The current countertop logic relies on a method called generateTributaryMaps in order to generate a new topology.
This method is documented as:
* Create all sets of valid stream combinations that can sufficiently fulfill a set of inputs
*
* This will only create combinations of streams that pull from the same source.
* This will not return incomplete tributary maps (i.e. tributary maps will have exactly one stream
* per input).
The logic here is that if an appliance takes in two types of data, it will ONLY be added to a topology that provides both types of data (e.g. if an appliance took in images and captions, it would not be added to the countertop unless there is both a source of images and a source of captions).
In other words, it considered inputs to be required.
This is a limiting decision and I don't think there is any upside. Specifically, this means appliances cannot have optional inputs!
Unless I remember some Good Reason for this decision, I would like to modify this logic so that appliances are added to a topology even if the inputs are incomplete (we could say "at least one input type exists" but even then I am not sure what that limitation provides, and I could imagine a situation where a source appliance wants to take an optional input).
Task
Description
The current countertop logic relies on a method called
generateTributaryMapsin order to generate a new topology.This method is documented as:
The logic here is that if an appliance takes in two types of data, it will ONLY be added to a topology that provides both types of data (e.g. if an appliance took in images and captions, it would not be added to the countertop unless there is both a source of images and a source of captions).
In other words, it considered inputs to be required.
This is a limiting decision and I don't think there is any upside. Specifically, this means appliances cannot have optional inputs!
Unless I remember some Good Reason for this decision, I would like to modify this logic so that appliances are added to a topology even if the inputs are incomplete (we could say "at least one input type exists" but even then I am not sure what that limitation provides, and I could imagine a situation where a source appliance wants to take an optional input).