Data not making it out of a cluster, sometimes . . .

So here is inside the cluster with string data going to cluster output - the one above & the one circled are identical - using identical components & sharing input streams.

But when I save & close the cluster & return to the parent, sometimes the data does not make it out of the cluster, & sometimes it does. Tried swapping inputs, but sometimes it works, sometimes not:

anyone experience this before? Am I missing something? Also, I cannot select either of the wire plugs at the output side of the cluster. The center one I can select, but the top & bottom ones I cannot. Those two are text boxes both inside & outside the cluster. But I tried using a generic Data component as well as a Text component and all of them do the same thing. Anyone have any idea what's going wrong? The cluster is repeated a few times in the parent file & most of them are fine with both outputs, but I cannot plug them in or unplug them on any of them.??? very strange . . .

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mike Calvino on January 9, 2016 at 6:25pm

So it seems that it has something to do with the Panel components being connected between inside & outside the cluster. I rebuilt it from a set of fresh components, but used a Txt parameter component inside the cluster to begin with. Seems to be working for now. Any idea why it would not work with panel components inside & out?

Permalink Reply by Armin Seltz on January 11, 2016 at 4:18am

Thats strange that it would happen.

Generally I would say that working with clusters, its nice to put in an extra bit of work. So inside the cluster I always use the parameter components for the specific data type after any cluster input and before any cluster output, creating those first. Then you right click on that component and give it a name. Then connect the cluster input/output. That way your cluster input/output will have the correct name already.

Also you have to be careful with repurposing cluster inputs/outputs. Even though you cant see it they will "remember" the data type when first connected to something, so its best to recreate inputs. For that purpose its better to have the parameter components in place, because you wont loose connections to all the other components when deleting the cluster input/output.

So this is basically what all my clusters look like:

I think as a general rule also textboxes should not be connected to other things. They serve as a visualization of data and are usually removed sooner or later and then you will loose all subsequent connections.

Permalink Reply by Mike Calvino on January 20, 2016 at 8:17pm

Thanks for the input Armin. I did start using the specific data type components both inside & outside the cluster with labels, great advice. That cluster looks very nice & clean! Also, thanks for the advice on the text boxes, I do use those too much, mostly because I need to see what's in the components & then just connect from those without much thought. Thanks again, Cheers!

RSS