Hello list, As a follow-up to my last announcement "Advanced scheduler pw0ns SWIG for you" (which I was quite excited about), I have since tried to formalize the feature-set and document it:
What I am collectively calling the block factory is really: * A CMake utility to build and install runtime loadable modules * A system to load runtime modules from the specified paths * An API to register block constructors into the factory * An API to create blocks from the factory * An API to register block methods into the framework * An API to call into registered methods That may sound complicated, but actually, all of the complexity is handled in the guts of the framework. So in contrast, this is probably the simplest it has even been for a user to create custom blocks. The CMake projects that build and install a user's blocks are brief and to the point -- no swig, a minimal number of files. Builds are quick and snappy and its easy to debug build errors. The registration APIs are very clean and non-invasive -- as are calling into the registered factories and class methods. Here is the run-down: The code guide has example snippets on how to painlessly register block constructors and methods, and how to call into them at runtime: https://github.com/guruofquality/gras/wiki/Codeguide#wiki-block-factory This wiki page lists the pros and the cons of using this feature: https://github.com/guruofquality/gras/wiki/Blockfactory The module guide hosts a usable example CMake build project, and explains in more detail how GRAS finds modules at runtime: https://github.com/guruofquality/gras/wiki/Moduleguide I switched every block in GrExtras over to this new system without exception. Every C++ and CMake file stands as a useful example: https://github.com/guruofquality/grextras/ Something neat you can do; Here is an example of a block where the same code takes on a different API depending upon which factory path is used: https://github.com/guruofquality/grextras/blob/master/math/add_const.cpp#L22 I moved the Clang part of the GrExtras Clang Block into GRAS. The new jit_factory() call provides the backend for the Clang Block. You can literally just dump C++ source into this call, from Python, at runtime, and find your blocks in the factory. https://github.com/guruofquality/gras/blob/master/include/gras/factory.hpp#L15 Using this set of features doesn't preclude the normal way of making libraries or python modules. Blocks from a SWIG'd library work just fine with blocks from a factory. And for that matter, block factories don't do everything. If a user needs to have a set of utilities to go along with the blocks, nothing is wrong with building your typical dlls along with the modules for the block factory. Etc, etc... I'm very proud of this work. And I think that this feature-set has the potential to improve a lot of user's experiences. I hope y'all like it too! -Josh _______________________________________________ Discuss-gnuradio mailing list Discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss-gnuradio
