[Clam-devel] Copy & Paste processings on canvas patch

[David García Garzón]

On Dijous 05 Juny 2008, Pau Arumí Albó wrote:
> El dj 05 de 06 de 2008 a les 06:15 -0300, en/na Natanael Olaiz va
>
> escriure:
> > El 06/04/2008 06:17 AM, Pau Arumí Albó escribió:
> > > El dc 04 de 06 de 2008 a les 03:58 -0300, en/na Natanael Olaiz va
> > >
> > > escriure:
> > >> El 06/03/2008 03:16 PM, Pau Arumí escribió:
> > >>> On dt, 2008-06-03 at 04:48 -0300, Natanael Olaiz wrote:
> > >>>> El 06/02/2008 08:14 AM, David García Garzón escribió:
> > >>>>> On Dilluns 02 Juny 2008, Pau Arumí Albó wrote:
> > >>>>>> El dl 02 de 06 de 2008 a les 06:19 -0300, en/na Natanael Olaiz va
> > >>>>>>
> > >>>>>> escriure:
> > >>>>>>> Finally!
> > >>>>>>> I need to clean up the code, optimize some rutines, and it
> > >>>>>>> doesn't save the positions. But it works. :-)
> > >>>>>>
> > >>>>>> Wow, this is big step forwards! :-)
> > >>>>>>
> > >>>>>> Some questions mainly for Natanael and David,
> > >>>>>>
> > >>>>>> Have you evaluated if the onPasteProcessingsFromClipboard() could
> > >>>>>> reuse the normal xml network loading function? (maybe would need
> > >>>>>> adaptation) ? That would reduce a lot of code (and duplication)
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>> I think so but some adaptation should be done to the
> > >>>>> NetworkAdapters to store just the selected processings and related
> > >>>>> connections.
> > >>>>
> > >>>> OK, I'll see that. It could be also good to start thinking about
> > >>>> subnetworks paths.
> > >>>>
> > >>>>>> I think that this feature (and the future sub-networks) is asking
> > >>>>>> for embedding processing-boxes positions in the clamnetwork xml
> > >>>>>> (instead of keeping a separate binary .pos file). Getting rid of
> > >>>>>> .pos files was a TODO actually. Do you agree?
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>> I fully agree.
> > >>>>
> > >>>> Me too. Another task to add. :-)
> > >>>
> > >>> After some chat with David about this, I think it would be good to
> > >>> start with 1) reuse the network loading/saving code, before starting
> > >>> 2) adding positions to the xml. This is because having 2) will make
> > >>> the load/save more difficult, as needs transferring data from
> > >>> canvas/procboxes to the network, and should be better approached as a
> > >>> posterior refactoring.
> > >>>
> > >>> Don't hesitate to ask if find problems
> > >>
> > >> Should I store the positions & sizes within the Network root path, or
> > >> on a separate one (let's call it "NetworkCanvas", for instance)? In
> > >> the second case I will need to make two calls to dump/restore methods
> > >> (one within the network -as right now-, and the other within the
> > >> canvas), but that keeps the data separated and doesn't need to
> > >> transfer any new data to the network.
> > >>
> > >> Is my question clear enough? What do you prefer?
> > >
> > > It makes sense to me but I'm not sure about the details -- specially
> > > who and how to close the xml doc if we have two dump calls?
> > > One possible solution that comes to my mind is adding a new string
> > > argument to the Dump mothod (or function, don't remember) containing an
> > > "extra root" with the positions and sizes.
> > >
> > > However, this is 2) and, IMO, 1) should be done before.
> >
> > Sorry to insist.... but thinking about it, I'm wondering how to reuse
> > the code to save selections without get the same problem of positions.
> > The selections are attributes of ProcessingBoxes, just like positions!
> > So, I can pass the list of selected processings to the Network, but I
> > think doing that is maybe more weired than just start doing the
> > integration in a higher level, in ClamNetworkCanvas, deriving it from
> > Components, redefining StoreOn and LoadFrom, and make the
> > ProcessingBoxes correspondents definition adaptions...
>
> Well yes I see it's not an easy problem.
> The main problem I see implementing Store and Load methods in
> NetworkCanvas is that will duplicate the code in Network::StoreOn.
> And we need this functinality in Network for the NE-less use cases.
> What about adding optional decorations (in the design pattern sense) in
> the Processing in the network containing the Canvas data: position,
> size, isSelected (so that you can store only the selected processings in
> a given string).

I think that the decorator already exists: it is the 
ProcessingDefinitionAdapter it is a matter of adding the position information 
besides the name.

> Then when the Canvas store would consist on first pushing the
> canvas-related data into the network and then call the normal Store (or
> Dump). And similarly for Loading.
>
> However at this point I'd like to have David's input, he is the expert
> on NE user-interface.


Well i think it is very important to keep the network, canvas agnostic, as 
well as keeping the NetworkCanvas clam agnostic. But as we are introducing 
the positions and the selections as part of the network itself i propose to 
add such an information to the network itself, not as part of the processings 
but as network optional attributes. That is duplicating the information but 
just during loading and storing. The key to eliminate a duplication hell is 
declaring such information in the Network is not reliable, is the canvas who 
set it before loading and recovers it after saving but clears it afterwards. 
So there is no temptation on using it in a different place than load/store.

So how to implement that? For selections adding the network a std::set 
attribute of selected processing names. It has just effect on storing and 
only if it is not empty. If it is not empty the network should check if the 
name is in the set before storin it. On storing a selection and just on 
storing a selection call Network::UpdateSelections(list or other container), 
do the store and then clear them Network::ClearSelections.
The Network::StoreOn will only store the processing whose name is in the set, 
or all of them if the set is empty. I think that this one would be the easier 
one and the first to be addressed.

About the positions and sizes, i would use the same strategy. On load/store 
push or extract such information into the network being reliable just on load 
and store time, clearing it afterwards to be sure we don't rely on it after 
load/store. Such information should be transfered if present to the 
ProcessingDefinitionAdapter to xml them. Not that clear about the structure 
to store size and position but let's address first selections and then, let's 
see what about sizes and positions.


-- 
David García Garzón
(Work) dgarcia at iua dot upf anotherdot es
http://www.iua.upf.edu/~dgarcia
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