diff Plugins/Input/aac/libmp4v2/INTERNALS @ 201:f2dc045d2327 trunk

[svn] libmp4v2 goes back to the future

--- a/Plugins/Input/aac/libmp4v2/INTERNALS	Thu Nov 17 12:21:04 2005 -0800
+++ b/Plugins/Input/aac/libmp4v2/INTERNALS	Thu Nov 17 14:01:18 2005 -0800
@@ -50,12 +50,17 @@
 any combination of properties, other atoms, or descriptors.
 
 The mp4atom files contain the base class for all the atoms, and provide 
-generic functions that cover most cases. However, each atom has it's own 
-subclass contained in file atom_<name>.cpp, where <name> is the four 
-letter name of the atom defined in the MP4 specification. Typically this 
-atom file just specifies the properties of the atom or the possible child 
-atoms in the case of a container atom. In more specialized cases the atom 
-specific file provides routines to initialize, read, or write the atom.
+generic functions that cover most cases. Most atoms are covered in
+atom_standard.cpp.  Atoms that have a special read, generation or
+write needs are contained in their subclass contained in file atom_<name>.cpp,
+ where <name> is the four letter name of the atom defined in the MP4 
+specification. 
+
+Atoms that only specifies the properties of the atom or the possible child 
+atoms in the case of a container atom are located in atom_standard.cpp.
+
+In more specialized cases the atom specific file provides routines to 
+initialize, read, or write the atom.
 
 Properties are the atomic pieces of information. The basic types of 
 properties are integers, floats, strings, and byte arrays. For integers 
@@ -103,6 +108,15 @@
 Note that internally when performance matters the code looks up a property
 by name once, and then stores the returned pointer to the property class.
 
+To add an atom, first you should see if an existing atom exists that
+can be used.  If not, you need to decide if special read/write or
+generate properties need to be established; for example a property in the atom
+changes other properties (adds, or subtracts).  If there are no
+special cases, add the atom properties to atom_standard.cpp.  If there
+are special properties, add a new file, add a new class to atoms.h, and
+add the class to  MP4Atom::CreateAtom in mp4atom.cpp.
+
+
 
 Generic Tracks
 ==============