[PD] Prototype for adding an object browser into Pd Vanilla's core

[Alexandre Torres Porres]

Hi everyone, I made a prototype of a GUI addition that I would really like
to have included in the Pd-Vanilla distribution. I don't don;t think it is
worth or plan to provide it as a tcl/tk plugin and I'll get to that soon.
Nonetheless, as a prototype for anyone to easily test, I did upload
object-browser-test-plugin to deken and you can get it. You can also check
https://github.com/porres/object-browser-test-plugin

And what does it do? When you right click anywhere on a patch canvas you
can go to 'add object' which gives you a menu of all Pd objects that you
can then choose from and it'll add the element exactly where you right
clicked at. This is possible regardless if you're in edit or run mode. See
screenshot below.

[image: Screen Shot 2023-03-10 at 02.32.26.png]

I got the idea and basis from Pd-ceammc, by the way. But PlugData is also
working on something similar, why not offer an official one upstream?

As someone who uses Pd to teach newbies all the time, I believe something
like this would help them much more in the learning curve. The general
consensus from users when I mentioned this on the facebook group (and other
places) was quite positive. I understand though that there might be
concerns in maintaining this and keeping the core light.

Well, if it gets included, I plan to take care of it and do things like
insert a new object whenever it comes up as long as I live. I am relatively
young and don't have plans to die soon. This would be part of my
documentation engagement. And once it is in, I guess the load won't be
relevant.

I think this is problematic to keep as a plugin as it'll mostly be missed
by users. Another problem is that I think it is hard to maintain this out
of the core and I say this because while my plugin works now, it is already
broken for the current master on github, so it won't work on the next
update. It really makes sense to keep this in the core then.

By the way, it already includes the not yet released [snake~ in]/[snake~
out] objects, and when I wanted to test this with the latest current
version is when I found out it breaks. But it works up to 0.53-2 (at least
with its test version that you can find).

And yes, I added options for objects that have a function defined by the
1st argument (such as [array random]), [snake~ in/out], ect). I also added
options to add GUIs, message boxes, list box, etc...

Is anyone bummed out and would have some sort of issue with this
functionality? Worst case scenario I guess would be to allow some
configuration in preferences to disable this, but I can't see this as an
annoying addition. I think that even for me (someone who revised and wrote
references for ALL objects) this is useful, as even I can forget the name
of an object sometimes...

what are your thoughts?

cheers
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