Touchwork Input

In this post i will discuss the twInput component and try to elaborate some decisions made during its development.

Facts:

1-twInput is developed from scratch over DirectShow
so why not use a library:

• Input is the main dependence of the framework, so if it is not flexible enough it will force the framework to take a certain shape, i.e. we will think "how to write TW and still fit with Input library" instead of "how to write TW", and still even when it is done we can change it any time to adapt with the changes in the main framework.
• We needed the input to come form a camera or a video file, so we can easily test the code even if the hardware is not available, and lacked in most of the libraries.
• Imagine spending a day learning a library interface, then after a month you have to edit in the library itself, so you move to learn the library interface that the library depends on , and then understand the code of the first top library dealing with the lower level library
  just too much ..

2-There are 2 main lowlevel alternatives for DirectShow
why not use them ?

• ActiveMovie, outdated Now is called DirectShow :D
  
• Video For Windows (VFW): much easier than DS , but outdated, mostly made for VxD devices which stopped production since 2000, now its WDM .. more details in the proposal

now i will move to the Design of twInput in another post