Creating Preferences for a Tool?

Renoise Tool Development
1

Hi. I wanna save the Preferences of a Tool. Namely, I now (finally, 13 years later…) have a GUI that lets me dynamically create shortcuts for the Native Devices.
But when I go to modify the script, or restart Renoise, they are, obviously, lost.

Now, if only there was some way of saving a preference with the enabled Shortcuts, and then recreating them at will.

Maybe this would mean that there’d be a way of initializing the LUA GUI from the Preferences, and showing which ones are already there in the preferences (= therefore already created as shortcuts).

but what I don’t know is what is the method for getting this action going.

2

You can use the Document features in the Renoise API.

-- create a renoise document with the default values you want
-- if the tool has been loaded before, the values will be loaded
-- from tool/preferences.xml
-- otherwise the default you give here will be saved and used
local prefs = renoise.Document.create("ScriptingToolPreferences")({
  some_setting = 42
})

-- assign to your tool's preferences
renoise.tool().preferences = prefs

-- later in your code you can use its values
print(prefs.some_setting.value)

-- each item in the table is an observable 
-- which you can give to the "bind" of GUI elements
-- notice there is no ".value" needed here
local setting_slider = renoise.ViewBuilder():slider({
  bind = prefs.some_setting
})
3

You create a renoise.Document instance and save/load that.

Here’s some code I’ve used for my tools. TOOL_NAME is defined elsewhere, in main.lua

This example also adds a menu item so the user can trigger the GUI for setting config values.

-- Configuration.lua

configuration = nil
local configuration_dialog = nil
local view_osc_config_dialog = nil
  
function load_osc_config()
  configuration = renoise.Document.create(TOOL_NAME .. "Configuration") {

    osc_settings = {
      -- This is the OSC server so we can talk to the tool
      internal = { 
        ip = "0.0.0.0",    
        port = 8001,
        protocol = 2,               -- 1 = TCP, 2 = UDP
      },
      --- This should match what is used by Renoise 
      --  so the tool can pass along messages using 
      --  its own OSC client
      renoise = {     
        ip = "0.0.0.0",
        port = 8000,
        protocol = 2,               
      },

      controller = {     
        ip = "0.0.0.0",
        port = 8010,
        protocol = 2,               
      },
    },
  }

  configuration:load_from("config.xml")
end

function save_osc_config()
  if configuration ~= nil then
    configuration:save_as("config.xml")
  end
end

function configuration_dialog_keyhander(dialog, key)
  if key.name == "esc" then
    save_osc_config()
    configuration_dialog:close()
  else
    return key
  end
end

function init_osc_config_dialog()
  local vb = renoise.ViewBuilder()
  
  view_osc_config_dialog = vb:column {
    spacing = renoise.ViewBuilder.DEFAULT_CONTROL_SPACING,
    margin = renoise.ViewBuilder.DEFAULT_DIALOG_MARGIN,

    vb:horizontal_aligner {
      mode = "justify",
      vb:text {
        text = TOOL_NAME .. ":               ",
        tooltip = TOOL_NAME .. " OSC server settings",
      },
      vb:textfield {
        text = configuration.osc_settings.internal.ip.value,
        tooltip = TOOL_NAME .. " server IP",
        notifier = function(v)
          configuration.osc_settings.internal.ip.value = v
        end
      },

      vb:valuebox {
        min = 4000,
        max = 65535,
        value = configuration.osc_settings.internal.port.value,
        tooltip = TOOL_NAME .. " server port",
        notifier = function(v)
          configuration.osc_settings.internal.port.value = v
        end
      },
      vb:popup {
        items = {"TCP", "UDP"},
        value = configuration.osc_settings.internal.protocol.value,
        tooltip = TOOL_NAME .. " server protocol",
        notifier = function(v)
          configuration.osc_settings.internal.protocol.value = v
        end
      },
    },

    vb:horizontal_aligner {
      mode = "justify",
      vb:text {
        text = "Renoise:                 ",
        tooltip = "Renoise OSC server settings",
      },
      vb:textfield {
        text = configuration.osc_settings.renoise.ip.value,
        tooltip = "Renoise OSC server IP",
        notifier = function(v)
          configuration.osc_settings.renoise.ip.value = v
        end
      },

      vb:valuebox {
        min = 4000,
        max = 65535,
        value = configuration.osc_settings.renoise.port.value,
        tooltip = "Renoise OSC server port",
        notifier = function(v)
          configuration.osc_settings.renoise.port.value = v
        end
      },
      vb:popup {
        items = {"TCP", "UDP"},
        value = configuration.osc_settings.renoise.protocol.value,
        tooltip = "Renoise OSC server protocol",
        notifier = function(v)
          configuration.osc_settings.renoise.protocol.value = v
        end
      },
    
    },

   vb:horizontal_aligner {
      mode = "justify",
      vb:text {
        text = "Controller:                 ",
        tooltip = "Controller OSC server settings",
      },
      vb:textfield {
        text = configuration.osc_settings.controller.ip.value,
        tooltip = "Controller OSC server IP",
        notifier = function(v)
          configuration.osc_settings.controller.ip.value = v
        end
      },

      vb:valuebox {
        min = 4000,
        max = 65535,
        value = configuration.osc_settings.controller.port.value,
        tooltip = "Controller OSC server port",
        notifier = function(v)
          configuration.osc_settings.controller.port.value = v
        end
      },
      vb:popup {
        items = {"TCP", "UDP"},
        value = configuration.osc_settings.controller.protocol.value,
        tooltip = "Controller OSC server protocol",
        notifier = function(v)
          configuration.osc_settings.controller.protocol.value = v
        end
      },
    
    },

    vb:horizontal_aligner {
      mode = "justify",    
      vb:button {
        text = "Save & Close",
        released = function()
          save_osc_config()
          configuration_dialog:close()
          renoise.app():show_status(TOOL_NAME .. " configuration saved.")
        end
      },
    },

  }
end

function display_osc_config_dialog()
  if configuration_dialog then
    configuration_dialog = nil
  end
  
  load_osc_config()
  init_osc_config_dialog()
  configuration_dialog = renoise.app():show_custom_dialog(TOOL_NAME .. " Preferences", view_osc_config_dialog, configuration_dialog_keyhander)
end

renoise.tool():add_menu_entry {
  name = "Main Menu:Tools:Neurogami " .. TOOL_NAME .. ":Configuration...",
  invoke = function() display_osc_config_dialog() end
}

load_osc_config()