Multiple Outputs

There are several ways of displaying multiple outputs. To illustrate, consider a source that has 2 outputs, with 1 filter attached to one output and 2 filters attached to the other one. The simplest way to represent this pipeline is probably the following:

However, this has one major drawback: it doesn't allow setting the visibility of individual outputs. Also, the display and information pages are shared between two outputs. We would have to add a chooser to both of these panels to allow the user to switch between two outputs. Furthermore, when applying a filter to Source0, the user would have to specify which output it is being applied by choosing it from a dialog.

Another options is the following:

Here, Source0 represents the source and Output0 and Output1 represent the 2 outputs. In this case, Source0 would not have display and information pages whereas Output0 and Output1 would not have parameter panel. This is kind of weird because we are not showing 2 different types of objects (algorithms and outputs) in the pipeline browser. Finally, we have this:

Here, the 2 outputs are shown as independent items. They would share a property page and would have independent display and information pages. Although it is still not ideal, I prefer this over the previous 2 options.

This option may be good for multiple outputs, but it would make multiple inputs more confusing. The second option would be better for an object with multiple inputs and multiple outputs. We can still show the properties page for the object when one of the outputs is selected. We do the same thing when a input link object is selected.

--Mark Richardson 12:17, 19 June 2007 (EDT)