Re: [brlcad-devel] Project : Consolidate Image Processing

[brlcad <br...@ma...>]

On May 30, 2012, at 08:55 AM, Anoop Malav <ano...@gm...> wrote:

Step 1. Taking various parameters from user for bolt.
1. if argc == 1 then it would ask for the options one by one.
 
The bolt tool presently behaves this way, but is inconsistent with other tools.  Running without options should result in a usage statement or generate "default" geometry.

The only tools that could/should kick into interactive mode by default are the applications that support a command prompt (e.g., mged, btclsh, nirt, lgt, etc).  Adding a -i option to request interactive mode would be fine (and matches at least one other src/shapes tool),  and would make for a very quick/simple patch.

What I'm trying to do is the following :
Step 1. Breaking bolt.c in two parts - 
a.) src/shapes/bolt.c
b.) src/libshape/bolt.c

I don't think a new library for shapes would be useful right now.  There are only a few shape tools and no shapes API has been defined or even scoped.  It'd just be a mess of functions with arbitrary parameters.  Plus, abstracting the logic out into a library would just add a layer of complexity.  You'd spend hours or days moving code around while increasing maintenance cost and all without introducing anything new for users. 

I want to know if I'm on the right track?
 
You could refactor the logic into src/libged as a new ged command.  See src/shapes/human.c for an example.  There, at least the API is well-defined and you'd introduce a new feature (a new mged/archer command).

Thanks for asking and don't be shy with the questions.  I suggest starting with the -i option as a patch, then migrate the functionality to libged.  That should help set the stage for migrating code to libicv later.

Cheers!
Sean