I new in pd and i'm trying to create an external that ouputs rich text. I don't found lot of thing about string in pd. String datatype can be really usefull if we want to create object like a mail reader, or xml reader.
In a more general way : what's about string manipulation in pd?

Thanks.

Jerome

Thanks for your help. I'm still working on this pd's string, and i'm going to have a look to Bryan Jurish lib.

I'm trying also to use ruby script in pd, it's not easy but there's lot of things in gridflow for pd.

So, I decide to "use the source"... code
I tried tonight to add a new data type to the pd's source code. I choose it as basic char*. There are still some bug, and there are no memory management (must be done by the external itself), and no graphic components to enter or view the text. But it seems to be possible to add a new data type in pd (need to modify 6 or 7 pd's source code files and being patient during 4hours;) ). In the same way, integer can be add, but it's probably more complicated because integer array have to be define.

I feel that adding a new data type in pd is the best way to play with string (if it is in the official release of course). "ascii float" don't respect the data type security and can lead to "hard to understand" errors in the patch.

I'm trying to drive robot with an event driven and parallel system as pd. Sensor and actuator needs only numerical data, but speech to text, speech recognition, web interaction need text processing.

arg....

In fact i'm using pda (gige.xdv.org/pda/) on a embedded device. Basic objects are enought for what I need, excepted string manipulation. Perl python, ruby... seems to be too slow for an embedded device.

When I read your post I understand that adding a new data type seems to be hard to do.

Thanks