Crash Test Dummies

These are the modern-day equivalents of straw men. Following are ideas captured in casual conversation that require further discussion so they can be ratified, discarded, or put on-hold:

• Server Reconnects
  • Description: allow the ParaView server to continue running after the client has disconnected. Allow follow-on clients to connect to the running server.
  • Rationale: users can switch back-and-forth between the GUI and scripting clients without having to restart the server.
  • Estimated Complexity: minor-to-moderate addition to ParaView server.
• Startup ParaView Servers *after* UI initialization
  • Description: rework the ParaView Server Manager so that clients may display a GUI prior to instantiating the ParaView server manager.
  • Rationale: improve startup times, implied by Server Reconnects.
  • Estimated Complexity: minor changes to ParaView Server Manager.
• Multiple Clients
  • Description: update the ParaView server so zero-to-many clients can connect simultaneously.
  • Rationale: users can run both GUI and scripting clients simultaneously, switching back-and-forth seamlessly.
  • Estimated Complexity: major additions to ParaView server, requires observer design pattern to keep clients in-sync.
• ParaQ Client Layer library
  • Description: create a library that wraps the ParaView server
  • Rationale: provide features that should be available to all clients, cleaner separation of client / server, and an easier API for clients to code to.
  • Estimated Complexity: minor-to-moderate, depending on features provided by the layer.
• ParaView Server Linking
  • Description: implement ParaQ linking at the server level instead of in the client.
  • Rationale: visualizations should behave the same regardless of which client they are created / viewed with.
  • Estimated Complexity: moderate addition to the ParaView server.
• Multiple Servers accessed by a single ParaQ Client.
  • Description: allow clients to instantiate more-than-one ParaView Server Manager.
  • Rationale: allow side-by-side comparison of data residing on multiple servers, without copying files.
  • Estimated Complexity: minor-to-moderate changes the ParaView Server Manager.
• Multiview Architecture
  • Description: display zero-to-many views simultaneously
  • Rationale: generalization of existing single-view capability
  • Estimated Complexity: yagotme.
• Everything is on the server
  • Description: should we assume that all nodes exist in the server only, i.e. there are no "local" VTK nodes in an application?
  • Rationale: simplify API
  • Estimated Complexity: none.