gstreamer/docs/pwg/advanced-scheduling.xml

<chapter id="chapter-scheduling" xreflabel="Different scheduling modes">
  <title>Different scheduling modes</title>
  <para>
    The scheduling mode of a pad defines how data is retrieved from (source)
    or given to (sink) pads. &GStreamer; can operate in two scheduling
    mode, called push- and pull-mode. &GStreamer; supports elements with pads
    in any of the scheduling modes where not all pads need to be operating
    in the same mode.
  </para>
  <para>
    So far, we have only discussed <function>_chain ()</function>-operating
    elements, i.e. elements that have a chain-function set on their sink pad
    and push buffers on their source pad(s). We call this the push-mode
    because a peer element will use <function>gst_pad_push ()</function> on
    a srcpad, which will cause our <function>_chain ()</function>-function
    to be called, which in turn causes our element to push out a buffer on
    the source pad. The initiative to start the dataflow happens somewhere
    upstream when it pushes out a buffer and all downstream elements get
    scheduled when their <function>_chain ()</function>-functions are
    called in turn.
  </para>
  <para>
    Before we explain pull-mode scheduling, let's first understand how the
    different scheduling modes are selected and activated on a pad.
  </para>

  <sect1 id="section-scheduling-activation"
      xreflabel="The pad activation stage">
    <title>The pad activation stage</title>
    <para>
      During the element state change of READY->PAUSED, the pads of an
      element will be activated. This happens first on the source pads and
      then on the sink pads of the element. &GStreamer; calls the
      <function>_activate ()</function> of a pad. By default this function
      will activate the pad in push-mode by calling
      <function>gst_pad_activate_mode ()</function> with the GST_PAD_MODE_PUSH
      scheduling mode.
      It is possible to override the <function>_activate ()</function> of a pad
      and decide on a different scheduling mode. You can know in what
      scheduling mode a pad is activated by overriding the
      <function>_activate_mode ()</function>-function.
    </para>
    <para>
      &GStreamer; allows the different pads of an element to operate in
      different scheduling modes. This allows for many different possible
      use-cases. What follows is an overview of some typical use-cases.
    </para>
    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          If all pads of an element are activated in push-mode scheduling,
          the element as a whole is operating in push-mode. 
          For source elements this means that they will have to start a
          task that pushes out buffers on the source pad to the downstream
          elements.
          Downstream elements will have data pushed to them by upstream elements
          using the sinkpads <function>_chain ()</function>-function which will
          push out buffers on the source pads.
          Prerequisites for this scheduling mode are that a chain-function was
          set for each sinkpad using <function>gst_pad_set_chain_function ()</function>
          and that all downstream elements operate in the same mode.
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Alternatively, sinkpads can be the driving force behind a pipeline
          by operating in pull-mode, while the sourcepads
          of the element still operate in push-mode. In order to be the
          driving force, those pads start a <classname>GstTask</classname>
          when they are activated. This task is a thread, which
          will call a function specified by the element. When called, this
          function will have random data access (through
          <function>gst_pad_pull_range ()</function>) over all sinkpads, and
          can push data over the sourcepads, which effectively means that
          this element controls data flow in the pipeline. Prerequisites for
          this mode are that all downstream elements can act in push
          mode, and that all upstream elements operate in pull-mode (see below).
        </para>
        <para>
          Source pads can be activated in PULL mode by a downstream element
          when they return GST_PAD_MODE_PULL from the GST_QUERY_SCHEDULING
          query. Prerequisites for this scheduling mode are that a
          getrange-function was set for the source pad using
          <function>gst_pad_set_getrange_function ()</function>.
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Lastly, all pads in an element can be activated in PULL-mode.
          However, contrary to the above, this does not mean that they
          start a task on their own. Rather, it means that they are pull
          slave for the downstream element, and have to provide random data
          access to it from their <function>_get_range ()</function>-function.
          Requirements are that the a <function>_get_range
          ()</function>-function was set on this pad using the function
          <function>gst_pad_set_getrange_function ()</function>. Also, if
          the element has any sinkpads, all those pads (and thereby their
          peers) need to operate in PULL access mode, too.
        </para>
        <para>
          When a sink element is activated in PULL mode, it should start a
          task that calls <function>gst_pad_pull_range ()</function> on its
          sinkpad. It can only do this when the upstream SCHEDULING query
          returns support for the GST_PAD_MODE_PULL scheduling mode.
        </para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
    <para>
      In the next two sections, we will go closer into pull-mode scheduling
      (elements/pads driving the pipeline, and elements/pads providing random
      access), and some specific use cases will be given.
    </para>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="section-scheduling-loop" xreflabel="Pads driving the pipeline">
    <title>Pads driving the pipeline</title>
    <para>
      Sinkpads operating in pull-mode, with the sourcepads operating in
      push-mode (or it has no sourcepads when it is a sink), can start a task
      that will drive the pipeline data flow.
      Within this task function, you have random access over all of the sinkpads,
      and push data over the sourcepads.
      This can come in useful for several different kinds of elements:
    </para>
    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Demuxers, parsers and certain kinds of decoders where data comes
          in unparsed (such as MPEG-audio or video streams), since those will
          prefer byte-exact (random) access from their input. If possible,
          however, such elements should be prepared to operate in push-mode
          mode, too.
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Certain kind of audio outputs, which require control over their
          input data flow, such as the Jack sound server.
        </para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
    <para>
      First you need to perform a SCHEDULING query to check if the upstream
      element(s) support pull-mode scheduling. If that is possible, you
      can activate the sinkpad in pull-mode. Inside the activate_mode
      function you can then start the task.
    </para>
    <programlisting><!-- example-begin task.c a -->
#include "filter.h"
#include &lt;string.h&gt;

static gboolean	gst_my_filter_activate	    (GstPad      * pad,
                                             GstObject   * parent);
static gboolean	gst_my_filter_activate_mode (GstPad      * pad,
                                             GstObject   * parent,
                                             GstPadMode    mode
					     gboolean      active);
static void	gst_my_filter_loop	    (GstMyFilter * filter);

G_DEFINE_TYPE (GstMyFilter, gst_my_filter, GST_TYPE_ELEMENT);
<!-- example-end task.c a -->
<!-- example-begin task.c c -->
static void
gst_my_filter_init (GstMyFilter * filter)
{
<!-- example-end task.c c -->
[..]<!-- example-begin task.c d --><!--
--><!-- example-end task.c d -->
<!-- example-begin task.c e -->
  gst_pad_set_activate_function (filter-&gt;sinkpad, gst_my_filter_activate);
  gst_pad_set_activatemode_function (filter-&gt;sinkpad,
      gst_my_filter_activate_mode);
<!-- example-end task.c e -->
<!-- example-begin task.c f --><!--
  gst_element_add_pad (GST_ELEMENT (filter), filter-&gt;sinkpad);

  gst_element_add_pad (GST_ELEMENT (filter), filter-&gt;srcpad);
--><!-- example-end task.c f -->
[..]<!-- example-begin task.c g -->
}
<!-- example-end task.c g -->
[..]<!-- example-begin task.c h --><!--
#include "caps.func"
--><!-- example-end task.c h -->
<!-- example-begin task.c i -->
static gboolean
gst_my_filter_activate (GstPad * pad, GstObject * parent)
{
  GstQuery *query;
  gboolean pull_mode;

  /* first check what upstream scheduling is supported */
  query = gst_query_new_scheduling ();

  if (!gst_pad_peer_query (pad, query)) {
    gst_query_unref (query);
    goto activate_push;
  }

  /* see if pull-mode is supported */
  pull_mode = gst_query_has_scheduling_mode_with_flags (query,
      GST_PAD_MODE_PULL, GST_SCHEDULING_FLAG_SEEKABLE);
  gst_query_unref (query);

  if (!pull_mode)
    goto activate_push;

  /* now we can activate in pull-mode. GStreamer will also
   * activate the upstream peer in pull-mode */
  return gst_pad_activate_mode (pad, GST_PAD_MODE_PULL, TRUE);

activate_push:
  {
    /* something not right, we fallback to push-mode */
    return gst_pad_activate_mode (pad, GST_PAD_MODE_PUSH, TRUE);
  }
}

static gboolean
gst_my_filter_activate_pull (GstPad    * pad,
			     GstObject * parent,
			     GstPadMode  mode,
			     gboolean    active)
{
  gboolean res;
  GstMyFilter *filter = GST_MY_FILTER (parent);

  switch (mode) {
    case GST_PAD_MODE_PUSH:
      res = TRUE;
      break;
    case GST_PAD_MODE_PULL:
      if (active) {
        filter->offset = 0;
        res = gst_pad_start_task (pad,
            (GstTaskFunction) gst_my_filter_loop, filter, NULL);
      } else {
        res = gst_pad_stop_task (pad);
      }
      break;
    default:
      /* unknown scheduling mode */
      res = FALSE;
      break;
  }
  return res;
}
    <!-- example-end task.c i --></programlisting>
    <para>
      Once started, your task has full control over input and output. The
      most simple case of a task function is one that reads input and pushes
      that over its source pad. It's not all that useful, but provides some
      more flexibility than the old push-mode case that we've been looking
      at so far.
    </para>
    <programlisting><!-- example-begin task.c j -->
#define BLOCKSIZE 2048

static void
gst_my_filter_loop (GstMyFilter * filter)
{
  GstFlowReturn ret;
  guint64 len;
  GstFormat fmt = GST_FORMAT_BYTES;
  GstBuffer *buf = NULL;

  if (!gst_pad_query_duration (filter-&gt;sinkpad, fmt, &amp;len)) {
    GST_DEBUG_OBJECT (filter, "failed to query duration, pausing");
    goto stop;
  }

   if (filter-&gt;offset >= len) {
    GST_DEBUG_OBJECT (filter, "at end of input, sending EOS, pausing");
    gst_pad_push_event (filter-&gt;srcpad, gst_event_new_eos ());
    goto stop;
  }

  /* now, read BLOCKSIZE bytes from byte offset filter-&gt;offset */
  ret = gst_pad_pull_range (filter-&gt;sinkpad, filter-&gt;offset,
      BLOCKSIZE, &amp;buf);

  if (ret != GST_FLOW_OK) {
    GST_DEBUG_OBJECT (filter, "pull_range failed: %s", gst_flow_get_name (ret));
    goto stop;
  }

  /* now push buffer downstream */
  ret = gst_pad_push (filter-&gt;srcpad, buf);

  buf = NULL; /* gst_pad_push() took ownership of buffer */

  if (ret != GST_FLOW_OK) {
    GST_DEBUG_OBJECT (filter, "pad_push failed: %s", gst_flow_get_name (ret));
    goto stop;
  }

  /* everything is fine, increase offset and wait for us to be called again */
  filter-&gt;offset += BLOCKSIZE;
  return;

stop:
  GST_DEBUG_OBJECT (filter, "pausing task");
  gst_pad_pause_task (filter-&gt;sinkpad);
}
<!-- example-end task.c j -->
<!-- example-begin task.c k --><!--
#include "register.func"
    --><!-- example-end task.c k --></programlisting>
  </sect1>

  <sect1 id="section-scheduling-randomxs" xreflabel="Providing random access">
    <title>Providing random access</title>
    <para>
      In the previous section, we have talked about how elements (or pads)
      that are activated to drive the pipeline using their own task, must use
      pull-mode scheduling on their sinkpads. This means that all pads linked
      to those pads need to be activated in pull-mode.
      Source pads activated in pull-mode must implement a
      <function>_get_range ()</function>-function set using
      <function>gst_pad_set_getrange_function ()</function>, and
      that function will be called when the peer pad requests some data with
      <function>gst_pad_pull_range ()</function>.
      The element is then responsible for seeking to the right offset and
      providing the requested data. Several elements can implement random
      access:
    </para>
    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Data sources, such as a file source, that can provide data from any
          offset with reasonable low latency.
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Filters that would like to provide a pull-mode scheduling
          over the whole pipeline. 
        </para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Parsers who can easily provide this by skipping a small part of
          their input and are thus essentially "forwarding" getrange
          requests literally without any own processing involved. Examples
          include tag readers (e.g. ID3) or single output parsers, such as
          a WAVE parser.
        </para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
    <para>
      The following example will show how a <function>_get_range
      ()</function>-function can be implemented in a source element:
    </para>
    <programlisting><!-- example-begin range.c a -->
#include "filter.h"
static GstFlowReturn
		gst_my_filter_get_range	(GstPad     * pad,
					 GstObject  * parent,
					 guint64      offset,
					 guint        length,
					 GstBuffer ** buf);

G_DEFINE_TYPE (GstMyFilter, gst_my_filter, GST_TYPE_ELEMENT);
<!-- example-end range.c a -->
<!-- example-begin range.c b --><!--
static void
gst_my_filter_class_init (gpointer klass)
{
  GstElementClass *element_class = GST_ELEMENT_CLASS (klass);
  static GstElementDetails my_filter_details = {
    "An example plugin",
    "Example/FirstExample",
    "Shows the basic structure of a plugin",
    "your name <your.name@your.isp>"
  };
  static GstStaticPadTemplate src_factory =
  GST_STATIC_PAD_TEMPLATE (
    "src",
    GST_PAD_SRC,
    GST_PAD_ALWAYS,
    GST_STATIC_CAPS ("ANY")
  );

  gst_element_class_set_details (element_class, &my_filter_details);
  gst_element_class_add_pad_template (element_class,
        gst_static_pad_template_get (&src_factory));
}

static void
gst_my_filter_class_init (GstMyFilterClass * klass)
{
}
--><!-- example-begin range.c b -->
<!-- example-begin range.c c -->
static void
gst_my_filter_init (GstMyFilter * filter)
{
<!-- example-end task.c c --><!--
  GstElementClass *klass = GST_ELEMENT_GET_CLASS (filter);

  filter-&gt;srcpad = gst_pad_new_from_template (
        gst_element_class_get_pad_template (klass, "src"), "src");
-->
[..]<!-- example-begin task.c d --><!--
--><!-- example-end task.c d -->
<!-- example-begin task.c e -->
  gst_pad_set_getrange_function (filter-&gt;srcpad,
      gst_my_filter_get_range);
<!-- example-end range.c c --><!--
  gst_element_add_pad (GST_ELEMENT (filter), filter-&gt;srcpad);
-->
[..]<!-- example-begin range.c d -->
}

static GstFlowReturn
gst_my_filter_get_range (GstPad     * pad,
			 GstObject  * parent,
			 guint64      offset,
			 guint        length,
			 GstBuffer ** buf)
{
<!-- example-end range.c d -->
  GstMyFilter *filter = GST_MY_FILTER (parent);

  [.. here, you would fill *buf ..]
<!-- example-begin range.c e -->
  return GST_FLOW_OK;
}
<!-- example-end range.c e -->
<!-- example-begin range.c f --><!--
#include "register.func"
    --><!-- example-end range.c f --></programlisting>
    <para>
      In practice, many elements that could theoretically do random access,
      may in practice often be activated in push-mode scheduling anyway,
      since there is no downstream element able to start its own task.
      Therefore, in practice, those elements should implement both a
      <function>_get_range ()</function>-function and a <function>_chain
      ()</function>-function (for filters and parsers) or a <function>_get_range
      ()</function>-function and be prepared to start their own task by
      providing <function>_activate_* ()</function>-functions (for
      source elements).
    </para>
  </sect1>
</chapter>