Datatree input

Are there any plans at all to allow Datatree input to components. Currently all Datatrees will be serially butchered and fed to a component as whatever is the top data item/list, while there are a few obvois uses for structure sorting etc where you actually would like to keep the Datatree as an input and fiddle with it directly.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on March 13, 2010 at 4:51am

Hi Mattias,

I'm not entirely sure I understand, but I do have plans to offers more Data Matching logic. Right now the branches of multiple input parameters are indeed used serially, and it would be nice to be able to specify different relationships.

I'm confused about what you mean by "fiddle with it directly". Oftentimes the layout of a data structure changes as you drag sliders or change input geometry. Any kind of specific mapping you assign instantly goes stale. It might work for cases where that doesn't happen, but I'd rather supply a solution that also works with dynamic trees.

--
David Rutten
david@mcneel.com
Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by Mattias Eriksson on March 14, 2010 at 5:46am

If you feed a Datatree, say a Datatree of (List of (On3dpoints)) to a vb/c# component you would end up with a number of calls to that vb/c# component with the input being a List of (On3dpoints). What I would like to do is to actually take the Datatree of (List of (On3dpoints)) as input and manage the Datatree structure within the component. You will without doubt ask, what's the use.

Things it might help you do:

* Replace/Delete specific branches
* Sort braches using logical operations
* Use dynamic input to manage large data structures

These are jsut examples, I find that 90% of "Grasshoppering" is actually managing data structures - sometimes you really want to go deep and get dirty. The path mapper goes a long way, but has its limitations. The replace braches component can be really bulky to use in an efficient manner.

It must be possible to add a Datatree type to the list of inputs in components, we can already create and output them from a component.

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on March 14, 2010 at 6:30am

Mattias,

I know it would be a useful feature to have. I don't want to give scripters access to the actual data trees inside parameters, because it's all too easy to really mess things up. Making a shallow duplicate of a tree is not that big a deal, I just need to write the code.

--
David Rutten
david@mcneel.com
Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by Mattias Eriksson on March 14, 2010 at 9:48pm

Protecting us from ourselves now are we? Bah, maybe it's a good idea =).

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