(v13) Future uses of timelines

This page applies to Harlequin v13.1r0 and later; both Harlequin Core and Harlequin MultiRIP

Currently, a small number of timeline types are provided which represent the RIP core as a whole as a timeline. Any file being processed is called a core job stream, which is a timeline connected from the core. The RIP then interprets that as a job and so there is a job timeline connected from the core job stream.

There are a number of contextual timelines such as interpret page, render page, the PGB buffer bands being copied along with timelines that represent halftone generation.

Eventually, all textual feedback from the RIP core will be sent out to the skin using timelines, and this will replace the monitor device (which cannot easily cope with a multithreaded environment).

In place of the file to which the RIP writes feedback, a feedback or message event will be issued with a timeline reference. This means that reports can be contextualized to the feedback and warnings to the individual sub system or to the part of the job to which the message refers. Similarly, if the skin is just interested in which job the message is referring to it can make a simple call to the timeline system with the relevant reference asking if this is part of a job and, if it is, provide the reference for the job. In this way, a particular message can be attributed to a particular job or part of a jobs interpretation or rendering and so on. In addition, meta information will be added to the feedback, such as unique error numbers, along with a verbosity control to allow more or less messaging as required.