I am not a programmer, I vibe-coded an audio plugin Host and then created a VST3 plugin version. All for personal use. Both versions have the same issue that needs resolving that I cant seem to get around, but also, dont know if its an AI limitation or a real JUCE limitation. Knowing how useless AI can be at coding, I’m guessing JUCE is capable, but need to get some sort of confirmation if possible.
Ok, so essentially, the VST3 plugin is called PolyHostInterface (PHI), which is able to load several other plugins at once. But I added very similar functionality as Stefan Mattings PointerCC program. This basically allows users to create a map of points for which the MIDI hardware uses MIDI CC’s to control X, Y and parameter adjustment.
The difference between my implementation and Stefan’s is that my app/plugin uses a built in overlay when a toolbar button is pressed. That overlay allows users to place points where the MIDI CC knobs can jumps to for quicker editing. All good so far, everything is working here.
The issue though, is that the overlay has to be made as a separate window entity and cannot be made as a part of the actual Host/plugin as the loaded plugins gui’s are always on top of the overlay, meaning the loaded plugins are obscuring the entire PointerCC editor. Hence I have had to make the overlay become a separate window to the Host/Plugin, which is really not wanted.
The main issue with this is that when using PHI in a DAW, each instance can have its own set of loaded plugins, but also each instance can have its own PointerCC editor. That means you have two windows open per instance and it gets messy. Partly due to the amount of unnecessary windows, but mainly because they overlap other windows, I cannot close them on lose focus, so they just get in the way.
So really what I need to know is, is it possible to have an overlay that appears on top of plugins gui’s loaded inside a JUCE Host app/plugin?
I’ll try to upload a picture of the current state, which is only as a separate window for Host/Plugin and editor, the only thing you’ll see is that the Windows task bar has multi-windows open for the Host. But you should get a picture of what I mean by Host/Plugin and Editor overlay. The only way I can seem to make the overlay usable is to make it a separate window, but I really want to make it a part of the actual Host/Plugin window itself and make it appear as topmost so it shows over a loaded plugins gui. How do I do that?
Thanks for any advice or help you can offer. If it’s easier, I can share a link of the PHI Host/Plugin so you can test or even look at the source of you wish.
EDIT: Here’s a link to the github page.
EDIT: I can only post one pic due to being new user, so heres a pic of the PHI Host with the Editor overlay active…
