Storage

This page explains how iink SDK lets you organize the data it works on, store content and load it again later.

Structure of the model

MyScript iink SDK stores content using the following structures:

The complete list of supported part types can be found here.

Parts host the data iink SDK works on. As a result, it is required to use them even if you do not intend to persist data on the disk as part of your application workflow.

Although a content part sometimes hosts a single content block, both concepts are not equivalent. A part corresponds to a serialization unit, while a block corresponds to a semantic unit that can be manipulated.

Working with packages

MyScript iink SDK uses the file system to limit the amount of RAM that is required at a given point in time, as well as to store temporary files. It also provides serialization/deserialization methods to let application save/load MyScript data, either for persistence needs or to exchange it between users.

MyScript iink SDK serialization format is optimized for speed and compactness, but is not easily readable. If you want to parse the content of the interactive model, refer to the import/export section.

Temporary folder

Even if you do not intend to explicitly save any content, MyScript iink SDK requires a read/write access to at least one folder on the file system: the temporary folder, where it will output the intermediate files it is working on.

By default, iink SDK uses the folder where the package file is located. It may however be relevant (and even mandatory on certain platforms) to choose another folder. This can be achieved by setting the value of content-package.temp-folder in the configuration of the engine.

If it does not exist, the folder will be created if you save the corresponding package. It may also be automatically created by iink SDK in case it has a need to reduce its memory usage or when handling some particular objects such as images.

Creating and loading packages

Both methods take as their first parameter the name of the file corresponding to the package on the file system.

Saving packages

The following diagram explains how iink SDK manages the memory, as well as the role of the different save operations:

By default, data corresponding to a content package is stored in a folder named after this package by appending the -files suffix and located in the same folder.

Deleting packages

Working with parts

Parts are created and manipulated from their parent package.

Creating parts

To "move" a part from a package to another, first clone it into the new package and then delete the part from the original package.

Opening parts

Deleting parts

Metadata

The structure representing metadata is a ParameterSet and is manipulated the exact same way as engine configuration parameters.

Let's now see how iink SDK can render some content.