[LAD] Standalone resources browser - mockup, near of publishing, need discussion

Goal of this tool is to allow to search for audio plugins and for other
resources types (sampler banks, instrument definitions, probably more)
independently of application, needing it. I'm still thinking about final name
for it, before to publish (since it should support not only plugins, but also
instruments), and unsure even where to create home page for it (will describe
in bottom).

As for plugins: currently each audio application has own plugin browser. In
some cases it is very handy (ingen, carla), sometimes awful (audacity, may be
more). My hope is to make it external with filemanager-like workflow.

Currently there is one implemented way to select plugins: dragging. Drag
object is some resource URL, which should be enough for drag receiver to
exactly find pointed resource. But unlike file managers, it is threated as
text - text editors just paste it instead of try to open and konsole - same,
instead of to ask, what to do, as it always does for dropped files. Of course,
applications are free, how to threat such resources, and apps could check for
content before to decide, what to do with it - i.e., check, is it url, etc.

Dragging to jack patchbay canvas may be used to load plugin in single host
(not sure, what about instrument, since there is usually separate sampler
engine, usually managing all instruments).

Proposals about drag object format and url types for each resources are
welcomed. I have idea, how to implement for ladspa/dssi, but unsure for lv2.
Currently there are following formats:
LADSPA: ladspa:/<path to library>/<label>
DSSI: same, but begining with "dssi:/"
LV2: lv2 plugin url (i don't know, is it possible to load plugin from specific
library, and they recommend to identify plugins only by URL - at least
remember URL's for database, used across sessions).

Not implemented:
Just have to learn VAMP and somehow try VST - for some completeness.
For soundfonts, gig banks, and instrument definitions there may be same way as
for ladspa/dssi. Sampler banks mode should be handy for
linuxsampler/fluidsynth gui, not providing any instrument browser (qsampler
doesn't have it, and linuxsampler database supports only gig format).

Screenshot: http://wstaw.org/m/2014/06/05/plasma-desktopau6238.png

About publishing. I have account on savannah, and want to publish it there.
But i'm going to add vst support, and i'm not sure, is it possible (even if
licensing is kept, how about fact itself, that it supports this feature)?
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Received on Thu Jun 5 16:15:01 2014