[PD] state object

[IOhannes m zmoelnig]

hi.

for the impatient, there is a short summary of this mail in the PS clause.


>> why does it not work with abstractions? i see zero reasons,
> 
> because:
> 
> [f]
> |
> [set $1(
> |
> [...(  <- this is the "memory unit"
> 
> will only be saved in a (sub)patch. this can't live in an abstraction,
> as hitting "save" on the main patch in fact does nothing to this "memory"

now i see a reason.

> 
>> as for vslider being too narrow:
>> - you can make them fatter by just setting the width to something that
>> fits your need.
> 
> I don't want to name by abstractions like a.pd, b.pd, etc...
> and nor I don't want to make 50px wide sliders.
> 
> if you don't get what I am talking about, please see
> http://lists.puredata.info/pipermail/pd-list/2006-05/038312.html and
> http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1491020&group_id=55736&atid=478073

i still don't get it

> 
>> - you can use the iemgui's built-in send/receive-labels to "outsource"
>> the logic to somewhere else where you don't mind the object's size.
>>
>>> not so nifty, but a GOP subpatch makes things more tidy (and heavy)
>>
>> it is easy to save 1 state of your patch. it becomes really complex (and
>> nifty) when you want to save multiple states. use memento or something
>> for this.
> 
> when I have more free time I'll make an external for doing this...

hmm, but why would you want to do this?
long, long ago, there was the [state] external that did this.
nobody uses it nowadays.
there are other options, like memento, or sssad, or tables, or 
qlist/textfile/msgfile; what is wrong with them?

> I can't believe pd can't have it's internal preset system.... MAX has
> its (multiple)preset object, and almost all patcher dataflow software
> have one... :|

i didn't say it is a bad idea to have a preset system. that is why 
people have written such things; if i remember their names correctly, it 
might be "memento" and so on. (i should better turn off sarcasm mode)

> 
> maybe the pure-data API lacks functions for saving/restoring state of
> *ANY* external (if the externals needs/wants this)?

well, yes: afaik, Pd lacks an API for state-saving (btw: like any other 
programming language i know); thats is obviously the reason why there is 
no such object as you imagine it.
the missing API was the biggest problem of [state]: günther tried  some 
hacks to make it work nevertheless.

otoh: the iemguis do have state saving (did i already mention this?): so 
there must be some way to do it (this is: each object would need 
manually enable this)


mfg,.asd.r
IOhannes


PS: for the impatient:: "memento", "iemgui"