[PD] pd META extension

[Roman Haefeli]

On Mon, 2013-02-25 at 22:10 -0800, Jonathan Wilkes wrote:
> Hello list,
>      I'd like to extend the syntax of the xlet metadata in the [pd META] subpatch.
> 
> 
> Currently something like [clip] has this for the inlets:
> 
> INLET_0 float list
> INLET_1 float
> INLET_2 float
> 
> That gets picked up by the autotips which display the methods in the tooltip.
> 
> However, for objects that have multiple xlets like [clip], an xlet tip would be more
> helpful if it included a one or two word description of what the inlet is for.  So
> when the user hovers over the middle inlet the tip can also say something like:
> Inlet 1 of clip (low value): float
> 
> and for the right inlet:
> Inlet 2 of clip (high value): float
> 
> I just need some clear syntax for separating the inlet description from the methods.
> 
> Idea #0: semicolon
> Example:
> 
> INLET_1 float;
> low value
> Nice because there is no chance of ambiguity, since the semi can't be part of a method
> name.  Unfortunately it forces a newline.
> 
> The semicolon + description part would be optional so there's no need to change any
> of the current docs.  Plus it's easy to parse.

What I like about the META format is it is also easy to parse with Pd
itself. Thus, I was concerned if your proposed addition would break
that. I figured it does not. I don't see any other troubles, but see the
benefit of having a separator. Please go ahead.

Roman

P.S.: While testing "Pd parsability", I created an object [sel ;] which
immediately collapsed to [sel;] on instantiation. Although it looks
weird, it's still functional. It seems something in Pd removes spaces
around ';'. (Also try creating a [sel ; sel])