We also implement `BLField` support for Blender `IDStruct` types.
There's a crash haunting us specifically with the cylinder array. Other
primitives (esp. ring) work just fine, as does previews of nested-linked
node groups. The crash triggers specifically when the file is saved and
reloaded, whereafter all the `load_post` handlers run fine (like -
extremely fine, we can perfectly access and dereference all of the node
groups, seemingly all the objects, etc.). Then, crash.
We're also discovering that `id_properties_ui` is completely useless for
after-the-fact updating of custom properties within sockets. Which is a
great surprise, and I have trouble thinking it's on purpose - the data
is stored somewhere, after all. All the forced updates/redraws/etc. in
the world don't seem to change this.
We may have to go back to the drawing board with dynamically-updated
min/max. The entire infrastructure with `SocketDef` altering sockets
after creation is entirely, _violently_ unsuited to do a static
modification. But the bare fact is, the dynamic modification methods are
falling short. It's kind of important stuff, this stuff.
It's recommended to add license headers to all files in an AGPL project, in case a file is viewed outside the context of its main repository. We're using a `pre-commit` tool to manage this, to make sure it's consistently applied to all our Python files.
BLField has gotten a huge facelift, to make it practical to wrangle
properties without the sharp edges.
- All the "special" UI-exposed property types can now be directly
constructed in a BLField marked with 'prop_ui'.
- The most appropriate internal representation will be chosen to
represent the attribute based on its type annotation, including sized
vector-like `bool`, `int`, `float` for `tuple[...]`.
- Static EnumProperties can now be derived from a special `StrEnum`, to
which a `to_name` and `to_icon` method is attached.
- Dynamic `EnumProperty` can now be used safely, with builtin
workarounds to the real-world reference-loss-crash (realized
in the Tidy3D Cloud Task node) and jankiness like empty enum.
- The update method is now fully managed, negating all bugs related to
improper update callback naming.
- Python-side getter caching is preserved for ui-exposed
properties, with the help of node/socket base class support for
passing a `Signal.InvalidateCache` to BLFields that are altered in the
UI.
The cost to all this niceness is rather low, and arguably, positive:
- Dynamic Enum/String searchers no longer "magically" invoke all the
time, since the values seen by Blender are cached by the BLField.
- To regenerate the searcher output, an `@on_value_changed` should be
made by the user to pass `Signal.ResetEnumItems` or
`Signal.ResetStrSearch` to the `BLField`.
- Since searching is no longer eager, there is no danger of
out-of-reference strings (which crash Blender from EnumProperty), but
also a greatly reduced performance problems associated with
the hot-loop regeneration of EnumProperty strings.
- The base classes are now involved with BLField invalidation, to ensure
that the getter caches are cleared up when the UI changes. For the
price of that small indirection (done cheaply with set lookup),
all attribute lookups are generally done in a single lookup, completely
avoiding Blender until needed.
- This does represent another increase in confidence wrt. the event
system's integrity, but so far, that has been a very productive
direction.
**NOTE**: The entire feature set of BLField is not well tested, and will
likely need adjustments as the codebase is converted to use them.
Sofus Albert Høgsbro Rose