[gmpi] Re: lost-n-found #5 - GUI windows

  • From: Sebastien Metrot <meeloo@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: gmpi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2004 02:04:31 +0100

Hi all!

Many people assume that because no host currently proposes the feature of having multiple editing window per plugin, there is no interest in permiting this possibility. This may stand true for simple plugins (FXs mostly). For synth or samplers, on the other hand, having multiple editing windows can be a relief: it permits to delegate some parts of the editing to another window. We are currently VERY limited by the design choices we have to make in order to have only one window: almost every pro synth and plugin now have multiple pages. Pages are cumbersome to use, it doesn't permit to have many informations on the screen at the same time, it forces the user to flex his mouse muscles all the time to swap from one page to another.

Another thing that would be quite a relief: resizable windows! Why on earth are still stuck in a fixed size world?

Plugins and their UI are becoming increasingly big (not to say complicated). Sometime their dev time becomes on par with the one of a host. Would anybody want to force a host to be built with only ONE window? And a fixed one? I think not :).

I think GMPI should support:
- plugins UIs with multiple windows (with possibly a diferent content of course)
- resizable windows, externaly (the user can resize the window with the standard controls for his OS/WM) and internaly (the plugin can decide to set its size to (w,h) ).

Another thing that is amazingly anoying on existing plugin APIs: keyboard handling. Every host is ultra diferent. There is currently no way for a plugin to handle keystrokes in a standardized manner. We need a way for the plugin to expose its potential keybindings to the hosts so it can honnor them, and even possibly let the user change them in a standard way if the host permits it. A plugin may also need to grab the full keyboard for a limited time, for example to let the user type a string, rename a sample, enter a keycode to unlock the protection, etc... We're growing tired to the bunch of tricks we had to develop for all the hosts/platforms: hidden windows, transparent windows on top of the plugin, windows hooks, etc...

I would really like the plugins to become first class citizen of the hosts. Instead of competing for UI resources may be there a way we could share them?

Sebastien Metrot
www.usbsounds.com


Koen Tanghe wrote:

On Tuesday, November 23, 2004 3:58 PM [GMT+1=CET],
Ron Kuper <xxxRonKuper@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:



IMO GMPI requirements should say a plugin can have at most ONE editor.
The editor is hosted a la VST or DirectX, you give it a "parent window"
the plugin does what it wants within.

I am opposed to multiple editors. What does it mean for a plugin to
have 2 editors open at the same time in the same host? The user can
only interact with one at a time anyway, so it seems like a needless
generalization. Allowing it also means a plugin has to manage keeping
multiple GUIs in sync for updates -- again, needless complexity.



I tend to agree with Ron, but maybe I'm missing something.
Can someone bring up a use case for having multiple editors, so we can "see
the light"?
Koen




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