tooll3--t3/Editor/Gui

Discussing Project Views

2025-01-17

• Ⓢ ProjectManager

  • OpenedProjects[]
    • Structure – an instance tree with rootInstance
    • Package
  • LoadProject()
  • TryOpenInstancePath()

• Windows (with layout)

  • GraphWindows[]
    • ProjectView? – References the window’s UI model
    • Ⓢ ProjectListView – Shown if !ProjectView

• GraphComponents → ProjectView – Contains all components required to render a graph view

  • Ⓢ .Focused – Access to the current (primary) graph view and its structure
  • .IsFocused
  • .OpenedProject
  • .Composition
  • .GraphCanvas <Legacy|Magnetic>
  • .Timeline
  • .NavigationHistory
  • .NodeSelection
  • .GraphImageBackground

Ⓢ - a static class

Notes

On Windows, GraphEditor, and OpenProjects

The content of a GraphWindow can be switched to an OpenProject and its structure via GraphWindow.ViewProject(OpenProject, InstancePath?). This discards all previous components and initializes a new ProjectView, including NavigationHistory.

Navigation within a structure is handled by ProjectView.TrySetComposition(InstancePath).

Focused ProjectView

In most scenarios, there will be a focused ProjectView. Only if all project views are closed or the user is in the ProjectList will the focused view be null. In this case, some windows (such as the ParameterWindow and SymbolLibrary) will no longer be able to display meaningful content and must indicate this with a message like "No project active."

Switching Between OpenProjects

It is assumed that ProjectViews do not hold critical information and can be created and discarded efficiently (without frame drops).

While users will typically work in a single GraphWindow, various components might reference instances in other open projects (e.g., an operator pinned in an Output Window or a reference in the console log). It may be desirable to switch the GraphWindow to the referenced project and instance via a method like: ProjectManager.TryOpenInstancePath()

This method would attempt to focus the instance in the following order:

1. If the project matches – Focus the instance within the currently focused ProjectView.
2. If another ProjectView exists – Switch to that view if it contains the requested project.
3. If neither exists – Switch the focused view to the matching project.
4. If the project is not loaded – Load the project and switch the focused view to it.

If the InstancePath is no longer valid, it should attempt to open as much of the path as possible before displaying an error (popup?) message. For example, it should open the last valid composition that previously contained the requested SymbolChildId.

This behavior could potentially interfere with NavigationHistory.

Instance paths should always contain the project package.

On Closing Projects

The ProjectManager will be notified when ProjectViews are discarded and may unload the project if no active views remain. However, this could lead to unintended data loss.

An alternative approach is to indicate loaded projects in the ProjectViewList and provide an explicit Close button there.

If a ProjectView’s OpenProject is closed, that ProjectView should also be discarded, and its GraphWindow should switch to the ProjectList view.