A few questions regarding presets and disk storage

snfk · 27 July 2021 14:35

I’m in the final stretch of programming before I begin to release some bigger projects and have been putting this off for a bit. None of my products have featured presets yet, but newer ones will need to have them included. I’ve already taken a look at IVPresetManagerControl.h and have a pretty good understanding of what they are doing. The only thing I am unsure of is how to define the presets path. On the product installer, I plan to create some sort of folder in the Documents directory that will hold the presets.

For the IVDiskPresetManagerControl constructor, I’m unsure of what to use at const char* presetPath. My path to Documents would be C:\Users\seant\Documents, but no one else will have that path. How do I get the correct path?

I am also beginning to need to store data from the plugin to the local machine (settings, stats, etc). What would be the best way to go about this?

Thanks for any help

olilarkin · 27 July 2021 21:13

You can use the methods in IPlugPaths.h e.g.

github.com

iPlug2/iPlug2/blob/6e273c388f3ef0e0ef4e33c5f722273b5d087e2c/IPlug/IPlugPaths.h#L61

    
      
          extern void BundleResourcePath(WDL_String& path, PluginIDType pExtra = 0);
          
          
/** @param path WDL_String reference where the path will be put on success or empty string on failure */
          extern void DesktopPath(WDL_String& path);
          
          
/** @param path WDL_String reference where the path will be put on success or empty string on failure */
          extern void UserHomePath(WDL_String& path);
          
          
/** @param path WDL_String reference where the path will be put on success or empty string on failure
           * @param isSystem Set \c true if you want to obtain the system-wide path, otherwise the path will be in the user's home folder */
          extern void AppSupportPath(WDL_String& path, bool isSystem = false);
          
          
/** @param path WDL_String reference where the path will be put on success or empty string on failure */
          extern void SandboxSafeAppSupportPath(WDL_String& path, const char* appGroupID = "");
          
          
/** @param path WDL_String reference where the path will be put on success or empty string on failure
           * @param mfrName CString to specify the manufacturer name, which will be the top level folder for .vstpreset files for this manufacturer's product
           * @param pluginName CString to specify the plug-in name, which will be the sub folder (beneath mfrName) in which the .vstpreset files are located
           * @param isSystem Set \c true if you want to obtain the system-wide path, otherwise the path will be in the user's home folder */
          extern void VST3PresetsPath(WDL_String& path, const char* mfrName, const char* pluginName, bool isSystem = true);

On macOS you should use SandboxSafeAppSupportPath() and you probably want to store your presets in ~/Music/YourPluginName/…, since this folder is accessible in the macOS sandbox

olilarkin · 27 July 2021 21:17

NOTE: this function will be changing name soon

snfk · 27 July 2021 21:23

Thanks, will take a look

snfk · 28 July 2021 18:09

What would be the best function to save / load presets? I see SavePresetAsFXP and LoadPresetFromFXP - but it states that they’re for VST2. Would it create any issues saving on VST3 / AU formats?

~~Edit: Also, how do I find the folder of a selected preset from a popup? How would I go about creating the file name string for loading a preset?~~

Discovered mFiles, edit problem solved

But how would one go about creating an init preset button?

olilarkin · 29 July 2021 22:56

I wouldn’t recommend using these anymore since VST2 is a dead format. I guess you don’t support VST format anyway?

Initial preset can be done in a variety of ways. If you didn’t serialize any data, and your plugin state only consists of parameters (the default), try this

github.com

iPlug2/iPlug2/blob/6e273c388f3ef0e0ef4e33c5f722273b5d087e2c/IPlug/IPlugPluginBase.h#L366


      
          /** Randomise parameter values within a range. NOTE for more flexibility in terms of RNG etc, use ForParamInRange()
           * @param startIdx The index of the first parameter to modify
           * @param endIdx The index of the last parameter to modify */
          void RandomiseParamValues(int startIdx, int endIdx);
          
          /** Randomise parameter values for a parameter group
           * @param paramGroup The name of the group to modify */
          void RandomiseParamValues(const char* paramGroup);
          
          /** Set all parameters to their default values */
          void DefaultParamValues();
          
          /** Default parameter values within a range.
           * @param startIdx The index of the first parameter to modify
           * @param endIdx The index of the last parameter to modify */
          void DefaultParamValues(int startIdx, int endIdx);
          
          /** Default parameter values for a parameter group
           * @param paramGroup The name of the group to modify */
          void DefaultParamValues(const char* paramGroup);

snfk · 1 August 2021 20:57

Thanks!
Where would I put a license file? The user enters in a serial code and the plugin creates a license file based on an API call, and the file is placed in Documents/SNFK.

The issue I’m having is that the AU paths do not match the VST3 paths, so the plugin can’t find the license file and then does not work. Where should I store the license file on Mac? I need to make sure that both plugin formats can access it.

olilarkin · 1 August 2021 21:49

~/Music/YourPlugin/License.txt etc should work

snfk · 1 August 2021 23:16

For the VST3, I get /Users/(myusername)/
For the AU2, I get /Users/(myusername)/Library/Containers/com.apple.garageband10/Data

I’m using SandboxSafeAppSupportPath to get these paths. How can I get the path you mentioned? Thanks

olilarkin · 1 August 2021 23:18

Pull master

github.com

iPlug2/iPlug2/blob/8ffe35491556e8220830cf5cc33c7f2c2b3c74ae/IPlug/IPlugPaths.h#L103

    
      
          
          
#if defined OS_MAC || defined OS_IOS
          
          
/** @return \c true if the app is sandboxed (and therefore file access etc is restricted) */
          extern bool AppIsSandboxed();
          
          
/** @param path WDL_String reference where the path will be put on success or empty string on failure */
          extern void AppGroupContainerPath(WDL_String& path, const char* appGroupID);
          
          
/** @param path WDL_String reference where the path will be put on success or empty string on failure */
          extern void SharedMusicPath(WDL_String& path);
          
          
/** @return \c true if XPC AUv2 host (Typically Logic/Garageband on Apple Silicon)  */
          extern bool IsXPCAuHost();
          
          
/** @return \c true if in an out-of-process AUv3  */
          extern bool IsOOPAuv3AppExtension();
          
          
#endif
          
          
END_IPLUG_NAMESPACE

snfk · 2 August 2021 10:22

I’m getting /Users/(myusername)/Library/Containers/com.apple.garageband10/Data/Music from SharedMusicPath on AU2. Is there a compile setting that takes me out of the sandbox, or is there something else?

It is being caused by App Sandbox, but the AU2 scheme doesn’t have capabilities available…

snfk · 3 August 2021 13:27

~~It actually seems to be an issue with getting the paths, I’m not sure if I pulled the master correctly lol.~~

Still returned /Users/(myusername)/Library/Containers/com.apple.garageband10/Data/Music

olilarkin · 3 August 2021 13:51

OK. I think you need to great an “app group” ID and store your license file using the path returned by “AppGroupContainerPath()” if you want users to be able to register it inside Garageband

snfk · 3 August 2021 15:18

Thanks, that makes a lot more sense now

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A few questions regarding presets and disk storage

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