[PD] wild structs on pd files

[Christof Ressi]

I totally get what Joao means, I had wondered about that myself. This problems happens for GOP patches which draw scalars on the toplevel canvas. The reclaiming doesn't work if the struct name has a $0. if you reload the abstraction, the $0 will have another value. 

but here's a solution: you actually don't have to draw the scalars on the toplevel canvas. you can also draw them in a subpatch with GOP enabled which you can clear without destroying your whole patch :-).

> Gesendet: Donnerstag, 08. Juni 2017 um 20:48 Uhr
> Von: "Miller Puckette" <msp at ucsd.edu>
> An: "João Pais" <jmmmpais at gmail.com>
> Cc: PD-List <pd-list at lists.iem.at>
> Betreff: Re: [PD] wild structs on pd files
>
> Yep, if there are "data" in your patch and you remove the "struct" object
> that defines them, Pd keeps teh objects around anyway, so that you can
> reclaim them by reloading the "structs" later.  Put the abstractions back
> in the patch (or even just load them separately) and you can see the
> invisible scalars again.
> 
> There's no way to globally delete all scalars belonging to a given "struct"
> except by manually editing the patch.
> 
> cheers
> Miller
> 
> On Thu, Jun 08, 2017 at 08:04:58PM +0200, João Pais wrote:
> > Hi again Miller,
> > 
> > I had a question regarding structs. When editing my patches in a text
> > editor, I noticed that at the top of the patch there were some "stowaway"
> > structs (and scalars), which can only come from abstractions I used in the
> > main patch - but these abstractions should have the structs inside them, and
> > not on the main patch. Nevertheless, the main patch begins now with some #N
> > struct .... lines, before the first #N canvas ... . I also noticed that if I
> > delete the #N struct .... lines there won't be any (visible) problem with
> > the patch.
> > 
> > Do you know this behaviour? Is it normal, or is it an open issue that should
> > be dealt with? E.g. like arrays, should scalars have a "don't save with
> > patch" option?
> > 
> > Furthermore, this brings up the subject of old data (i.e. trash) hanging
> > around a patch that isn't visible to the "naked eye":
> > - does this data in any way affects or conflicts with the patch?
> > - does it get ignored, thrown away or rewritten at restart of the patch?
> > Adding to that, I use $0-variables in my struct names, which will mean that
> > in one session they will be called 1007-bla, and 1920-bla in the next one.
> > - since the only way to know how many structs are saved within a patch is by
> > looking at the patch code, and the only way to delete structs in Pd is
> > graphically, would it make sense to add a struct-scanning and delete methods
> > in [pointer], or a way to scan it by sending it a pd-canvas identifier?
> > - or looking at it from another angle, since inside Pd the only way to be
> > sure to clean a canvas is the send a "clear" method, would it help to
> > implement a "clear-struct" method to a pd canvas? Or even "clear-struct all"
> > that could be sent to the top canvas of a patch, and clean all subpatches
> > recursively?
> > 
> > Best,
> > 
> > Joao
> 
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