File writing modes: proposed changes for R3-0.

[MarkRivers]

Currently NDPluginFile has the following controls:

FileWriteMode: [Single, Stream, Capture]

Autosave: Automatically save each image in Single mode or the entire capture buffer in Capture mode.

Save: Saves the last array received in Single mode or saves the entire capture buffer in Capture mode

NumCapture: Number of frames to capture or stream

Capture: Start/stop saving files in Capture mode or start/stop streaming files to disk in Stream mode.

These controls are not intuitive, many users get confused. They also add a lot of complexity to the NDPluginFile base class. The Capture mode functionality (saving NDArrays in a memory buffer) is really no longer needed now that the QueueSize in plugins can now be changed dynamically at runtime. The NDCircularBuffer plugin can also be used in some applications where the Capture mode was previously used.

Proposed change:

Eliminate FileWriteMode

Eliminate Autosave

Retain Save, it will start/stop file saving

Rename NumCapture to NumSave. It defines the total number of NDArrays to save. If it is <=0 then file saving will continue until Save is set to 0.

Add NumArraysPerFile. It defines the number of NDArrays per file.

With these changes the number of arrays per file can be defined independently of the total number of arrays to save. This allows saving single arrays per file with HDF5 and netCDF, for example which is not currently possible.

This change will require changes to many clients so it will need to be a major release of ADCore.

[MarkRivers]

The proposed change will also eliminate the Capture record, Save replaces its functionality.