
things like arithmetic plugins that e.g. multiply control/CV inputs.

This one is pretty cut and dry, the only thing I can think of is that
perhaps these functions should be somehow extensible to allow specifying
other information?  Notably, AtomPort indicates its buffer type with a
separate property, and this can't handle that... it would be nice to
handle that case, but a special 'buffer_type' parameters seems a bit
hacky and specific.

Cheers,

-dr
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@prefix dcs:   <http://ontologi.es/doap-changeset#> .
@prefix doap:  <http://usefulinc.com/ns/doap#> .
@prefix foaf:  <http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/> .
@prefix lv2:   <http://lv2plug.in/ns/lv2core#> .
@prefix owl:   <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix rdf:   <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#> .
@prefix rdfs:  <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix morph: <http://lv2plug.in/ns/ext/morph#> .
@prefix xsd:   <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .

<http://lv2plug.in/ns/ext/morph>
	a lv2:Specification ,
		lv2:Feature ;
	rdfs:seeAlso <morph.h> ,
		<../../meta/meta.ttl> ;
	doap:name "LV2 Morph Port Extension" ;
	doap:shortdesc "Ports that can dynamically change type." ;
	doap:created "2012-05-22" ;
	doap:developer <http://drobilla.net/drobilla#me> ;
	lv2:documentation """
<p>This extension defines two port types: morph:MorphPort, which has a
host-configurable type, and morph:AutoMorphPort, which may change type based on
the type of other ports.  These ports always have a default type and work
normally work in hosts that are unaware of this extension.  Thus, this
extension provides a backwards compatibility mechanism which allows plugins to
use new port types but gracefully fall back to a default type in hosts that do
not support them.</p>
""" .

morph:MorphPort
	a rdfs:Class ,
		owl:Class ;
	rdfs:subClassOf lv2:Port ;
	rdfs:label "Morph Port" ;
	lv2:documentation """
<p>Ports of this type MUST have another type which defines the default buffer
format (e.g. lv2:ControlPort) but can be dynamically changed to a different
type in hosts that support morph:interface.</p>

<p>The host may change the type of a MorphPort by calling
LV2_Morph_Port_Interface::morph_port().  If the plugin has any
morph:AutoMorphPort ports, the host MUST check their types after changing any
port type since they may have changed.</p>
""" .

morph:AutoMorphPort
	a rdfs:Class ,
		owl:Class ;
	rdfs:subClassOf lv2:Port ;
	rdfs:label "Auto Morph Port" ;
	lv2:documentation """
<p>Ports of this type MUST have another type which defines the default buffer
format (e.g. lv2:ControlPort) but may dynamically change types based on the
configured types of any morph:MorphPort ports on the same plugin instance.</p>

<p>The type of a port may only change in response to a call to
LV2_Morph_Port_Interface::morph_port(), i.e. ports can only change type as a
result of an explicit host request.  Whenever any port type on the instance
changes, the host MUST check the type of all morph:AutoMorphPort ports on the
instance before calling run() again, since they may have changed.</p>

<p>This is mainly useful for outputs whose type depends on the type of
corresponding inputs.</p>
""" .

morph:interface
	a lv2:ExtensionData ;
	lv2:documentation """
<p>The interface provided by the plugin to support morph ports.  To support
this extension, the plugin must return a LV2_Morph_Port_Interface from
LV2_Descriptor::extension_data() when it is called with this URI
(LV2_STATE__interface).</p> """ .

morph:supportsType
	a rdf:Property ,
		owl:ObjectProperty ;
	rdfs:domain morph:MorphPort ;
	rdfs:label "supports type" ;
	lv2:documentation """
<p>Indicates that a port supports being switched to a certain type via
morph:interface.</p>
""" .


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