Run Script In Expansion

[d.healey]

@Casmat

Or am I thinking about this all wrong..

Maybe, what's the overall goal?

[Casmat]

@d-healey really, I just want to import an expansion into the plugin, when this happens, I want it to update files in the UserPresets folder by making folders/adding preset files in the correct location. I also want it to update my samplemap browser by adding records into an object, there may also be expansions that require some extra code to configure ui elements and placement of files

[d.healey]

@Casmat Have you tried using the built in expansion installer?

[Casmat]

@d-healey I've so far tried a button callback which locates the .hr1 file and runs the ExpansionHandler.installExpansionFromPackage()

[d.healey]

@Casmat Yup that's the way to go, depending on what you want to achieve you may want to show a file browser when the button is clicked so the user can choose the hr file. When the hr extracts it will automatically install the files in the correct place including the presets. The sample maps are embedded within the hxi file.

[Casmat]

@d-healey My preset browser is based on a custom file structure in the user presets folder and thered be subfolders that I'd need to manually add to the user presets folder, right? or will it just create the subfolders if there are none and add presets if there are none? And yeah forgot to mention the file browser part too. how would I call a script in the expansion though? Do i use includes()?

[d.healey]

@Casmat

I'd need to manually add to the user presets folder, right? or will it just create the subfolders if there are none and add presets

No idea, see what happens with the expansion installer. If it doesn't do what you want then we can work on it.

And yeah forgot to mention the file browser part too. how would I call a script in the expansion though? Do i use includes()?

You don't need to call it from the expansion. You're calling it from your player/installer in order to install the expansion.

[Casmat]

@d-healey huh, could you give me an example?

[d.healey]

@Casmat

I assume you have a button in your player called something like btnInstallExpansion

When the user clicks this button you show a file browser and allow them to select the hr file.

Now that you have the file you can call the installExpansionFromPackage function

Once the expansion has been installed you can call Expansion.rebuildUserPresets() although I'm not sure if this is necessary.

[Casmat]

@d-healey got you! But I’m also trying to do some other things with the main plugin for each expansion, for example my samplemap swapping. Basically, I have three samplers and for each sampler, you can mix and match samplemaps from all the expansions the user has. I’ve made this browser for each sampler that lets you select samplemaps with two viewports, one viewport for tags and categories (All, Pad, Chord, Pluck) and the second (with a label to search the viewport) for seeing the available samplemaps and selecting them to change the samplemap for that layer. To accomplish this, I’ve set made an object which has multiple objects inside (these are the tags and categories). In those objects, I’ve put in an object for each samplemap entry. So this object system acts as a file system where the objects are kind of the directories. (Is this a good system, first thing to come in mind to try, but I feel like there may be a better one) Basically, each expansion I add would come with a set amount of samplemaps and there would need to be a script which pushes the samplemap objects into the main object if that makes any sense. To do this, wouldn’t I need to somehow run the script after installing from the hr1 package?

[d.healey]

@Casmat I'm not sure it's possible to load sample maps from multiple expansions since only one expansion can be loaded at a time.

[Casmat]

@d-healey Ohhhhhh noooo… that’s a major problem for me, since the plugin is heavily reliant on being able to mix and match said samplemaps, is there a workaround to this or a fix I can make?

[d.healey]

@Casmat Try it first, because I could be wrong. I haven't used regular expansions for quite a while.

But if it doesn't work I think the solution would be to include all the sample maps in the main plugin. There might be another solution but I can't think of one at the moment.

[Casmat]

@d-healey yeah, just tried it, the samplemap from the other expansion when the sampler is clicked on turns pink/purple and no sound is outputted, don’t know what it means though

[Casmat]

@d-healey yeah, hopefully the samples aren’t tied to it as well.. so id need to make a script which copies the samplemap in the expansion and put it into the main samplemap folder?

[Lindon]

@d-healey said in Run Script In Expansion:

@Casmat I'm not sure it's possible to load sample maps from multiple expansions since only one expansion can be loaded at a time.

Yes you can - just refer to the expansion in the load - you can combine any sample map from any expansion with any other...

[Lindon]

Ok so how I handle expansions;

1. std expansion folder structure
2. Samples all get put into the AppData LinkFile location
   2.a All expansion presets get put in the User Presets folder
3. A custom piece of json that ships with each expansion - read by the plugin on init - that says the name of the sample map - and which expansion its in (as well as some sound tags for a tag-based browser - but that's entirely optional.
4. when the user selects a sound from the browser - look up its expansion and load it...

TheSamplers[pos].loadSampleMap("{EXP::" + vox.VoiceLocation +"}" + vox.VoiceMapName);

All of this is installed using a simple set of zip files - so I dont use the "std" expansion hxi system at all...

[Christoph Hart]

Yes you can - just refer to the expansion in the load - you can combine any sample map from any expansion with any other...

This is only true if you're using regular expansions - if you're running in Full Instrument Expansion mode, then the expansions become encapsulated entities that can't load content from other expansions.

[d.healey]

@Casmat

and put it into the main samplemap folder

There is no sample map folder for compiled projects. The sample maps are embedded in the binary or the expansions. Lindon's solution is the way to go.

You can simplify it a little bit though by using the getWildcardReference function.

[Casmat]

@Lindon @d-healey @Christoph-Hart thanks guys! Makes sense to me! Just a couple questions:

1. How do I get to the linkfile location in appdata? Is it just FileSystem.getFolder(AppData).getChildFile(LinkFile)

2. Yup, I'm planning on putting a js script file in each of my expansions, so How would I run the actual script file? do we use include() to run it, and if so, how do I get the name of the expansion to put in the include function?

3. So if i'm understanding correctly, the samples getting put in the appdata and expansion presets require some code, so do we put the code on the main plugin script or the script in the expansion folder?

4. @Christoph-Hart This is only true if you're using regular expansions - if you're running in Full Instrument Expansion mode, then the expansions become encapsulated entities that can't load content from other expansions.

So if this is the case, then why does my system right now not work? What does it mean when the samplemaps turn pink in the sampler?

5. So I see that the best way to go about this is via a zip file, but of course, there isn't any protection methods implemented for zips. Sooo, how do you guys suggest copy protecting this whole system?

Thanks again!