Creating a user object still seems to be broken.

I've mentioned this before, but I think it has gotten lost in the shuffle.

Here's the scenario:

Create cluster
Create user object from that cluster
Place user object on toolbar and edit the properties.

It used to be (several releases ago) that when I did the above everything seemed to be linked together and worked just super. If I placed the user object on the canvas, then edited it (either the properties or the design), those changes would get reflected in the "master" user object such that if I dropped a new instance of the user object from the toolbar to the canvas I would see all the new changes.

But several releases ago that all seemed to break. Now if I create the user object as above and drop an instance on my canvas, there doesn't appear to be any linkage between the user object on the toolbar and the object placed on the canvas. It seems like it just gets converted into a local canvas cluster without any linkage back to the "master" user object.

Is there a new setting or preference someplace that controls that behavior?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Andrew Heumann on March 5, 2014 at 9:27am

are you certain it ever worked that way?? I don't ever recall this functionality. As far as I know instantiated clusters have always been independent of the saved user objects from which they are created - they will remain linked to other copies of themselves in the same document but no further. However I could be mistaken...

Permalink Reply by Norm Sash on March 5, 2014 at 9:52am

Hi Andrew... Yes, I'm absolutely positive it used to work as I used it extensively. In fact, it even worked when the user object itself was within a cluster. e.g. I could open a cluster from the main canvas, insert a user object, then back out of the cluster. Next, make an editing change to the user object by placing the user object on the main canvas and save it. Next time I go into the cluster and look at the user object within that cluster it would be updated.

Permalink Reply by Andrew Heumann on March 9, 2014 at 7:46pm

I'll have to defer to David on this one. I went back as far as 0.9.0056 and can't reproduce the behavior you're talking about. Do you know in which version it behaved this way?

Permalink Reply by Norm Sash on March 10, 2014 at 4:54pm

Hi Andrew. I'm not sure of the actual grasshopper version where I first noticed the problem, but I did report the problem on Sept 17th in this thread: http://www.grasshopper3d.com/forum/topics/referencing-user-objects?...

I can't remember if if was the immediate release right before that date, or something prior to that as I might not have noticed the issue immediately.

I would be willing to test it out if I could get access to the history of releases.

Permalink Reply by Andrew Heumann on March 11, 2014 at 10:02am

Hey Norm - I went back through my own "history of releases" - back to 0.9.0014 and even 0.9.0002 - and I still can't find a single version where user objects behave the way you describe. Are you certain you're not getting mixed up with the "Export and Reference" functionality in clusters? This will allow you to save out your cluster to an external file, and if you edit it in one definition it will update in other definitions. However, this functionality is not tremendously well-integrated with user objects - if an external file is the basis for a user object, and it changes, you will still have to manually right-click the user object once placed to tell it to update.

Again, perhaps David or others remember an intermediate version I don't, but I don't think the workflow for clusters remaining "synced" was ever more simple or streamlined than the one I'm describing here.

Permalink Reply by Danny Boyes on March 11, 2014 at 10:25am

I don't recall this behaviour either. If I wanted to edit a user object in the past I would have to:

1) post it on the canvas

2) delete the user object

3) Update as required

4) create a new user object

Permalink Reply by Norm Sash on March 11, 2014 at 10:37am

Yep Danny, that's exactly what I'm having to do now... go through that cycle you described whenever I want to change a user object. But sometime before Sept 17th it was behaving differently and I didn't have to delete and recreate.

Permalink Reply by Danny Boyes on March 11, 2014 at 11:00am

It could be that I was just stuck in a groove and never thought to look for different behaviour.

Permalink Reply by Norm Sash on March 11, 2014 at 10:30am

Dang! I wish I had noted the version info. I know it wasn't using the "Export and Reference" because I had tried that a few times and it didn't work out well. That's why I thought the way the user objects were working was just great.

Is it possible for me to get access to the older releases so that I can try because I know exactly what I was doing and maybe I can replicate it.

Permalink Reply by Danny Boyes on March 11, 2014 at 10:36am

A quick search for Previous Versions on the forum will bring you to this: http://www.grasshopper3d.com/forum/topics/previous-versions-of?comm...

Permalink Reply by Norm Sash on March 11, 2014 at 11:48am

Do you happen to know what the version of gh was around July 2013, and slightly before?

Permalink Reply by Danny Boyes on March 11, 2014 at 11:55am

June 2013 was when there were two versions of 0.9.0014 one for Rhino 4.0 and one for Rhino 5.0

It might sound silly but have you go back to trying it in Rhino 4