This turned out ridiculously complex. I think it will have to be
simplified some day. Main reason for the complexity are:
- filtering properties by forcing clients to observe individual
properties explicitly
(to avoid spamming clients with changes they don't want)
- optional retrieval of property value with the notification
(the basic idea was that this is more user friendly)
- allowing to the client to specify a format in which the value
should be retrieved
(because if a property changes its type, the client API couldn't
convert it properly, and compatibility would break)
I don't know yet which of these are important, and everything could
change. In particular, the interface and semantics should be adjusted
to reduce the implementation complexity.
While I consider the API complete, there could (and probably will) be
bugs left. Also while the implementation is complete, it's inefficient.
The complexity of the property matching is O(a*b*c) with a clients,
b observed properties, and c properties changing at once. I threw away
an earlier implementation using bitmasks, because it was too unwieldy.
Add a client API, which is intended to be a stable API to get some rough
control over the player. Basically, it reflects what can be done with
input.conf commands or the old slavemode. It will replace the old
slavemode (and enable the implementation of a new slave protocol).
wm4