076fec7eb4
The pipewire loop now runs without interruption in a second thread and communicates with the GTK thread via a channel in each direction, instead of checking for events once a second and using callbacks. This allows changes to appear instantly in the view, instead of having to wait.
2.7 KiB
Architecture
If you want to understand the high-level architecture of helvum, this document is the right place.
It provides a birds-eye view of the general architecture, and also goes into details on some components like the view.
Top Level Architecture
Helvum uses an architecture with the components laid out like this:
┌──────┐
│ View │
└────┬─┘
Λ ┆
│<───── updates view
│ ┆
│ ┆<─ notifies of user input
│ ┆ (using signals)
│ ┆
│ ┆
│ V notifies of remote changes
┌┴───────────┐ via messages ┌─────────────────────┐
│ │<╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌┤ Seperate │
│ Controller │ │ Pipewire │
│ ├╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌╌>│ Thread │
└┬───────────┘ Request changes to remote └─────────────────────┘
│ via messages Λ
│ ║
│<─── updates/reads state ║
│ ║
V ║
┌───────┐ V
│ State │ [ Remote Pipewire Server ]
└───────┘
The program is split between two threads, with most stuff happening inside the GTK thread. The GTK thread will sit in a GTK event processing loop, while the pipewire thread will sit in a pipewire event processing loop.
The Controller struct inside the GTK thread is the centerpiece of this architecture.
It communicates with the pipewire thread using two channels,
where each message sent by one thread will trigger the loop of the other thread to invoke a callback
with the received message.
For each change on the remote pipewire server, the GTK thread is notified by the pipewire thread and updates the view to reflect those changes, and additionally memorizes anything it might need later in the state.
Additionally, a user may also make changes using the view.
For each change, the view notifies the controller by emitting a matching signal.
The controller will then request the pipewire connection to make those changes on the remote.
These changes will then be applied to the view like any other remote changes as explained above.
View Architecture
TODO