dhewm3/neo/openal/docs/app-extensions.sgml

   <appendix>
   <title>Extensions</title>
    <para>
       Extensions are a way to provide for future expansion of the &AL; API. 
       Typically, extensions are specified and proposed by a vendor, and
       can be treated as vendor neutral if no intellectual property
       restrictions apply. Extensions can also be specified as, or
       promoted to be, ARB extensions, which is usually the final step
       before adding a tried and true extension to the core API. ARB
       extensions, once specified, have mandatory presence for
       backwards compatibility. The handling of vendors-specific or
       multi-vendor extensions is left to the implementation. The IA-SIG
       I3DL2 Extension is an example of multi-vender extensions to 
       the current &AL; core API. 
     </para>

    <sect1>
    <title>Extension Query</title>
     <para>
       To use an extension, the application will have to obtain function addresses 
       and enumeration values. Before an extension can be used, the application will 
       have to verify 
       the presence of an extension using IsExtensionPresent(). The application 
       can then retrieve the address (function pointer) of an extension entry 
       point using GetProcAddress. Extensions and entry points can be 
       Context-specific, and the application can not count on an Extension being available
       based on the mere return of an entry point. The application also
       has to maintain pointers on a per-Context basis.

        <funcsynopsis>
	  <funcprototype>
	    <funcdef> &bool; <function>IsExtensionPresent</function></funcdef>
	    <paramdef> const &ubyte; * <parameter>extName</parameter></paramdef>
	  </funcprototype>
	</funcsynopsis>

      Returns TRUE if the given extension is supported for the current
      context, FALSE otherwise.
      </para>

      <![ %Annote [
      <note id="ann-bk000721-22"><title>Annotation (IsExtensionPresent)</title><para>
        This function is inspired by the GLU addition, but placed in
        the core API as we intend to avoid a separate ALU. This function 
        avoids potential string overflow and string parsing issues (strstr)
        raised by GetString( EXTENSIONS ).
       </para></note>
      ]]>


     <![ %Annote [
      <note><title>Annotation/ EXTENSIONS</title><para>
         GetString( EXTENSIONS ) is supported as well, as it allows for
         easy archiving and priting of the list of supported extensions.
       </para></note>
     ]]>
     </sect1>

     <sect1>
     <title>Retrieving Function Entry Addresses</title>
      <para>
       <funcsynopsis><funcprototype> 
       <funcdef> &void;* <function>GetProcAddress</function></funcdef>
       <paramdef> const &ubyte; * <parameter>funcName</parameter></paramdef>      
       </funcprototype></funcsynopsis> 
       Returns NULL if no entry point with the name funcName can be found.
       Implementations are free to return NULL if an entry point is present,
       but not applicable for the current context. However the specification 
       does not guarantee this behavior. 
    </para>
    <para>
       Applications can use GetProcAddress to obtain core API entry points,
       not just extensions. This is the recommended way to dynamically load
       and unload &AL; DLL's as sound drivers.
    </para>

     <![ %RFC [
      <note><title>RFC/bk000504:</title><para>  
       Original spec required all addresses are Context independent. 
       This matches the Linux &OGL; ABI specification, but imposes
       additional implementation constraints. For now, the specification
       does not guarantee this.
     </para></note>
     ]]>
    </sect1>


    <sect1>
    <title>Retrieving Enumeration Values</title>
    <para>
       To obtain enumeration values for extensions, the application has 
       to use GetEnumValue of an extension token. Enumeration values are
       defined within the &AL; namespace and allocated according to
       specification of the core API and the extensions, thus they are
       context-independent.
       <funcsynopsis><funcprototype> 
       <funcdef> &uint; <function> GetEnumValue </function></funcdef>
       <paramdef> const &ubyte;<parameter> enumName </parameter></paramdef>      
       </funcprototype></funcsynopsis> 
       Returns 0 if the enumeration can not be found. The presence of an
       enum value does not guarantee the applicability of an extension
       to the current context. A non-zero return indicates merely that
       the implementation is aware of the existence of this extension.
       Implementations should not attempt to return 0 to indicate that
       the extensions is not supported for the current context. 
     </para> 

     <![ %Annote [
      <note><title>Annotation/ enums with value zero</title><para>
          The literal value 0 is guaranteed for a number of AL
          enums, such as  FALSE, NONE, ZERO. As with GL applications
          might employ sloppy use of this identity. It also means
          that enums with zero value can not be queried through
          GetEnumValue, a minor flaw given the constraints of
          ABI backward compatibility. The recommended value to
          compare GetEnumValue results with is NONE.
      </para></note>
    ]]>
    </sect1>

   <sect1>
   <title>Naming Conventions</title>
   <para>
      Extensions are required to use a postfix that separates the
      extension namespace from the core API's namespace.
      For example, an ARB-approved extension would use
      "_ARB" with tokens (ALenum), and "ARB" with commands (function
      names). A vendor specific extension uses a vendor-chosen
      postfix, e.g. Loki Extensions use "_LOKI" and "LOKI",
      respectively.
   </para>
   </sect1>

    <sect1>
    <title>ARB Extensions</title>
   <para>
      There are no ARB Extensions defined yet, as the ARB has
      yet to be installed.
   </para>
   </sect1>

  
   <![ %Ext1 [
   <sect1>
   <title>Other Extension</title> 
   <para>
      For the time being this section
      will list externally proposed extensions, namely 
      the extension based on the IASIG Level 2 guideline.
   </para>



   <sect2>
 
   <title>IA-SIG I3DL2 Extension</title> 
   
   <para>
      The IA-SIG I3DL2 guideline defines a set of parameters to control
      the reverberation characteristics of the environment the listener
      is located in, as well as filtering or muffling effects applied to
      individual Sources (useful for simulating the effects of obstacles
      and partitions). These features are supported by a vendor neutral
      extension to  &AL; (TBA).
      The 
      <ulink 
       url="http://www.iasig.org/wg/3dwg/3dwg.htm"
       type="http">IA-SIG 3D Level 2 rendering guideline</ulink>
      provides related information. 
   </para>

   <![ %Scratch [
   <![ %RFC [
     <note id="rfc-bk000626-07"><title>RFC: Global Attributes</title><para>  
     Do we need global setters for these:
     DIRECT_IASIG/DIRECT_HIGH_FREQUENCY_IASIG? 
     ROOM_IASIG/ROOM_HIGH_FREQUENCY_IASIG?
    </para></note> 
   ]]>
                

    <sect3>
    <title>Listener Environment Attributes</title>
    <para>
    


    <table>
    <title>ENV_ROOM Attribute</title>
    <tgroup cols="4" align="left" colsep=1 rowsep=1>
    <thead>
    <row>
       <entry>&Par;</>
       <entry>&Sig;</>
       <entry>&Val</>
       <entry>&Def;</>        
    </row>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
    <row>
       <entry>ENV_ROOM_EXT</>
       <entry>f</>
       <entry>[0.0, 1.0]</>
       <entry> 1.0f</>        
    </row>
    </tbody>
    </tgroup>
    </table>
       Description: ???
    </para>


    <para>
    <table>
    <title>ENV_ROOM_HIGH_FREQUENCY Attribute</title>
    <tgroup cols="4" align="left" colsep=1 rowsep=1>
    <thead>
    <row>
       <entry>&Par;</>
       <entry>&Sig;</>
       <entry>&Val</>
       <entry>&Def;</>        
    </row>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
    <row>
       <entry>ENV_ROOM_HIGH_FREQUENCY_EXT</>
       <entry>f</>
       <entry>[0.0, 1.0]</>
       <entry> 0.1f ???</>        
    </row>
    </tbody>
    </tgroup>
    </table>
        Description: ???
    </para>   
    

    <para>
    <table>
    <title>ENV_DECAY_TIME Attribute</title>
    <tgroup cols="4" align="left" colsep=1 rowsep=1>
    <thead>
    <row>
       <entry>&Par;</>
       <entry>&Sig;</>
       <entry>&Val</>
       <entry>&Def;</>        
    </row>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
    <row>
       <entry>ENV_DECAY_TIME_EXT</>
       <entry>f</>
       <entry>[0.1, 20.0]</>
       <entry> 1.0f</>        
    </row>
    </tbody>
    </tgroup>
    </table>
        Description: ???
        What's up with the defaults? Not a normalized range
        and a global Scale to set?
    </para>   
  

    <para>
    <table>
    <title>NV_DECAY_HIGH_FREQUENCY_RATIO Attribute</title>
    <tgroup cols="4" align="left" colsep=1 rowsep=1>
    <thead>
    <row>
       <entry>&Par;</>
       <entry>&Sig;</>
       <entry>&Val</>
       <entry>&Def;</>        
    </row>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
    <row>
       <entry>ENV_DECAY_HIGH_FREQUENCY_RATIO_EXT</>
       <entry>f</>
       <entry>[0.1, 2.0]</>
       <entry> 0.5f</>        
    </row>
    </tbody>
    </tgroup>
    </table>
        Description: ???
        What's up with the defaults? Not a normalized range
        and a global Scale to set?
    </para>


    <para>
    <table>
    <title>ENV_REFLECTIONS Attribute</title>
    <tgroup cols="4" align="left" colsep=1 rowsep=1>
    <thead>
    <row>
       <entry>&Par;</>
       <entry>&Sig;</>
       <entry>&Val</>
       <entry>&Def;</>        
    </row>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
    <row>
       <entry>ENV_REFLECTIONS_EXT</>
       <entry>f</>
       <entry>[0.1, 3.0]</>
       <entry> 1.0f</>        
    </row>
    </tbody>
    </tgroup>
    </table>
        Description: ???
        What's up with the defaults? Not a normalized range
        and a global Scale to set?
    </para>


    <para>
    <table>
    <title>ENV_REFLECTIONS_DELAY Attribute</title>
    <tgroup cols="4" align="left" colsep=1 rowsep=1>
    <thead>
    <row>
       <entry>&Par;</>
       <entry>&Sig;</>
       <entry>&Val</>
       <entry>&Def;</>        
    </row>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
    <row>
       <entry>ENV_REFLECTIONS_DELAY_EXT</>
       <entry>f</>
       <entry>[0.0, 0.3]</>
       <entry> 0.02f</>        
    </row>
    </tbody>
    </tgroup>
    </table>
        Description: ???
        What's up with the defaults? Not a normalized range
        and a global Scale to set?
    </para>


    <para>
    <table>
    <title>ENV_REVERB Attribute</title>
    <tgroup cols="4" align="left" colsep=1 rowsep=1>
    <thead>
    <row>
       <entry>&Par;</>
       <entry>&Sig;</>
       <entry>&Val</>
       <entry>&Def;</>        
    </row>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
    <row>
       <entry>ENV_REVERB_EXT</>
       <entry>f</>
       <entry>[0.0, 10.0]</>
       <entry> 1.0f</>        
    </row>
    </tbody>
    </tgroup>
    </table>
        Description: ???
        What's up with the defaults? Not a normalized range
        and a global Scale to set?
    </para>


    <para>
    <table>
    <title>ENV_REVERB_DELAY Attribute</title>
    <tgroup cols="4" align="left" colsep=1 rowsep=1>
    <thead>
    <row>
       <entry>&Par;</>
       <entry>&Sig;</>
       <entry>&Val</>
       <entry>&Def;</>        
    </row>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
    <row>
       <entry>ENV_REVERB_DELAY_EXT</>
       <entry>f</>
       <entry>[0.0, 0.1]</>
       <entry> 0.04f</>        
    </row>
    </tbody>
    </tgroup>
    </table>
        Description: ???
        What's up with the defaults? Not a normalized range
        and a global Scale to set?
    </para>


    <para>
    <table>
    <title>ENV_DIFFUSION Attribute</title>
    <tgroup cols="4" align="left" colsep=1 rowsep=1>
    <thead>
    <row>
       <entry>&Par;</>
       <entry>&Sig;</>
       <entry>&Val</>
       <entry>&Def;</>        
    </row>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
    <row>
       <entry>ENV_DIFFUSION_EXT</>
       <entry>f</>
       <entry>[0.0, 100.0]</>
       <entry> 100.0f</>        
    </row>
    </tbody>
    </tgroup>
    </table>
        Description: ???
        What's up with the defaults? Not a normalized range
        and a global Scale to set?
    </para>

 
    <para>
    <table>
    <title>ENV_DENSITY Attribute</title>
    <tgroup cols="4" align="left" colsep=1 rowsep=1>
    <thead>
    <row>
       <entry>&Par;</>
       <entry>&Sig;</>
       <entry>&Val</>
       <entry>&Def;</>        
    </row>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
     <row>
       <entry>ENV_DENSITY_EXT</>
       <entry>f</>
       <entry>[0.0, 100.0]</>
       <entry> 100.0f</>        
    </row>
    </tbody>
    </tgroup>
    </table>
        Description: ???
        What's up with the defaults? Not a normalized range
        and a global Scale to set?
    </para>


    <para>
    <table>
    <title>ENV_HIGH_FREQUENCY_REFERENCE Attribute</title>
    <tgroup cols="4" align="left" colsep=1 rowsep=1>
    <thead>
    <row>
       <entry>&Par;</>
       <entry>&Sig;</>
       <entry>&Val</>
       <entry>&Def;</>        
    </row>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
    <row>
       <entry>ENV_HIGH_FREQUENCY_REFERENCE_EXT</>
       <entry>f</>
       <entry>[20.0, 20000.0]</>
       <entry>5000.0</>        
    </row>
    </tbody>
    </tgroup>
    </table>
        Description: ???
        What's up with the defaults? Not a normalized range
        and a global Scale to set?
    </para>
    </sect3>
    <sect3>
    <title>Source Environment Attributes</title>
    <para>
          TBA.
    </para>
    </sect3>
     ]]>  
    </sect2>
   </sect1>
   ]]> <!-- Environment -->
   


   <![ %Ext2 [
  
   <sect1>
   <title>Compatibility Extensions</title> 
   <para>
     The extensions described have at one point been in use for
     experimental purposes, proof of concept, or short term needs.
     They are preserved for backwards compatibility. Use is not
     recommended, avialability not guaranteed. Most of these will
     be officially dropped by the time API revision 2.0 is released.
   </para>


  <sect2>
   <title>Loki Buffer InternalFormat Extension</title> 
   <para>
     &AL; currently does not provide a separate processing
     chain for multichannel data. To handle stereo samples,
     the following alternative entry point to BufferData
     has been defined.
      <funcsynopsis><funcprototype> 
      <funcdef> &void; <function> BufferWriteData</function></funcdef>
      <paramdef> &uint; <parameter>bufferName</parameter></paramdef>
      <paramdef> &enum; <parameter>format</parameter></paramdef>
      <paramdef> &void;* <parameter> data </parameter></paramdef>
      <paramdef> &sizei; <parameter> size </parameter></paramdef>
      <paramdef> &uint; <parameter>frequency</parameter></paramdef>
      <paramdef> &enum; <parameter>internalFormat</parameter></paramdef>
      </funcprototype></funcsynopsis>
      Valid formats for internalFormat are FORMAT_MONO8, FORMAT_MONO16,
      FORMAT_STEREO8, and FORMAT_STEREO16.
   </para>
   </sect2>

   <sect2>
   <title>Loki BufferAppendData Extension</title> 
   <para>
      Experimental implementation to append data to an existing
      buffer. Obsoleted by Buffer Queueing. TBA.
   </para>
   <![ %Annote [
      <note><title>Annotation (GenStreamingBuffers):</title><para>
        It is possible that a consistent implementation of this
        extension will require distinguishing streaming from
        regular buffers at creation time, instead of making
        this distinction implied by the use of BufferData vs.
        BufferAppendData.
       </para></note>
    ]]>
 
     <![ %RFC [
      <note id="rfc-bk0000507-09"><title>RFC: alBufferAppendData</title><para>  
        Specify data to be filled into a streaming buffer.
        This takes the current position at the time of the
        call, and returns the number of samples written.
         ALsizei ALAPIENTRY alBufferAppendData( ALuint   buffer,
                                                ALenum   format,
                                                ALvoid*  data,
                                                ALsizei  size,
                                                ALuint  freq );



      </para></note>
     ]]>

      <![ %RFC [
      <note id="rfc-briareaos0006XX-01"><title>RFC: GenStreamingBuffers</title><para>  
            Currently there is a function call on the Linux side,
            alGenStreamingBuffers(), which generates a Buffer intended
            for streaming. The intent of this function was the provide
            a clear creation point for streaming buffers, rather than
            the previous behaviour of a Buffer "magically" becoming
            streaming Buffer the first time BufferAppendData() was
            called on it. However, it's hard to believe this anomaly
            in the API can be any better. What about
            DelStreamingBuffers()? IsStreamingBuffer()?
      </para><para>
         The design problem here is that we handle qualitatively different
         objects using the same API. Streaming and non-streaming buffers
         are fundamentally different. If we create an API that makes it
         easy to mistake one for the other, or worse, if we decide to
         quietly convert one type of object into another in some cases,
         we create a plethora of error cases for the implementation and
         the app coder to catch. Separating the Factory methods for the
         objects allows us to omit an specialization API that will
         accidentally be called more than once, and saves us handling
         different stages of "initialization state". AL should not have
         any notion of "partially initialized" or "incomplete" objects:
         misery and despair lie down that road. If necessary the entire
         API should be duplicated (after all, nobody handles 1D, 2D, and
         3D textures using the same GL API hooks), but as the AL
         implementation has the ability to distinguish streaming and
         non-streamin buffers internally there might not be a need. 
         Unless a concrete alternative is proposed to resolve the "anomaly"
         it will be the preferred method to avoid an API that is 
         leaner at the expense of being more error-prone.
      </para></note>
     ]]>
  </sect2>




   <sect2>
   <title>Loki Decoding Callback Extension</title> 
   <para>
      Experimental implementation to allow the application to
      specify a decoding callback for compression formats
      and codecs not supported by &AL;. This is supposed to
      be used if full uncompression by the application is prohibited
      by memory footprint, but streaming (by queueing) is not
      desired as the compressed data can be kept in memory
      in its entirety.
   </para>
   <para>
      If mixing can be done from the compressed data directly, 
      several sources can use the sample without having to
      be synchronized. For compression formats not supported 
      by AL, however, partial decompression has to be done by 
      the application. This extension allows for the implementation 
      to "pull" data, using apllication provided decompression
      code.
   </para>
   <para>
      The use of this callback by the &AL;
      implementation makes sense only if late decompression
      (incremerntal, on demand, as needed for mixing) is done, 
      as full early compression (ahead-of-time) inside the 
      implementation would exact a similar memory footprint. 
   </para>
   <para>
      TBA.
   </para>
   <para>
      This extension forces execution of third party code
      during (possibly threaded) driver operation, and
      might also require state management with global
      variables for decoder state, which raises issues
      of thread safety and use for multiple buffers. This
      extension should be obsolete as soon as &AL;
      supports a reasonable set of state of the art
      compression and encoding schemes.
   </para>
   </sect2>




   <sect2>
   <title>Loki Infinite Loop Extension</title> 
   <para>
      To support infinite looping, a boolean LOOP was introduced. 
      With the introduction of buffer queueing and the request for
      support for a limited number of repetitions, this mechanism
      was redundant. This extension is not supported for 
      buffer queue operations, attempts to use it will cause
      an ILLEGAL_OPERATION error. For backwards compatibility 
      it is supported as the equivalent to 
       <literallayout>
           Source( sName, PLAY_COUNT, MAX_INTEGER ) 
       </literallayout>
      For the query LOOP==TRUE, the comparison 
      PLAY_COUNT!=MAX_INTEGER has to be executed on
      the queue, not the current value which is decremented
      for a PLAYING Source.
    <table>
    <title>Source LOOP_LOKI Attribute</title>
    <tgroup cols="4" align="left" colsep=1 rowsep=1>
    <colspec colname=c1>
    <colspec colname=c2>
    <colspec colname=c3>
    <colspec colname=c4>
    <spanspec spanname=hspan namest=c1 nameend=c4 align=left>
    <thead>
    <row>
       <entry>&Par;</>
       <entry>&Sig;</>
       <entry>&Val</>
       <entry>&Def;</>        
    </row>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
    <row>
       <entry>LOOP_LOKI</>
       <entry>b</>
       <entry> &TRUE; &FALSE;</>
       <entry> &FALSE; </>        
    </row>
    </tbody>
    </tgroup>
    </table>
     Description:
        &TRUE; indicates that the Source will perform an inifinite
        loop over the content of the current Buffer it refers to. 
    </para>
   </sect2>
   


   <sect2>
   <title>Loki Byte Offset Extension</title> 
   <para>
      The following has been obsoleted by explicit Source State query.
      hack.
   </para>

   <para>
    <table>
    <title>Buffer BYTE Offset attribute</title>
    <tgroup cols="4" align="left" colsep=1 rowsep=1>
    <thead>
    <row>
       <entry>&Par;</>
       <entry>&Sig;</>
       <entry>&Val</>
       <entry>&Def;</>        
    </row>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
    <row>
       <entry>BYTE_LOKI</>
       <entry>ui</>
       <entry> n/a </>
       <entry> n/a </>        
    </row>
    </tbody>
    </tgroup>
    </table>
        Current byte for the buffer bound to the source interpreted
        as an offset from the beginning of the buffer.
    </para>

    </sect2>
    </sect1>
   ]]> 


  <![ %Ext2 [ 
   <sect1>
   <title>Loop Point Extension</title>
   <para>

      In external file now.

    </para>
   </sect1>
   ]]>

   </appendix>