ArrayPort

[baffelli]

The output ArrayPort should generate a copy of the IP for each port, while an input ArrayPort should be connected to several ports, supporting indexing. (See https://github.com/noflo/noflo/issues/90)

[bergie]

Actually, the way this works in NoFlo is:

• Regular inports can have as many connections as you like, but don't care about which connection a packet came from
• Addressable inports (ArrayPorts) have connections distinguished by the arrayport index, and know which connection a packet came from
• Regular outports can have as many connections as you like, and send a copy of the packet to each connection
• Addressable outports (ArrayPorts) have connections distinguished by the arrayport index, and you choose which connection to send the packet to

[baffelli]

Thanks! Another doubt I have is:

• why would I need indexable input ArrayPorts at all,since i could just perform indexing by choosing packets among the regular named InputPorts?

[bergie]

@baffelli with named ports you're going to have to know beforehand what ports you need. Addressable ports are useful for things like router components where you may want to configure routing rules via an IIP (and hence have an arbitrary number of "ports")

[baffelli]

I see the point of it! So each port is a named port plus some of them are array ports, right?

[baffelli]

Note for myself: "Connections may have more than one input end, but they may only have one output. IPs from multiple sources will merge on a connection, arriving at the other end in "first come, first served" sequence. It can be argued that by allowing this, we lose the predictability of the relationship between output and input, but it is easy enough to put a code in the IPs if you ever want to separate them again"