--- linuxsampler/trunk/src/drivers/Device.h	2009/07/09 17:37:41	1933
+++ linuxsampler/trunk/src/drivers/Device.h	2009/07/12 10:35:55	1934
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
  *   LinuxSampler - modular, streaming capable sampler                     *
  *                                                                         *
  *   Copyright (C) 2003, 2004 by Benno Senoner and Christian Schoenebeck   *
- *   Copyright (C) 2005, 2006 Christian Schoenebeck                        *
+ *   Copyright (C) 2005 - 2009 Christian Schoenebeck                       *
  *                                                                         *
  *   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify  *
  *   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by  *
@@ -26,11 +26,53 @@
 
 namespace LinuxSampler {
 
+    class AudioOutputDeviceFactory;
+    class MidiInputDeviceFactory;
+
     /**
      * Abstract base class for all kind of drivers in LinuxSampler.
      */
     class Device {
-        public:
+    public:
+        /**
+         * Determines whether the device is an autonomous instance of some
+         * driver or not autonomous (that is bound to some other entity).
+         * An autonomous device can be created and deleted separately.
+         * A non autonomous device only exists in the context of some
+         * entity, e.g. in the context of a host plugin
+         * (VST, AU, LV2, DSSI, ...) instance, and thus such a device
+         * cannot be created or deleted on its own.
+         *
+         * By default, this method returns @c true unless overridden by the
+         * descendent.
+         */
+        virtual bool isAutonomousDevice();
+
+        /**
+         * Returns the numerical ID of this device instance. Every device
+         * instance has a unique ID among all devices of its category, that
+         * is e.g. every MIDI input device has a unique ID among all MIDI
+         * input devices and every audio output device has a unique ID
+         * among all audio output devices. The IDs are usually generated by
+         * the respective factory class.
+         */
+        int deviceId() const;
+
+        /**
+         * Whether this is an autonomous device driver.
+         *
+         * @see isAutonomousDevice()
+         */
+        static bool isAutonomousDriver();
+
+    protected:
+        void setDeviceId(int id);
+
+        //TODO: maybe it would be cleaner to pass the device id through the drivers' constructors instead of having a setDeviceId() method being available only for the factory classes
+        friend class AudioOutputDeviceFactory;
+        friend class MidiInputDeviceFactory;
+    private:
+        int iDeviceId; //TODO: there is not default initialization (e.g. with -1) yet, since there is no constructor yet, it would require all driver implementations to be updated with a constructor call
     };
 
 } // namespace LinuxSampler