Update value from Render() function to dialog.

[Thanh]

I am writting a new plug in for Paint.Net. I built new plugin like Rotate / Zoom plugin.

I have a problem that I want to display some value after executing from Render() function, but I set value to the properties and I get no changed value.

Example:

I have a variable in MyPluginEffectConfigToken.cs

...

private string resultPop;

public string ResultPop

{

get

{

return resultPop;

}

set

{

this.resultPop = value;

}

}

...

I set value for this variable in the Render() function in the MyPluginEffect.cs

...

public unsafe void Render(EffectConfigToken properties, RenderArgs dstArgs, RenderArgs srcArgs, PdnRegion roi)

{

RetinexEffectConfigToken token = (RetinexEffectConfigToken)properties;

token.ResultPop = "new";

...

}

In the MyPluginEffectConfigDialog.cs, I set value for the variable of token in the InitialInitToken() Function

...

protected override void InitialInitToken()

{

theEffectToken = new RetinexEffectConfigToken();

((MyPluginEffectConfigToken)theEffectToken).ResultPop = "old";

}

...

And, I have try many ways but, in the Dialog, I cannot get value of ((MyPluginEffectConfigToken)theEffectToken).ResultPop is "new" value. It always "old" value.

Please help me to solve this problem.

At the moment, I have a solution that the new value in the Render() function is written to a temp file. After that, in the dialog, the value will be gotten from that file. But, I think it is not good.

[Rick Brewster]

The Effect instance is not capable of communicating back to the EffectConfigDialog via the EffectConfigToken. This was a concious design decision -- every time the token is updated, it is Clone()'d once for each rendering thread (there is always a minimum of 2 threads). This solves a lot of thread safety issues. Also, the config dialog is only meant to be a "front end" to the effect -- the dialog and effect are not supposed to be some tightly coupled pair. The effect, in essence, should be oblivious to the existence of its config dialog. I should be able to execute your effect without using the config dialog (this is required for Effect -> Repeat [effect name] to work).

You should also note that Render() will not be called just once, so you are going to have the problem that you will have 200+ "results" no matter what communication channel you are able to find to use.

[Thanh]

Thank you!