[gmpi] Re: Topic 1: Audience for and users of plugins

i don't believe that this example counters my claim that GMPI doesn't
have to consider networking. plugins as we have defined them (we have
defined them, right? :)) are not standalone pieces of code. they do
not execute outside a host context. ergo, networking is not to/from
plugins, but to/from hosts. hosts communicating with hosts is not part
of what GMPI covers.

That's the crux of the issue. Can a plug communicate with the host, or its own GUI, via a network?

Bill

From a goal-setting standpoint, I think it's enough to say that we would like GMPI to support that possibility if a way can be found to do it without hurting performance nor adding too much complexity for hosts and applications where that functionality isn't needed or wanted.

-- Chris


<potentially-off-topic>

Personally I think it -should- be possible, by designing the communication mechanisms appropriately. E.g., if we use a data-driven (e.g. message) approach to the communication of control settings and music/MIDI events (as opposed to a purely API-driven approach), then it becomes quite a bit easier to leave it to the hosts to figure out how to move the small-ish message packets around -- whether between multiple GMPI host applications on the same machine, or to/from another GMPI host running on another machine across a network -- if needed. So the plug-in API itself tends to simplify down -- it tends to look more like processMessage( &myImmediateMessage ) rather than doThisThing( param1, ... param N ) & doThatThing( param1, ... param N ) & doThatOtherThing( param1, ... param N ). That kind of approach might solve part of the problem.

On the other hand, I'm not comfortable just assuming that the same method would be sufficient for the general problem of connecting audio streams between GMPI plug-ins running in different hosts and communicating across a network, or for bridging between a GMPI host's processor space and DSP-land within the same machine -- when we get to that stage, I'd like to see some other people's thoughts on whether there are any similarly transparent approaches for those parts of the problem.

</potentially-off-topic>

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