Reserved Csound Channels

Cabbage 3 will initialise a set of named Csound channels when it first loads. Some provide system-specific directory paths, while others convey environmental or system information, such as window dimensions or plugin status. These channels provide a cross-platform way to access common system directories or runtime data without hardcoding values. Cabbage 3 works with absolute file paths, so be sure to derive all file paths from known locations where appropriate.

Channels

CSD_PATH

The directory path where the current CSD file is located. Useful for loading resources relative to your CSD file location.

IS_A_PLUGIN

Returns 1 if the instrument is running inside a DAW, otherwise returns 0.

IS_ARA_PLUGIN

Returns 1 if the instrument has support for ARA.

USER_HOME_DIRECTORY

The user’s home directory. On Windows, this is typically C:\Users\<username>. On macOS and Linux, this is /Users/<username> or /home/<username> respectively.

USER_DOCUMENTS_DIRECTORY

The user’s Documents folder. On Windows, this is C:\Users\<username>\Documents. On macOS, this is /Users/<username>/Documents. On Linux, this defaults to the home directory since Linux doesn’t have a standard Documents folder.

USER_DESKTOP_DIRECTORY

The user’s Desktop folder. On Windows, this is C:\Users\<username>\Desktop. On macOS, this is /Users/<username>/Desktop. On Linux, this is /home/<username>/Desktop.

USER_MUSIC_DIRECTORY

The user’s Music folder. On Windows, this is C:\Users\<username>\Music. On macOS, this is /Users/<username>/Music. On Linux, this is /home/<username>/Music.

USER_MOVIES_DIRECTORY

The user’s Movies/Videos folder. On Windows, this is C:\Users\<username>\Videos. On macOS, this is /Users/<username>/Movies. On Linux, this is /home/<username>/Videos.

USER_PICTURES_DIRECTORY

The user’s Pictures folder. On Windows, this is C:\Users\<username>\Pictures. On macOS, this is /Users/<username>/Pictures. On Linux, this is /home/<username>/Pictures.

USER_APPLICATION_DATA_DIRECTORY

The user’s application data directory for storing application-specific data. On Windows, this is C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local. On macOS, this is /Users/<username>/Library/Application Support. On Linux, this is /home/<username>/.config.

COMMON_APPLICATION_DATA_DIRECTORY

The system-wide application data directory for shared application data. On Windows, this is C:\ProgramData. On macOS, this is /Library/Application Support. On Linux, this is /opt.

COMMON_DOCUMENTS_DIRECTORY

The system-wide shared documents directory. On Windows, this is C:\Users\Public\Documents. On macOS, this is /Users/Shared. On Linux, this is /usr/share.

WINDOWS_SYSTEM_DIRECTORY

The Windows system directory. On Windows, this is C:\Windows\System32. Not applicable on macOS and Linux (returns empty string).

GLOBAL_APPLICATIONS_DIRECTORY

The system-wide applications directory. On Windows, this is C:\Program Files. On macOS, this is /Applications. On Linux, this is /usr.

WINDOW_WIDTH

The width in pixels of the current Cabbage UI window. This reflects the window size available to the UI and can be used to scale or position widgets.

WINDOW_HEIGHT

The height in pixels of the current Cabbage UI window. Use together with WINDOW_WIDTH to determine available drawing area.

Usage Example

instr 1
    home:S = chnget("USER_HOME_DIRECTORY")
    desktop:S = chnget("USER_DESKTOP_DIRECTORY")
    prints("Home: %s\n", home)
    prints("Desktop: %s\n", desktop)
endin

Notes

• All paths use forward slashes (/) as directory separators, even on Windows
• Empty strings are returned for channels that don’t apply to the current platform. For example WINDOWS_SYSTEM_DIRECTORY will return an empty string on macOS/Linux.
• These channels should be treated as read-only and are automatically set by Cabbage at startup
• The actual paths may vary depending on system configuration and user settings