I am really not getting this $ business

For example, I am using the [ctlin] to receive certain midi CC's. I figured it would be easy to send a variable to select midi channel & midi cc, but having no luck yet.

Do i always have to create an "abstraction" when I use the $1 $2 $3 stuff ? Like a sublayer or something, excuse my PD internal ignorance, it will get better I hope

[ctlin $1 $2] would be enough for now, I just dont know where/how to set $1 $2

so basicly I want to create a user-interface to quickly select:

• midi channel
• midi cc
• type of sub module to process the midi cc signal with
• option paramters for the sub module (invert signal, range, ... )

I looked at the $ examples in the browser but I am really missing some understanding of PD. I also do not understand why you can use arguments
but not send the arguments to an inlet. Whats the purpose of that ?

yes, if you want to use $1 $2 arguments for an object, then you will need to create an abstraction.

it might be as simple as:

[ctlin $1 $2]
|
[outlet]

then save that, and add a path to the location where it is saved...like this:

1. make a folder on your harddisk called 'pd-abstractions' or something.

2. in the taskbar of pd, go into preferences->path....there will be no space to add a new path, but you can do it this way: on an existing line, without adding any spaces, add a colon and then the path to 'pd-abstractions'

so, for example, /System/Library/Fonts will become /System/Library/Fonts:/pd-abstractions
apply and save these settings, and your abstractions will work.

if you have subfolders within your abstractions folder, then you will need to add separate paths to each of these subfolders too.

for more info on $0, $1..etc, have a read of this thread:

http://puredata.hurleur.com/sujet-1187-abstraction-why-use-etc

Ok thanks for the feedback. That thread makes things more clear.

However, I have yet to see how I make the variable setting dynamic....

I want to hook up a slider to set the midi cc for example. With these
$ & abstractions it seems I have to write them in the object box staticly.

I am sure I am still missing something

onward!

ok, then you will need to use 'graph on parent'

open your [ctlin] abstraction, and add a slider or number box (or even better - a slider attached to a number box), and then right click on a blank area of the canvas and check 'graph on parent'. set your graph size and offset so it will be big enough to house the gui objects you added, and put the gui objects inside the red box that will appear on the canvas.

from what I understand, $'s don't wont act as "global" variables within a patch unless specified as part of an abstraction, but they do act as a variable within whatever object or message box they live in, so a dollar sign could change for its own box, but they wont talk to other dollar signs. if ctlin had an inlet, then all you would need would be a receive box to set a dollarsign... you could set up a bunch of static ctlin objects and select betwean them using the [gate] object. but since it's from Max, ithas somequirks: it numbers its outlets starting from one, not zero, and the only way to tell its outlets apart is by adding 0 0 0 0 0 afterits creation argument, and its inlets seem to be on the wrong sides.

Right. Well, it was the idea to use *NIX for PD anyway..... why does this matter ? I have no idea how to compile on windows and looking at x_midi.c patching ctlin should be possible even with my limited C skills I will start with just copying stuff from the ctlout which has the features I want!! stay tuned....

INSTALL.txt tells me there should be a configure script in pd/src, however I can not find it. I downloaded the src from sf.net! Are there any current build instructions somwhere ?