[Smtk-developers] Resource Proxies (not the ParaView kind)

[TJ Corona]

Hi all,

I have been working on resource links today. In the process, I decided to try and tackle the case where a resource has links to another resource, and we don’t want to load that resource until we need to. The problem I ran into is the open-ended nature of this task: “until we need to” load a resource. 

1. When do we “need” a resource to load? When an operator uses it as a parameter? When a resource with links (think a model with an associated mesh) is operated on (if you remove a model face, should we remove the associated mesh part)? 

2. If two resources link to the same resource proxy and one of them resolves that resource, do we expect the resource link in the other resource to automagically update itself? Can two resources link to the same resource?

3. Does this need to work in the absence of a resource manager (I hope not!)?

The problem becomes much more complex when you take into account thread safety, where many things can try to resolve a proxy at once. I have some ideas for how this all should work, but I would really like to hear from you all what concrete examples need to be supported.

Sincerely,
T.J.

Thomas J. Corona, Ph.D.
Kitware, Inc.
Senior R&D Engineer
21 Corporate Drive
Clifton Park, NY 12065-8662
Phone: 518-881-4443

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