[PD] A little help in automating pd?

[Daniel Wilcox]

Hi,

So this is my first post to the list.

back story:
I'm running pd in Linux on a small wearable computer.  I do not
use a screen, mouse, or keyboard, just an arduino box with a button
and some other doo dads to control patch loading / activation.

I've successfully automated pd in Windows using a python windows
testing library to grab widgets and send keys to applications, but the Gnome
alternative cannot see tcl/tk widgets ... I'm better off running without a
gui anyway. :P

I've hacked a quick controller patch using the ;open message for a show, but
that was only
a temp fix as I have no way to close patches from within pd ... or is
there?  I do not
want to have to open an entire set of patches at once as my machine only has
256 Mb of ram
and, if I start using lots of samples, this could be a problem.

So now I'm exec launching and SIGINT'ing pd in C :
- lauch pd with the current patch and remember the process id
- the patch contains an osc object to receive all of my controllers
- sigint pd when I'm done (btw Whats the cleanest kill signal to send?)

Now my questions are:

- Is there a built in way to close an open pd patch from within pd ...?

My thinking is that I can open pd with a small control patch that receives
messages to open and close
patches.

- If not, has anyone made an automation object? Would anyone be interested
if I attempted
to write one?

- Does having a built-in method to do this provide any advantage over my
current solution of launching/killing pd?

The advantage I have now is that I can monitor the running status of pd so
if it crashes, which it has done when using
the aforementioned temp hack, I can safely kill and restart on the current
patch.

Thanks!

-- 
Dan Wilcox
danomatika
www.robotcowboy.com
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