[sane-devel] backend integration

[Henning Meier-Geinitz]

Hi,

On Sun, Sep 01, 2002 at 03:07:13PM -0400, Matto Marjanovic wrote:
> 
>  >* strictly speaking sane_set_io_mode() should return SANE_STATUS_GOOD
>  >  for non_blocking == SANE_FALSE, at least that's what the standard
>  >  says. I guess nobody will ever notice...
> 
> A suggestion for a very tiny edit in the API docs:
> 
>    4.3.12 sane_set_io_mode
>    ...
>    This function may fail with one of the following status codes:
> 
>        SANE_STATUS_INVAL:
>               No image acquisition is pending. 
> 
>        SANE_STATUS_UNSUPPORTED:
> ---           The backend does not support this operation.
> +++           The backend does not support the requested I/O mode.

Ok, I have added that to the TODO list. Looks like we can make a minor
change of the standard now. We shouldn't forget to forward-port that
to the 2.0-draft.

> Hmm... and the more I look at this, the less I understand what the 
>  SANE_STATUS_INVAL case is for.  (The microtek backend is blocking-mode
>  exclusively, so I've never really dealt with this....)  What does 
>  "image acquistion is pending" mean?  Is that before or after sane_start()
>  has been called?

sane_set_io_mode must be used after sane_start (and before sane_cancel).

> It seems to me that the backend would want the frontend to call 
>  sane_set_io_mode() *before* sane_start() --- so that sane_start() can
>  decide how to set up any data pipes, threads, etc.  And then, after
>  sane_start() has been called and the imaging process is under way, 
>  sane_set_io_mode() should return SANE_STATUS_INVAL, because "you can't
>  change your mind after the scan has begun".

Oh, you can :-) What I do in the Mustek backend in sane_set_io_mode is:

  if (fcntl (s->pipe, F_SETFL, non_blocking ? O_NONBLOCK : 0) < 0)
[...]  

So that should work even after sane_read. However, if the backend does
buffering it may be more difficult.

>  It certainly doesn't make sense to call sane_set_io_mode() after
>  sane_read()!

I have never tried what happens in that case...

> (Maybe this has been gone-over before; I've been on another planet for the
>  last year....)

I don't remember anyone talking about that.

Bye,
  Henning