[vos-d] parameterized views

[Reed Hedges]

Another use of views is to swap between different displays within a 
world.  Has everyone used google earth?  Switching layers could be 
similar to switching views (or it could simply toggle objets on and off 
of course).

What if instead of querying the sector object when you join the world, 
you really just "join" a view object and treat it like the sector is 
treated now (the container for child objects describing the 3d scene), 
and send all messages to it.  It can then relay messages to the sector 
object or simply reflect the sector or encapsulate any other kind of 
behavior that makes that "view" happen, so long as it presents a 
consistent interface to clients. A view object can be generated 
specifically for each client by a factory on the server, or just exist 
always an an option for any clients to use, or created by a client and 
hooked up to a non-view-endowed remote sector.  If a server wants to 
force someone to use a view, they just only allow local views to send 
any messages to the sector and reject others, using access control. 
In a more free form application, the client could even have a list of 
possible views.

sector->client
or
sector->view->client


Reed