feat(#6716): :sparkles: added effect categories by clemetayer · Pull Request #8493 · LMMS/lmms

clemetayer · 2026-08-02T15:01:01Z

# Changes

Added a third "Category" column in the effect browser
Added a filter for this new "Category"
Changed the existing "Type" buttons to a ComboBox (so it makes sense visually with the new effect category filter)

# Notes for the reviewer(s)

The effect categories are arbitrary. I tried to make sense of the various docs available online, but it may be inaccurate.
- Note : It seems that the Steve Harris plugins documentation is only available online through the Wayback Machine.
I tried to assign an effect directly in the constructor of the effect (the first commit) to make it more robust (to warn the developer at compile time that an effect category was forgotten), but I reverted it and went with a simple map of name<->category instead because :
1. The effect browser uses the EffectKeyList type to display the effect, which is not directly compatible with the Effect type and is also used for other plugin types (instruments, etc.)
2. When mentioning the issue in the Discord, it seems that users would like to assign their own categories or even have multiple categories for an effect. While this PR does not have these features, it seems that using a name<->category(ies) was the most sensible thing to do.
I did not add any translation keys since I am not sure of the best way to proceed.
- Should each effect category have its own translation ?
- Is there an automated process to add the translation keys in each language file ?
This new feature only works with LADSPA and LMMS effects. LV2 and VST effects are labelled as "Other" for now.

# Screenshot of the feature

This reverts commit 7145167.

…lter does not select anything except in english

yohannd1

Style review for now. Will do a more in-depth analysis later.

yohannd1 · 2026-08-02T23:48:11Z

+private:
+	static std::unique_ptr<EffectCategory> s_instance;
+	QStringList* m_categories;
+	QStringList* getCategoriesFromMap(std::map<QString,QString> map);


Suggested change

QStringList* getCategoriesFromMap(std::map<QString,QString> map);

QStringList* getCategoriesFromMap(std::map<QString, QString> map);

yohannd1 · 2026-08-02T23:48:30Z

+
+// Short-hand function
+LMMS_EXPORT EffectCategory* getEffectCategory();
+} // namespace lmms


Suggested change

} // namespace lmms

} // namespace lmms

yohannd1 · 2026-08-02T23:51:04Z

+EffectCategory* getEffectCategory()
+{ return EffectCategory::instance(); }


Suggested change

EffectCategory* getEffectCategory()

{ return EffectCategory::instance(); }

EffectCategory* getEffectCategory() { return EffectCategory::instance(); }

yohannd1 · 2026-08-02T23:51:32Z

+
+QStringList* EffectCategory::getCategories() 
+{
+	if(m_categories == nullptr || m_categories->isEmpty()) 


Suggested change

if(m_categories == nullptr || m_categories->isEmpty())

if (m_categories == nullptr || m_categories->isEmpty())

yohannd1 · 2026-08-02T23:52:32Z

+	{
+		m_categories = getCategoriesFromMap(lmmsEffects);
+		QStringList* ladspaCategories = getCategoriesFromMap(ladspaEffects);
+		foreach(QString category, *ladspaCategories) 


Suggested change

foreach(QString category, *ladspaCategories)

for (const QString& category : ladspaCategories)

(Not fully sure about this one, please do try it out)

yohannd1 · 2026-08-02T23:53:00Z

+QStringList* EffectCategory::getCategoriesFromMap(std::map<QString,QString> map)
+{
+	auto* categories = new QStringList();
+	for(auto & it : map) 


Suggested change

for(auto & it : map)

for (auto& it : map)

yohannd1 · 2026-08-02T23:53:07Z

+	auto* categories = new QStringList();
+	for(auto & it : map) 
+	{
+		if(! categories->contains(it.second)) 


Suggested change

if(! categories->contains(it.second))

if (!categories->contains(it.second))

yohannd1 · 2026-08-02T23:55:35Z

+			auto labelText = QString{"<p>%1%2</p>"
+									 "<p>%3%4</p>"
+									 "<p>%5%6</p>"}
+								 .arg(tr("<b>Name: </b>"), descriptor.displayName, tr("<b>Author: </b>"),
+									 QString::fromUtf8(descriptor.author)
+										 .replace("/dot/", ".")
+										 .replace("/at/", "@")
+										 .toHtmlEscaped(),
+									 tr("<b>Description: </b>"),
+									 qApp->translate("PluginBrowser", descriptor.description).toHtmlEscaped());
+


Using this amount of indentation is not recommended, as we use tabs and they account for 8 spaces (pushing too close, or sometimes beyond the 120-character line limit).
I recommend keeping the style the same as what it was before, or at least using a single tab indent ahead of the lines - e.g.:

auto labelText = QString{"<p>%1%2</p>" "<p>%3%4</p>" // and so on...

yohannd1 · 2026-08-02T23:56:22Z

+	connect(buttonFilter, &QComboBox::textActivated, this, [this](QString value) 
+		{
+			m_model.setEffectTypeFilter(value == tr("All") ? "" : value);
+			updateSelection();
+		}
+	);


Suggested change

connect(buttonFilter, &QComboBox::textActivated, this, [this](QString value)

{

m_model.setEffectTypeFilter(value == tr("All") ? "" : value);

updateSelection();

}

);

connect(buttonFilter, &QComboBox::textActivated, this, [this](QString value)

{

m_model.setEffectTypeFilter(value == tr("All") ? "" : value);

updateSelection();

});

yohannd1 · 2026-08-02T23:56:42Z

+	connect(buttonFilter, &QComboBox::textActivated, this, [this](QString value) 
+		{
+			m_model.setEffectCategoryFilter(value == tr("All") ? "" : value);
+			updateSelection();
+		}
+	);


Suggested change

connect(buttonFilter, &QComboBox::textActivated, this, [this](QString value)

{

m_model.setEffectCategoryFilter(value == tr("All") ? "" : value);

updateSelection();

}

);

connect(buttonFilter, &QComboBox::textActivated, this, [this](QString value)

{

m_model.setEffectCategoryFilter(value == tr("All") ? "" : value);

updateSelection();

});

yohannd1 · 2026-08-03T00:00:30Z

Oh, also - I've noticed you're using .h includes for Qt classes - I think you can do like the rest of the codebase does, including directly the name of the class.
So, instead of #include <qboxlayout.h> I believe you can use #include <QBoxLayout>.

yohannd1

Just a few more style adjustments...

yohannd1 · 2026-08-03T14:57:13Z

+
+// Short-hand function
+LMMS_EXPORT EffectCategory* getEffectCategory();
+}


Suggested change

}

} // namespace lmms

yohannd1 · 2026-08-03T14:58:30Z

+	layout->addWidget(label);
+	layout->addWidget(buttonFilter);
+	return layout;
+}


Suggested change

}

}

yohannd1 · 2026-08-03T15:40:36Z

Okay, now a proper review.

Should each effect category have its own translation ?

I believe yes, at least for these, which are predefined. I don't think it's needed for custom categories.

Is there an automated process to add the translation keys in each language file ?

Pretty sure there is, though I don't know the specific details. I do know that translatable strings are implemented through the tr function (more specifically QObject::tr), so wrapping translatable strings in a tr call should suffice it.

Also, a question: are you planning to implement custom (and multiple) categories on this PR? I think it should be implemented together with this, and I believe it won't require too many changes.

For custom categories, what I propose is a "category manager window" which lists all categories and allows you to add custom categories. And I think saving them on a XML (as you mentioned on Discord) will probably be the best bet here. I'd say saving them on the lmmsrc.xml would be alright, but I think this should be discussed a bit more with the maintainers.

As for multiple categories on a plugin (a.k.a. tags), I feel like it's gonna change the filtering logic significantly, from the way the filtering seems to work on Qt tables.

yohannd1 · 2026-08-03T15:43:07Z

+	return m_categories;
+}
+
+QStringList* EffectCategory::getCategoriesFromMap(std::map<QString, QString> map)


I believe this can be returned as a plain QStringList. Qt does implicit sharing with this class, plus using the pointer entails manually freeing it later (since it's not attached to a QObject), and that doesn't seem to be done at the moment.

Oh, that's neat, I did not know that ! I made some changes for this. If I can let the computer deal with the memory management, that's for the better.

…t category getters to non pointers

clemetayer · 2026-08-03T20:34:05Z

Okay, now a proper review.

Should each effect category have its own translation ?

I believe yes, at least for these, which are predefined. I don't think it's needed for custom categories.

Is there an automated process to add the translation keys in each language file ?

Pretty sure there is, though I don't know the specific details. I do know that translatable strings are implemented through the tr function (more specifically QObject::tr), so wrapping translatable strings in a tr call should suffice it.

Also, a question: are you planning to implement custom (and multiple) categories on this PR? I think it should be implemented together with this, and I believe it won't require too many changes.

For custom categories, what I propose is a "category manager window" which lists all categories and allows you to add custom categories. And I think saving them on a XML (as you mentioned on Discord) will probably be the best bet here. I'd say saving them on the lmmsrc.xml would be alright, but I think this should be discussed a bit more with the maintainers.

As for multiple categories on a plugin (a.k.a. tags), I feel like it's gonna change the filtering logic significantly, from the way the filtering seems to work on Qt tables.

Okay, so I added QObject::tr for each category. I tried to add Q_OBJECT in the .h file to make it easier to read, but that did not work, probably because I made my object a singleton ?

For the custom category, I think it would be best if I do that in another PR. I tend to hop between projects, and I might do the other steps later (in a few weeks probably), but I wanted this dev to still be an improvement that could be merged (even if it's not great yet). That might also give users some time to give some feedbacks.

I will probably add the custom category next, but I rather thought to do that with a menu appearing on a right click. I might also add another column dedicated to favorites in the meantime (kind of boolean style column, with a star appearing if it is a favorite with the associated filter) since I'm starting to understand how it works.

After that I will probably try to add the multiple categories to an effect, but I'm having a hard time to make it work UI-wise (should every category appear on the same line ? Is there a limit ? Should it be on multiple lines ? Etc.).

yohannd1 · 2026-08-03T20:50:01Z

Okay, so I added QObject::tr for each category. I tried to add Q_OBJECT in the .h file to make it easier to read, but that did not work, probably because I made my object a singleton ?

Did you mean for using tr(...) instead of QObject::tr(...)? If yes, I think that only works inside methods.
By the way, I'm just now thinking about this - it might be better if the translated names are only when displaying, and the category name is internal. For now it's alright, but I'm imagining using translated versions might make a mess when saving to files, and potentially switching languages.
Maybe having a map of names and their possible translations? Not quite sure how this would work.

For the custom category, I think it would be best if I do that in another PR. [...]

Sadly PRs in LMMS take quite a long time to be merged, due to the small amount of maintainers and free time. This PR won't probably be merged in a while yet.

I will probably add the custom category next, but I rather thought to do that with a menu appearing on a right click. [...]

Oh, this sounds good to me!

After that I will probably try to add the multiple categories to an effect, but I'm having a hard time to make it work UI-wise (should every category appear on the same line ? Is there a limit ? Should it be on multiple lines ? Etc.).

I think they should appear on the same line. It might make things harder to read, yeah. Maybe just adding ... if there's too many, and on hover it could show all columns? (This might already be provided by Qt tables).

clemetayer · 2026-08-04T06:13:03Z

Did you mean for using tr(...) instead of QObject::tr(...)? If yes, I think that only works inside methods.
By the way, I'm just now thinking about this - it might be better if the translated names are only when displaying, and the category name is internal. For now it's alright, but I'm imagining using translated versions might make a mess when saving to files, and potentially switching languages.
Maybe having a map of names and their possible translations? Not quite sure how this would work.

Yes, that's exactly that, and yes, that makes complete sense now that you mention it.
For the next step, yes, I was thinking of a map or list of some default categories that can be translated. I will probably figure it out once i am working on it.

Sadly PRs in LMMS take quite a long time to be merged, due to the small amount of maintainers and free time. This PR won't probably be merged in a while yet.

Yes, okay, that's fair. I will still work in another dedicated branch once I get back to it and maybe merge it to this one if it is not merged yet then.

clemetayer added 7 commits July 31, 2026 12:34

feat(LMMS#6716): 🚧 added effect types

7145167

Revert "feat(LMMS#6716): 🚧 added effect types"

f376530

This reverts commit 7145167.

feat(LMMS#6716): 🚧 added an effect for every category

54bb938

feat(LMMS#6716): ✨ added Categories for LADSPA effects

b408aff

feat(LMMS#6716): ✨ Added an effect category filter

2827fa6

fix(LMMS#6716): 🐛 fixed an issue when selection "all" as an effect fi…

67ddde7

…lter does not select anything except in english

chore(LMMS#6716): 🩹 changed the structure to respect coding conventions

5200b28

clemetayer mentioned this pull request Aug 2, 2026

Grouping for Effects list #6716

Open

yohannd1 suggested changes Aug 2, 2026

View reviewed changes

chore(LMMS#6716): 🩹 fixed style issues

78aa6ad

yohannd1 suggested changes Aug 3, 2026

View reviewed changes

yohannd1 reviewed Aug 3, 2026

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clemetayer added 2 commits August 3, 2026 21:26

refactor(LMMS#6716): ♻️ fixed more style issues and changed the effec…

7decb8a

…t category getters to non pointers

chore(LMMS#6716): 🌐 added translation keys for each effect

97a537d

	QStringList* getCategoriesFromMap(std::map<QString,QString> map);
	QStringList* getCategoriesFromMap(std::map<QString, QString> map);

		EffectCategory* getEffectCategory()
		{ return EffectCategory::instance(); }

	EffectCategory* getEffectCategory()
	{ return EffectCategory::instance(); }
	EffectCategory* getEffectCategory() { return EffectCategory::instance(); }

	if(m_categories == nullptr \|\| m_categories->isEmpty())
	if (m_categories == nullptr \|\| m_categories->isEmpty())

	foreach(QString category, *ladspaCategories)
	for (const QString& category : ladspaCategories)

	if(! categories->contains(it.second))
	if (!categories->contains(it.second))

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