Controlling longest list behaviour

Hi All

I have a general question regarding how to control the behaviour of components when 'longest list' is selected, with a specifc example where I have run into problems. For some custom components, certain combinations of inputs can create a huge number of permutations when 'longest list' is selected which results in Grasshopper hanging for a long time (e.g. for over an hour before I switch off!). My question is whether it is possible for components to contain code that modify longest list behaviour, or whether my approach is wrong in terms of accepting a mixture of 'items' and 'lists' to my component. This specific example hopefully makes my question clearer:

I've created a suite of components for creating double layer gridshells, one of which adds a connector at each intersection point. This basically works by taking a curve (as an item), a list of curve parameters, a list of orientation vectors and the connectors as items.

If the component receives one curve, one list of curve parameters and one list of vectors it works fine. It also works fine if it receives a tree of curves (where each branch contains one item, achieved by grafting the input curve list in the attached example image), and trees of lists for the curve parameters and vectors. However, if it receives a list of curves and trees for the curve parameters and vectors it uses all of the curve parameters contained in all the tree branches for the 1st curve in the list, then again for the 2nd curve etc. For a small model this results in each intersection having multiple connectors, but for a big model it results in GH hanging due to the huge number of permutations.

Any pointers on how best to resolve this would be appreciated. I guess I could set the component up to expect datatrees and then sort everything out within my code, but I'm hoping there's a simpler way to control this.

Thanks!

Alex