The PluginGUI Object

PluginGUI
The PluginGUI object handles all of the GUI chores for the Plugin Kernel. This includes:

• Generating the GUI graphically
• Initializing the GUI controls
• Transmitting control changes from the GUI to the native plugin shell in order to affect parameter changes
• Transmitting automation gesture messages to the native plugin shell and host DAW
• Receiving control updates from project saved-states
• Receiving control updates from running automation
• Creating the drag-and-drop GUI Designer for you to use in the graphical creation of your plugin GUI

It is important to remember that the PluginGUI and PluginCore objects are completely independent of one another and do not need each other’s existence to operate nor do they know about each other’s existence. The Native plugin shell creates the GUI and core objects. This figure shows the lifecycles of the plugin host DAW, the native plugin shell, the PluginCore and PluginGUI objects. The user requests a plugin instance from the host, which creates the API-specific native plugin shell object. The shell creates the PluginCore object as part of its construction. The PluginCore exists as long as the shell object does and is destroyed in the shell’s destructor. However, the user may open and close the GUI as many times as they wish during the plugin’s lifetime. If the GUI is open at the time the user destroys the plugin, it will be closed first, then destroyed.