[PD-dev] pd parser + creating inlets/outlets outside of new-method

[Tom Schouten]

hi krzysztof,

> > 1. creating inlets/outlets on the fly (i.e. after an object is
> > constructed) seems to work perfectly, except for them not being displayed
> > in the gui. what should i do to 'refresh' ?
>
> changing object's io after creation time is doing so after
> the object has been connected already...
>

indeed. though i was looking into the possibility for debugging purposes,
so it's not necessary at all. it seems removing outlets while an object is
running isn't a good idea either.

> The natural way is for a user to change the text in an object
> box.  Making this into an object's method is doable, but tricky
> and rather ugly.  There are some special cases, like widget
> transforming itself into an object box after Tcl/Tk failure, or
> comment doing the same on demand.
>

ok, i'm convinced :)

> > 2. is pd's parser available through some api? i'd like to load a textfile
> > and convert it's content to pd messages / lists inside an object's
> > constructor. (right now i need an external [textfile] object to boot a
>
> calling binbuf_read_via_path(), or plain binbuf_read(), loads
> a text file into a binbuf (an array of atoms).  That binbuf may be
> then broken into pieces on semicolons and commas -- the simplest
> example is in textfile_bang() from x_qlist.c.
>

thanks. this was what i was looking for indeed.

any reason why canvas_current() only works in a constructor?
i suppose this has to do with the canvas stack when loading a patch?

when i want to have access to the canvas at all times, i should save it in
the constructor, right?

tom