MiscVolumeMeter.rtf

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MiscVolumeMeter

Inherits From: View

Declared In: MiscVolumeMeter.h

Class Description

The MiscVolumeMeter is a replacement for NeXT's SoundMeter object. The MiscVolumeMeter allows for both vertical and horizontal bar positions, stereo display, and the ability to either meter one sound or all sounds.

Create a MiscVolumeMeter using initFrame:, optionally lock it onto a sound with setSound:, set whatever auxillary features are necessary, and start it running with run. You can pause the meter with stop and resume it again with run if you like. If you lock the MiscVolumeMeter onto a sound, it will adjust itself to reflect the qualities of the sound (recording or playing, stereo or mono). If you do not lock the MiscVolumeMeter onto a sound, you need to set these yourself. If a MiscVolumeMeter is not locked onto a sound, it will reflect playing whenever any sound from any application is playing out through the speaker, or (if it's reflecting input instead) reflect recording whenver any sound is recording. It's sometimes convenient to have the MiscVolumeMeter constantly reflect any input received by the microphone, regardless of whether or not a sound is recording. To do this, use the MiscVolumeMeter in conjunction with the MiscTapper object.

The MiscVolumeMeter will display horizontally (0 volume at left, max volume at right, left channel on top) if it is wider than tall. It will display vertically if it is taller than wide. If the MiscVolumeMeter feels it doesn't have enough room to draw anything, it will not draw.

The MiscVolumeMeter can be set to turn itself off automatically whenever the window it is in is hidden or closed, or on whenever the window is displayed. This conserves valuable resources, as the MiscVolumeMeter is fairly heavy on system load when running. To do this, set the MiscVolumeMeter in question as the delegate of its window.

The MiscVolumeMeter can send methods to a delegate, indicating that the MiscVolumeMeter redrew itself. This is useful to tie some other checking of a sound into the MiscVolumeMeter's timed-entry function.

Bugs: Because of NeXT's sound-mixing strategy in versions 3.x and beyond, the MiscVolumeMeter cannot distinguish between the output of different sounds, even sounds in different applications. If you locked the MiscVolumeMeter on a sound, started playing the sound, and some other application played another sound at the same time, the MiscVolumeMeter would also reflect that sound's output combined with the output of the locked sound. This can't be avoided without twiddling with the internal workings of the NeXT sound object, which I'm not about to do. :-)

Also, NeXT's sound objects do not accurately say when they've finished playing a sound. As a result, if the MiscVolumeMeter has been locked onto a playing sound, the meter may stop drawing up to a full second before the sound stops playing! For small sounds the MiscVolumeMeter may not draw at all. NeXT's SoundMeter apparently uses another private method of checking up on sounds, so to my knowledge there's no way around this. If anyone knows, please give me a ring at seanl@cs.umd.edu.

Version Incompatibility: Versions later than 1.2 of the MiscVolumeMeter's archiving format are incompatible with earlier versions.

Instance Variables
NXSoundIn* input_device;
NXSoundOut* output_device;
id sound;
id delegate;
BOOL input;
BOOL running;
BOOL bezeled;
BOOL peak_bubble_displayed;
BOOL stereo;
float background_gray;
float value_gray;
float bubble_gray;
float refresh;
int refreshes_per_new_peak_bubble;
int refresh_tally;
float refreshes_left[];
float refreshes_right[];
int current_max_refresh_left;
int current_max_refresh_right;
DPSTimedEntry teNum;

input_device The NXSoundIn device to take input information from.

output_device The NXSoundOut device to take output information from.

sound The sound, if any, the MiscVolumeMeter is locked onto.

delegate The MiscVolumeMeter's delegate

input Is the MiscVolumeMeter relfecting input/recording (as opposed to ouput/playing)?

running Is the MiscVolumeMeter running?

bezeled Is the MiscVolumeMeter bezeled?

peak_bubble_displayed Is the MiscVolumeMeter's peak bubble displayed?

stereo Is the MiscVolumeMeter in stereo?

background_gray The background gray of the MiscVolumeMeter.

value_gray The gray of the MiscVolumeMeter's bar.

bubble_gray The gray of the MiscVolumeMeter's peak bubble.

refresh The time in-between updates to MiscVolumeMeter's display.

refreshes_per_new_peak_bubble How many updates to the MiscVolumeMeter's display before updating the bubble.

refresh_tally Current number of refreshes prior to a bubble update.

refreshes_left A refresh history to grab the maximum refresh from.

refreshes_right A refresh history to grab the maximum refresh from.

current_max_refresh_left Current maximum left value.

current_max_refresh_right Current maximum right value.

teNum Timed entry tag.

Method Types

Creating and freeing instances ��initFrame:
��free

Displaying the meter � drawSelf: rects:

Setting parameters � setDelegate:
� setMono
� setMono:
� setStereo
� setStereo:
� setBackgroundGray:
� setValueGray:
� setBubbleGray:
� setBezeled:
� setPeakBubbleDisplayed:
� setToInput
� setToInput:
� setToOutput
� setToOutput:
� setRefresh:
� setRefreshesPerNewPeakBubble:

Querying the object � delegate:
� isStereo:
� backgroundGray:
� valueGray:
� bubbleGray:
� isBezeled:
� peakBubbleDisplayed:
� isInput:
� refresh:
� refreshesPerPeakBubble:

Locking on a Sound � setSound:
� sound

Operating the meter � run
� run:
� stop
� stop:
� reclaim

Acting as a Window delegate � windowDidBecomeKey:
� windowDidBecomeMain:
� windowDidDeminiaturize:
� windowDidMiniaturize:
� windowWillClose:

Archiving � read:
� write:

Instance Methods

backgroundGray
- (float) backgroundGray

Returns the background gray of the MiscVolumeMeter.

See also: -�setValueGray:, -�setBubbleGray:, -�setBackgroundGray, -�valueGray, -�bubbleGray

bubbleGray
- (float) bubbleGray

Returns the gray of the MiscVolumeMeter's peak bubble.

See also: -�setValueGray:, -�setBubbleGray:, -�setBackgroundGray, -�valueGray, -�backgroundGray

delegate
- delegate

Returns the MiscVolumeMeter's delegate, NULL if none.