How about something equivalent to a “snippet”. It would be kind of like a patch, but instead of being encapsulated into a node it would open itself in whatever patch you call it from as a simple grouping of objects.
For instance, I use the LFO > Wavershaper > Map often, but I typically need to change a lot of the pins or need to add some additional nodes, so I don’t generally want to make a patch out of it. I could instead create a new node and type “LWM” and instead of a patch coming up, it would add the LFO > WaveShaper > Map combination as I have it saved in a file (maybe .v4s?). It would be almost the same as a patch, but it would allow you to customize the inner workings to fit your current project.
it would be cool and also not too difficult to implement.
we should do that. other opinions?
for now: it should also be possible to patch it? i think majortom did exactly the other direction: select some nodes and put them into a new subpatch… (can’t find it anymore)
i could imagine to enter “s LWM” as node name. a comment appears. press F7 or something and a module in your root_for_work.v4p will react on the F7 with opening the according file and doing some setpatch magic…
but it would be better to have it in the program itself. i agree.
edit: the “PatchAlias (VVVV CurrentPatch)” is missing …
yeah, I was thinking about that too, passing the file to a module. I am however new to vvvv and am still learning a lot of the nodes to make stuff happen for my patches much less nodes that create / edit other nodes!
From viewing the xml file though, it seems like it would only be a matter of copying the node information as xml from within the snippet file, and placing it at the same position as the newly created node.
Actually, thinking about this a little more… why not let the contents of any module be opened into the patch like this? instead of having a different extension or explicitly marking it as a “snippet” it could just be any old v4p file opened in a specific way (possibly passing it as an argument, but then you lose auto-complete, right?). That way you could open your custom modules as either a node the normal way or open it as a group of objects within the patch, maybe a modifer key, like shift + double left click.
Pretty darn close catweasel. Good catch, I haven’t seen this patch. The downside to this is that the patch would have to be specifically created for this functionality to be present. I do like the idea of having it’s own group though, that might be a way to orgnize them or differentiate them (if necessary) and the “Patchlet” name is great as well.
finally somebody remarks the real purpose of my module!
btw.: you are not restricted to name your “patchlet” or “snippet”. that was just my proposal.
every patch CONTAINING the #0000bb:Patchlet (VVVV) module transfers its own content into the parent patch. the “kid”-patch deletes itself afterwards.
so you may make a patch called “LWM (Snippet)” or “LWM (Patchlet)” or “xyz (foobar or not)”, put the Patchlet (VVVV) module inside and save it (recommended) somewhere in your \modules.
now you can access your “sniplet” via nodelist. click your “LWM (foobar)”; its content gets transfered into the parent patch.
btw: the content of your “ABC”-patch is exactly placed where you generate the “ABC”-patch-node…
the only restriction:
you must have saved the parent patch at least once because the module-hierarchy needs paths.
so inside a 0.v4p ////* this thing doesn’t work.
Ah, I see Kalle, that’s great! So even if it isn’t built into vvvv, it looks like I should still rather easily be able to do it thanks to your patch :). Thanks!
