Re: Guidelines for FxDynamicParameter
Re: Guidelines for FxDynamicParameter
- Subject: Re: Guidelines for FxDynamicParameter
- From: Darrin Cardani <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 07 Sep 2017 10:00:59 -0700
Ben,
I’m a little lost as to what you’re trying to do. Can you walk me through a
first use of your plug-in and then a second use of it? For dynamic parameters
your plug-in added before the user saved, your plug-in shouldn’t have to create
them on document open. They should be created for you by the host app. If
you’re not seeing that, let me know. (But they won’t be created until after
-addParameters is called.)
The FxRetrievalAPIs should be available during -addParameters. I don’t know
that we’ve ever tested whether they work properly during that time, though!
(One doesn’t usually need to retrieve parameter values when you just created
the parameter in the same function and set its value.)
Darrin
> On Sep 6, 2017, at 6:44 PM, Ben Syverson <email@hidden> wrote:
>
> Darrin,
>
> Okay, that makes some sense. Thank you!
>
> My second hidden parameter stores what is essentially a JSON representation
> of the param array, so that can be used to create the parameters.
>
> But in order to create the parameters in -addParameters, I would need to
> retrieve that JSON value from the hidden param. Is it possible to use
> FxParameterRetrievalAPI within -addParameters, and if so, what time should I
> pass in?
>
> Or should I add the dynamic parameters outside of -addParameters? Currently
> I’m checking to see if they exist during -renderOutput: and if not, I’m
> creating them on the main thread. But that feels hacky.
>
> Thanks for your help!
>
> Ben
>
>
>> On Sep 6, 2017, at 11:50, Darrin Cardani <email@hidden
>> <mailto:email@hidden>> wrote:
>>
>> Ben,
>>
>> This is one of the more confusing aspects of our apps. When the user tells
>> the app to add a plug-in to some footage, whether via a pop-up menu,
>> dragging and dropping, cut/copy and pasting, or selecting it in a list and
>> pressing the “Apply” button, the app first creates an instance of the
>> plug-in and puts it on the drag & drop pasteboard. This is where your
>> -addParameters method will get called.
>>
>> The application will then create a copy of what’s on the pasteboard and
>> apply that copy to the footage. When creating a copy, it will call your
>> plug-in’s -initWithAPIManager: method, but won’t call -addParameters. Since
>> it already has an instance of the plug-in, it just copies the parameters
>> itself. This means that anything you set up in -addParameters that isn’t a
>> parameter will not actually make it into the instance that the user is
>> actually using.
>>
>> I believe the reason we do this is so we have a single path in our code that
>> all plug-in instantiation goes through, regardless of how the user
>> interacted with the app. The reason we make a copy instead of just applying
>> the one on the pasteboard is because the user can do a cut and paste or copy
>> and paste multiple times. So we have to leave one on the pasteboard for that
>> scenario.
>>
>> So I see a few ways you could deal with this:
>> Set up your array in -initWithAPIManager:. You know the first 2 parameters
>> are always the same and have the same IDs, so just add them to your array
>> there.
>> If you have a naming scheme that allows you to discern parameters or their
>> types, you can iterate over the parameters you have and call
>> [-FxDynamicParameterAPI parameter:name:] to get the name of each parameter
>> and figure out its type from that, and do away with the array.
>> Keep a 3rd hidden parameter that is your array of parameters. Then it will
>> get copied when your parameters get copied.
>> Let me know if any of those will work. Generally, if your plugin has data
>> that can’t be generated at runtime, you need to stick it into a parameter
>> for the app to save it. If you don’t do that, how are you planning on
>> regenerating the list of the dynamic parameters when the user opens a saved
>> document?
>>
>> Darrin
>>
>>> On Sep 6, 2017, at 6:53 AM, Ben Syverson <email@hidden
>>> <mailto:email@hidden>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> I’m working on a project that uses dynamic parameter creation, and running
>>> into issues.
>>>
>>> I have two params which are always present (a “Show Editor” button and a
>>> hidden custom parameter to store a project file). I’m adding these in
>>> addParameters.
>>>
>>> In order to keep track of my parameter list, I’m using an NSMutableArray
>>> property on the instance, self.paramsByIndex. So in addParameters, I’m
>>> adding my first two parameters to my array.
>>>
>>> The first problem is that when I’m updating the paramList, my first two
>>> params aren’t there. Is addParameters called on a separate instance of my
>>> FxPlug?
>>>
>>> It’s making it really difficult to keep my list of parameters in sync with
>>> what’s returned from the dynamic API (parameterIDAtIndex:, etc).
>>>
>>> Are there any guidelines for how & when to manage dynamic parameters? At
>>> this point, I’m printing NSLogs to try to understand which of my FxPlug
>>> methods are called in what order, and whether they’re all coming from the
>>> same instance.
>>>
>>> Thanks!
>>>
>>> Ben
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