Jwir3's Weblog

I finished the basic SCF interface for the Collada Conversion Library. It looks like the following:

struct iColladaConvertor : public virtual iBase
{
SCF_INTERFACE(iColladaConvertor, 1, 0, 0);

virtual const char* Load(const char *str, csColladaFileType typeEnum) = 0;
virtual const char* Load(iString *str, csColladaFileType typeEnum) = 0;
virtual const char* Load(iFile *file, csColladaFileType typeEnum) = 0;
virtual const char* Load(iDataBuffer *db, csColladaFileType typeEnum) = 0;

virtual const char* Convert() = 0;
virtual bool ConvertGeometry(iDocumentNode *geometrySection) = 0;
virtual bool ConvertLighting(iDocumentNode *lightingSection) = 0;
virtual bool ConvertTextureShading(iDocumentNode *textureSection) = 0;
virtual bool ConvertRiggingAnimation(iDocumentNode *riggingSection) = 0;
virtual bool ConvertPhysics(iDocumentNode *physicsSection) = 0;

};


An implementation has been started, but there are a few bugs yet to work out. In particular, I haven't yet decided whether I want a specific Write() function or not. If I include one, this function will force a write to the disk (i.e. allowing for a user of the library to immediately write converted files to the hard drive). The reason I'm not sure if I want this is because essentially the library should do the conversion in memory, and then give the results back to the client. It is the client's job to determine if they want to write the results to disk, or use them on the fly. On the other hand, it might encapsulate things better if a Write() function were added, because then it would be a self-contained collada conversion system.

This is something I will have to discuss and ponder over the next few days.