Channel Formatting

Introduction

Formatting Channel data for display and editing is a relatively complex task.  And anyone wishing to extend Zylaphon by creating a new Channel type must engage this complexity head on.  Therefore the process of formatting will be covered here in depth sufficient to ease the way.

Almost all Channels are ordered and a general discussion of Channels, ChannelBars etc. assumes ordered Channels.  "Ordered" implies that the elements in the ChannelBar's element list are in a sequential order that maps in some way to the progression of time.  But Zylaphon also provides unordered Channels. There is no distinct class for such channels; rather the class Channel contains a property that indicates if they are an ordered type, of which there is only one, or if they are unordered, the type of unordered channel they represent. ChannelBars are treated differently.  The ChannelBar class is the base class for all ChannelBars whether ordered or unordered.  If a channel bar class does not inherit from ChBarUnordered it is ordered. 

The central component in Zylaphon's composition data UI is the ChannelSetViewControl which is the interface with ChannelSets.  The user selects and orders a collection of Channels to suit their needs to particular purposes and phases in the composition process.  Though most Channels are data Channels, tool Channels (derived from one of the unordered base classes) are also provided. 

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