VST3 serialization
TODO: Once this is more fleshed out, move this document to docs/, and perhaps
replace this readme with a link to that document.
TODO: There are now two approaches in use: the factory takes an interface pointer for serialization and deserializes into an object directly, and the component uses an args struct because the alternative involving pointers is just too unsafe (as we also have to communicate additional payload data). This should probably be unified into only using the latter appraoch.
The VST3 SDK uses an architecture where every object inherits from an interface,
and every interface inherits from FUnknown which offers a dynamic casting
interface through queryInterface(). Every interface gets a unique identifier.
It then uses a smart pointer system (FUnknownPtr<I>) that queries whether the
FUnknown matches a certain interface by checking whether the IDs match up,
allowing casts to that interface if the FUnkonwn matches.
Another important part of this system is interface versioning. Old interfaces
cannot be changed, so when the SDK adds new functionality to an existing
interface it defines a new interface that inherits from the old one. The
queryInterface() implementation should then allow casts to all of the
implemented interface versions.
Lastly, the interfaces mostly provided a lot of getters for data, but some of the interfaces also provide callback functions that should perform some operation on the component implementing the interface.
Yabridge's serialization and communication model for VST3 is thus a lot more complicated than for VST2 since all of these objects are loosely coupled and are instantiated and managed by the host. The model works as follows:
- For an interface
IFoo, we provide a possibly abstract implementation calledYaFoo. - This class has a constructor that takes an
IPtr<IFoo>interface pointer and copies all of the data from the interface's functions that do not perform any side effects. YaFoothen implements all the boilerplate required forFUnknown. This includes the constructor, destructor and methods required for reference counting, as well as the query interface.- If
IFoois a versioned interface such asIPluginFactory3, the above two steps work slightly differently. When copying the data for a plugin factory, we'll start copying fromIPluginFactory, and we'll copy data from each newer version of the interface that theIPtr<IPluginFactory>supports. During this process we keep track of which interfaces were supported by the native plugin. In our query interface method we then only report support for the same itnerfaces that were supported byIPtr<IPluginFactory. YaFooimplements serialization and deserialization through bitsery so it can be sent between the native plugin and the Wine plugin host.- If
IFoohas methods that have side effects (such as instantiating a new object), then the implementations of those functions inYaFoowill be pure virtual. The side that requested the object (so for the plugin factory that would be on the side of the native plugin) should then provide aYaFoo{Plugin,Host}Implthat implements those functions through yabridge'sVst3MessageHandlercallback interface.
Interface Instantiation
Creating a new instance of an interface using the plugin factory wroks as follows:
- The host calls
createInterface(cid, _iid, obj)on an IPluginFactory implementation exposed to the host as described above. - We check which interface we support matches the
_iid. If we don't support the interface, we'll log a message about it and return that we do not support the itnerface. - If we determine that
_iidmatchesIFoo, then we'll send aYaFoo::Create{cid}to the Wine plugin host process. - The Wine plugin host will then call
module->getFactory().createInstance<IFoo>(cid)using the Windows VST3 plugin's plugin factory to ask it to create an instance of that interface. If this operation fails and returns a null pointer, we'll send anstd::nulloptback to indicate that the instantiation was not successful and we relay this on the plugin side. - We will generate a unique instance identifier for the newly generated object
so we can refer to it later. We then serialize that identifier along with
what other static data is available in
IFooin aYaFoo::Argumentsobject. - We then move
IPtr<IFoo>to anstd::map<size_t, IPtr<IFoo>>with that unique identifier we generated earlier as a key so we can refer to it later in later function calls. - On the plugin side we can now use the
YaFoo::Argumentsobject we received to create aYaFooPluginImplobject that can send control messages to the Wine plugin host. - Finally a pointer to this
YaFooPluginImplgets returned as the last step of the initialization process.
Safety notes
- None of the destructors in the interfaces defined by the SDK are marked as
virtual because this could apparently break binary
compatibility. This
means that the destructor of the class that implemented
release()will be called. This is something to keep in mind when dealing with inheritence. - Since everything behind the scenes makes use of these
addRef()andrelease()reference counting functions, we can't use the standard library's smart pointers when dealing with objects that are shared with the host or with the Windows VST3 plugin. InIPtr<T>'s destructor it will call release, and the objects will clean themselfs up with adelete this;when the reference count reaches 0. Combining this with the STL cmart pointers this would result in a double free.