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Ndr : Node Definition Registry

Ndr provides a framework in which you can, agnostic to the node's domain (shading, lighting, compositing, etc), register nodes with Ndr, and subsequently ask for information about those nodes. The information Ndr provides about these nodes will be fairly generic, given that Ndr must not cater to any specific type of node. However, specialized registries can derive from Ndr, and it is there that domain-specific logic can be implemented. Additionally, node parsing and "discovery" are done via plugins, again to keep Ndr generic and extendable.

In addition to being able to instantiate specialized registries, domain-specific nodes and properties deriving from the base Ndr classes can also be created. This is explained in the sections below.

Ndr Organization

Ndr can be split into 5 major components, as described by the following subsections.

Ndr Base Registry

The core Ndr registry, NdrRegistry, is where node-level queries are done. In practice, it will not be used directly (in almost all cases, a specialized registry deriving from Ndr core will be used instead). Upon initialization, the registry searches for all parser and discovery plugins. During this start-up phase the discovery plugins are all run, but the nodes that are found are NOT parsed. The registry parses nodes on demand when information about a node(s) is requested in order to keep the start-up process as fast as possible.

The type of information that the base Ndr registry provides includes:

  • The names of nodes that have been registered
  • Parsed node instances (created on-demand when requested)
  • Where the nodes were found

Ndr Base Node

Ndr provides a base node class, NdrNode, which exposes domain-agnostic information such as:

  • The node type
  • What the inputs and outputs are
  • Any metadata attached to the node

An NdrNode represents a dataflow-connectable computation, intended to be a node in a computational network. A node's NdrProperty's represent its computational inputs and outputs, and its URI's identify its external sources:

Ndr Base Property

Ndr also provides a base property class, NdrProperty. Inputs and outputs are on a node are collectively identified as "properties".

The base property exposes information like:

  • The input type
  • The default value, if any
  • Any metadata attached to the property
  • Whether the property is connectable

Discovery Plugins

Discovery plugins are how the registry finds (or "discovers") nodes. The registry makes no assumptions on where, or how, nodes are stored. A discovery plugin can be built to find file-based nodes on the filesystem (a typical case), search a database, a cloud service, or any other system that might contain nodes. If nodes are scattered across multiple systems, a discovery plugin can be created for each. More info about discovery plugins is available in the NdrDiscoveryPlugin documentation.

Note that a filesystem-based discovery plugin is active by default. More information on how to configure this plugin can be found in the documentation for _NdrFilesystemDiscoveryPlugin. In a nutshell, there are a few environment variables that can be configured to control its behavior. However, the more robust pattern that any renderer or shading-system plugin should follow is to provide its own DiscoveryPlugin, so that its configuration will not interfere with that of other plugins. The filesystem discovery machinery that the builtin _NdrFilesystemDiscoveryPlugin plugin uses is available for other discovery plugins to use - see NdrFsHelpersDiscoverNodes().

Parser Plugins

Once the registry knows about nodes via the discovery plugin(s), the parser plugins parse the nodes and provide the registry with the resulting information. The parser plugins are responsible for information such as the node's type, its metadata, and all information about its inputs and outputs. In the end, the parser plugin is responsible for determining all information about the node that could not otherwise be determined via the discovery plugin. More information about parser plugins is available in the NdrParserPlugin documentation.

How to Set Up a Domain-Specific Registry

The base Ndr registry can be used as-is if only generic information about nodes is needed. In most cases however, more detailed information about the nodes will be necessary, and this is where domain-specific registries come into play. The process can be divided into 5 areas of customization, which echo the 5 sections above.

Custom Registry

The base Ndr registry can be derived from to create a specialized registry. In many cases, not much will be needed here except doing dynamic casts to your domain-specific nodes. The registry's base class provides methods such as NdrRegistry::GetNode() (which returns a NdrNode), but you may want to provide additional methods like GetShadingNode() which dynamic casts the result from NdrRegistry::GetNode() to a shading node instance. See SdrRegistry for an example.

Custom Nodes

As mentioned before, the base node class NdrNode only provides generic information about the node. Specialized nodes can derive from NdrNode to implement any additional functionality that is needed. The parser plugin for the node can provide this information to the node via the constructor. Nodes should be immutable once created. See SdrShaderNode for an example.

Custom Properties

The process here is the same as for nodes: derive from NdrProperty and add new functionality, or override existing methods. See SdrShaderProperty for an example.

Custom Discovery Plugin

See the documentation for NdrDiscoveryPlugin for more information.

Custom Parser Plugin

See the documentation for NdrParserPlugin for more information.