Add/Remove Groups of User Data

mrittman

I've set up a user data interface, and would like to be able to click the add/remove buttons at the top, which would create additional tracks. Is this possible, or would one need to resort to C++ for this kind of behavior?
user data.png

For clarification, I am trying to do the Add/Remove behavior similar to how Constraint tags work:

Manuel

Hello,

we need a bit more informations regarding where you are trying to create this UI :

Are you writing your code in a python tag, a python generator or a python plugin ?

Cheers

mrittman

@m_magalhaes I am writing it in a python tag.

I should note that when it comes to programming, I’m not all that smart

Manuel

Hello,

After some research in the forum, i've found this post that show how to react to a button pressed.

With that, it juste a matter of using AddUserData and his friend RemoveUserData

Let me try to explain a bit more what i've done.
In the UserData tab, i've a got a group that will be used as a container, so i can add or remove thing inside without touching other userdata. I just browse through all user data using GetUserDataContainer and check the parent of the fields with DESC_PARENTGROUP

I'm pretty sure you will go through this code easily but if you got any questions, feel free to ask.

i'm adding the file so you can play with the code directly
AddRemoveGroup.c4d

And the code. At the top, i've got the ID of both button and the group that will serve as a container.

import c4d


# the group id where all the fiels will be created.
addButtonID = 1
removeButtonID = 2
mainGroupID  = 3



def AddGroupOfUserData():
    """
    Creating the group with differents field.
    Called by button Add
    """
    obj = op.GetObject() # get the object where we want the user data
    parentGroup = obj.GetUserDataContainer()[mainGroupID][0]
    newGroup = CreateGroup(parentGroup)

    nameString = AddString(newGroup, "Name")
    check = AddBool (newGroup, "Use Sound")
    timeField = AddTime(newGroup, "StartTime")
    AddSoundPath(newGroup, "Sound")
    
    #as function are returning the id of the userdata we can change their value
    obj[nameString] = "Default value for the string"
    #Set the bool to tru by default
    obj[check] = True
    #set the time to 0 
    obj[timeField] = c4d.BaseTime(0)

def RemoveGroupOfUserData():
    """
    this will iterate trough all group and remove the last one
    including his children
    """
    obj = op.GetObject() # get the object where we want the user data
    lastGroupID, count = GetLastGroupID()


    if lastGroupID > -1:
        # we find a group so let remove all the child of that group we found
        for descID, bc in op.GetObject().GetUserDataContainer():

            if IsChildOfGroup(bc, lastGroupID):
               obj.RemoveUserData(descID)
               del(obj[descID]) #remove the information in the basecontainer

        obj.RemoveUserData(lastGroupID)
        del(obj[lastGroupID])
        obj.Message(c4d.MSG_UPDATE)


def IsChildOfGroup(bc, groupID = mainGroupID):
    """
    Check if the parent is the same id of groupID
    """
    if bc[c4d.DESC_PARENTGROUP].GetDepth() > 1:
        if bc[c4d.DESC_PARENTGROUP][1].id == groupID:
            return True
    return False


def GetLastGroupID(parent = None):
    """
    get the last group in the user data
    """
    groupID = -1
    count = 0
    for descID, bc in op.GetObject().GetUserDataContainer():
        if descID[1].dtype == c4d.DTYPE_GROUP:
            if IsChildOfGroup(bc):
                    count += 1
                    groupID = descID[1].id

    return groupID, count


def CreateGroup(parent, trackNumber = -1):
    """
    this will create a group in the user data below "myGroup" with all the different data needed
    """
    if trackNumber < 0:
        # we must calculate the track number
        lastGroupID, trackNumber = GetLastGroupID()

    #Get the default container for the group type
    bc = c4d.GetCustomDatatypeDefault(c4d.DTYPE_GROUP)
    longName  = "Track " + str(trackNumber)
    shortName = "Track"  + str(trackNumber)

    bc[c4d.DESC_NAME] = longName
    bc[c4d.DESC_SHORT_NAME] = shortName
    bc[c4d.DESC_TITLEBAR] = True
    bc[c4d.DESC_GUIOPEN] = False
    bc[c4d.DESC_PARENTGROUP] = parent
    #return the group id added so we can add other element to it
    return op.GetObject().AddUserData(bc)



def AddBool (group, name):
    """
    this will create a boolean gadget in the group
    """
    bc = c4d.GetCustomDatatypeDefault(c4d.DTYPE_BOOL)
    bc[c4d.DESC_NAME] = name
    bc[c4d.DESC_SHORT_NAME] = name
    bc[c4d.DESC_PARENTGROUP] = group
    return op.GetObject().AddUserData(bc)


def AddTime(group, name):
    """
    this will add the field start time for exemple
    """
    bc = c4d.GetCustomDatatypeDefault(c4d.DTYPE_TIME)
    bc[c4d.DESC_NAME] = name
    bc[c4d.DESC_SHORT_NAME] = name
    #bc[c4d.DESC_UNIT] = c4d.DESC_UNIT_TIME
    bc[c4d.DESC_PARENTGROUP] = group
    return op.GetObject().AddUserData(bc)

def AddSoundPath(group, name):
    """
    this will add the field for file
    """
    bc = c4d.GetCustomDatatypeDefault(c4d.DTYPE_FILENAME)
    bc[c4d.DESC_NAME] = name
    bc[c4d.DESC_SHORT_NAME] = name
    bc[c4d.DESC_PARENTGROUP] = group
    return op.GetObject().AddUserData(bc)


def AddString(group, name):
    """
    this will add a static string to a group
    """
    bc = c4d.GetCustomDatatypeDefault(c4d.DTYPE_STATICTEXT)
    bc[c4d.DESC_NAME] = name
    bc[c4d.DESC_SHORT_NAME] = name
    #bc[c4d.DESC_CUSTOMGUI] = c4d.CUSTOMGUI_STATICTEXT
    bc[c4d.DESC_PARENTGROUP] = group
    return op.GetObject().AddUserData(bc)



def message(msg_type, data) :
    if msg_type == c4d.MSG_NOTIFY_EVENT:
        event_data = data['event_data']
        if event_data['msg_id'] == c4d.MSG_DESCRIPTION_COMMAND:
            desc_id = event_data['msg_data']['id']
            if desc_id[1].id == addButtonID:
                AddGroupOfUserData()
            elif desc_id[1].id == removeButtonID:
                RemoveGroupOfUserData()
                


def main() :
    pass

Manuel

hello,

if you don't have anything else to add, i'll mark this topic as "solved"

Cheers
Manuel

mrittman

@m_magalhaes Hey man I'm so sorry I didn't see your reply! This was extremely helpful! Pretty much exactly what I was looking for.

Do you know if this can be converted to a Python script so that I can drop it into any project?

Manuel

hello,

you can surely create a script that will put in place the user data and the python tag (+ his code)

But it's likely what a plugin tagData could do also.

So you could just attach a tag to an object.

mrittman

@m_magalhaes I see, but how do you create a script that generates a python tag with that code already in it?

ferdinand

@mrittman said in Add/Remove Groups of User Data:

@m_magalhaes I see, but how do you create a script that generates a python tag with that code already in it?

I think @m_magalhaes was referring to plugins.TagData the base class for python plugins that implement a tag. This is different from the Python Scripting Tag as it appears in the C4D desktop application. For your question: Yes it possible, but I am not sure if things are what you expect them to be. Building dynamic interfaces is always quite a hassle and Cinema4D is certainty no exception to that rule.

The first bit of information is that the Python Scripting Tag also supports implementing a message function which will allow you to listen for button clicks. The second piece would be that c4d.BaseList2D implements methods for adding and removing user data. Here is a short snippet which shows how to manipulate user data sitting on a Python Scripting Tag with that tags python code:

import c4d
#Welcome to the world of Python


def main():
    pass  #put in your code here

def message(mid, data):
    """
    """
    # Check if the message data contain a UserData event
    if isinstance(data, dict) and "id" in data:
        if data["id"][0].id == c4d.ID_USERDATA:

            # Here you have to check for the ID of the Add/Remove button IDs as they appear in
            # your user data editor. For me it was the IDs 1(Add) and 2(Remove).

            # Add button adds a UserData element to the tag. Code as in SDK example code of
            # BaseList2D.AddUserData().
            if data["id"][1].id == 1:
                bc = c4d.GetCustomDataTypeDefault(c4d.DTYPE_LONG) # Create default container
                bc[c4d.DESC_NAME] = "Test"                        # Rename the entry
                element = op.AddUserData(bc)                      # Add userdata container
                op[element] = 30                                  # Assign a value
                c4d.EventAdd()                                    # Update

            # Remove button removes the last element of your user data. For details see
            # BaseList2D.RemoveUserData() int the SDK.
            elif data["id"][1].id == 2:
                _desc_id_last_item = op.GetUserDataContainer()[-1][0]
                op.RemoveUserData(_desc_id_last_item)
                c4d.EventAdd()

Cheers,
zipit

mrittman

@zipit Thanks so much man, this is really quite helpful! I sure appreciate all the help!

Manuel

Hello,

I was also talking about something like this. But it's not the best way to go. I suggest a TagData (plugin) with his own UI.

pyTagCode = '\
import c4d \n\
#Welcome to the world of Python \n\
\n\
def main():\n\
    print "this ia a message"\n\
\n\
'



import c4d

# Main function
def main():
    if op is None:
        gui.MessageDialog("Please selecte a target object")
    tag = c4d.BaseTag(c4d.Tpython)
    tag[c4d.TPYTHON_CODE] = pyTagCode
    op.InsertTag(tag)
    c4d.EventAdd()   

# Execute main()
if __name__=='__main__':
    main()

By the way, don't forget you can save tag presets, that include python tags. You can simple add them with right click on your object in OM and "Load tag preset"

Cheers,
Manuel

mrittman

@m_magalhaes said in Add/Remove Groups of User Data:

Hello,

I was also talking about something like this. But it's not the best way to go. I suggest a TagData (plugin) with his own UI.
pyTagCode = '\
import c4d \n\
#Welcome to the world of Python \n\
\n\
def main():\n\
    print "this ia a message"\n\
\n\
'



import c4d

# Main function
def main():
    if op is None:
        gui.MessageDialog("Please selecte a target object")
    tag = c4d.BaseTag(c4d.Tpython)
    tag[c4d.TPYTHON_CODE] = pyTagCode
    op.InsertTag(tag)
    c4d.EventAdd()   

# Execute main()
if __name__=='__main__':
    main()
By the way, don't forget you can save tag presets, that include python tags. You can simple add them with right click on your object in OM and "Load tag preset"

Cheers,
Manuel

Oh this is good to know! Thanks so much for the information, this is quite helpful!

Matt