Re: [ddccontrol-devel] [ddccontrol-users] Could the xml files be auto-generated?

[Nicolas B. <ni...@bo...>]

Hi,

David R Mulligan wrote:
> I was wondering if these files could be auto-generated, tweaked and then
> submitted. It seems that the output of the ddccontrol util is taken at
> face value for the first version so why can't it be used to generate a
> test xml file? Perhaps it could be done with some interaction from the
> user?

That's something I thought about, but unfortunately I think it is too
complicated to do. xml files are not very complicated to create, but it
needs some intelligence and experience about how DDC/CI works (or
doesn't work), which a computer program cannot provide. For example,
these are things I've done to create the database:
- Google, ask if the monitor is a LCD or a CRT (so I don't define absurd
controls like "pincushion" for LCDs)
- see that there is a missing parenthesis in monitor caps (Philips)
- see that a monitor reports strange values for some controls, so ask
the user if the controls really works (like the Samsung 215tw)
- create CAPS manually for an old monitor only supporting DDC/CI
partially (Samsung 173s)
- see that some controls are useful, but not in CAPS (very common for
Samsung)
- ask NEC-Mitsubishi / Fujistu-Siemens about the missing controls (I
have contact with these two manufacturer)
- etc...

xml-file creation has also been really simplified with the introduction
of generic profiles, it is also less important to have full support for
monitor as the user, without having a specific file for his monitor,
already has basic support (like brightness, which is probably the most
wanted control .-)).

> Part of why I am asking is the because of the mistakes made in some of
> the recent xml files

What mistakes ? Please tell me and I would be happy to fix these.

> as well as the fact that I am sure Nicolas would
> like some of his time back to do more interesting things than to parse
> the monitor capability output text to generate xml definition files :)

Of course I would like to do something else, but unfortunately, nothing
is simple with the monitors: controls are far from standard, and even
for a specific manufacturer, the same control sometimes behaves
differently (look at SAMlcd.xml for example), and a lot of monitors are
buggy.

If I had time, I would like to do some work on gddccontrol (add more
full screen patterns for example), add support for read-only controls in
the database (to support rotation for example), allow better integration
with scripts, etc... I will post a topic about the future of the project
in a few weeks, as I probably won't work on it until June 2007. The only
thing I will do during the next 12 months is the creation of XML files.

Of course, if you want to create a tool to generate xml files, feel free
.-), as long as it doesn't require more work to fix mistakes introduced
by an automatic program that it would with manual xml file creation.
(but I think that if you have time there are more interesting work to do
on ddccontrol .-))

Best regards,

Nicolas