Re: GStreamer xwidget

[Richard Stallman]

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  > Here's how one would create a GStreamer element (and in doing so load a
  > plugin):

  >   GstElement *element = gst_element_factory_make ("factoryname", NULL);

  > Where "factoryname" is the name of the element factory you want.

This is incomplete -- I can't make sense of it.  It talks about things
I never heard of: "elements" and "element factories".

  > GStreamer will then find and load the shared library containing the
  > plugin that provides an element by that name, and then use it to create
  > the GstElement.

What does it mean for the plug-in to "provide" an "element"?

  > Obviously, creating a GstElement is insufficient, because for it to be
  > useful one will inevitably have to connect it to something, and
  > configure it.

What does that mean?

The story "The Gostak and the Doshes", by Miles Breuer, gives an idea
of how lost I feel at this point.

Is the argument "factoryname" the place where one specifies which format is
to be used?

You wrote doublequotes around that name.  What do those doublequotes mean?
Do they mean that the argument is supposed to have a C string as value?
Do they mean that the argument is supposed to be a C string constant?
Something else?

What data type is that argument?  Is it a C string?  Please show me a few
examples of real, valid, possible values for that argument.

What argument value would specify MPEG4?
What argument value would specify Webm?


How does the program control which set of plug-ins are permitted?
For instance, suppose the program wants to use only the "good" plug-ins.
What C code does it use to specify this?

-- 
Dr Richard Stallman (https://stallman.org)
Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)