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global data

billy2billy2 Member, OS Professional, Mentor, Developers, User Group Leader Posts: 2,014 PRO
edited February 2016 in FeatureScript
Is there anyway to pass around data?

createData creates a huge array, can getData access this array?



create some data:
FeatureScript 307;
import(path : "onshape/std/geometry.fs", version : "307.0");
annotation { "Feature Type Name" : "createData" }
export const createData = defineFeature(function(context is Context, id is Id, definition is map)
    precondition
    {
        
    }
    {
        const billysData=5;
    }, { /* default parameters */ });


get some global data:

FeatureScript 307;
import(path : "onshape/std/geometry.fs", version : "307.0");
DATA::import(path : "03b271aa9f983f47f1473e51", version : "b5ddb1c97dd36645bc48123e");//link to createData
annotation { "Feature Type Name" : "getData" }
export const getData = defineFeature(function(context is Context, id is Id, definition is map)
    precondition
    {
        // Define the parameters of the feature type
    }
    {
        println('DATA::billysData '~DATA::billysData);
    }, { /* default parameters */ });


Comments

  • ilya_baranilya_baran Onshape Employees, Developers, HDM Posts: 1,174
    Will write a more detailed message tomorrow, but for now I'll just point to two ways of doing it (both attach data to the context):

    1. Variables (see setVariable and getVariable in context.fs) -- they may have any value including a large array.
    2. Attributes (are attached to topology and are a little harder to use) -- see attribute.fs or the doc https://cad.onshape.com/FsDoc/library.html#module-attributes.fs
    Ilya Baran \ VP, Architecture and FeatureScript \ Onshape Inc
  • billy2billy2 Member, OS Professional, Mentor, Developers, User Group Leader Posts: 2,014 PRO
    edited February 2016
    Thanks, will read up on those.





    I figured it had something todo with context.

    A module has context, and a module is located in a tab. I'm using 2 tabs, do they have different contexts?

    Is context a document, part studio, module or tab?

    Part studios have context, I have 2 modules in a part studio therefore they share 1 context?

    Why would this ever be false?


    If it's always true, why have it?

    Can I run a function when it's not in context?



  • billy2billy2 Member, OS Professional, Mentor, Developers, User Group Leader Posts: 2,014 PRO
    edited February 2016
    Well, sorry for butchering up your language.

    I can't get the simple one to work. I tried passing billysData=5 thinking this would be easy and it wasn't. So, I figured I'd give you a tougher problem closer to what I need. I'm interested in sending an array of vectors, 58,000 vectors. Maybe I'll just send the parsed x,y,z values. What's the best way to handle large data sets?

    Questions:
    1. how do you get this to work?
    2. speed is everything. should I convert all x, y, z to vectors and then ship vectors? or should I send x, y, z around, pick the 1,000 I want and convert them?
    3. are certain data types faster? arrays seem like they'd be faster than maps?
    4. I am reading the manual (honest), you talk about a box value passing by reference as opposed to a deep copy, should I be using billysData[]=array? Wouldn't passing by reference be faster than any other methods outlined so far? I could be way out in right field. Not sure what a boxed value is used for other than accessing data.



    createData.fs:
    FeatureScript 307;
    import(path : "onshape/std/geometry.fs", version : "307.0");
    annotation { "Feature Type Name" : "createData", "UIHint":"NO_PREVIEW_PROVIDED"  }
    export const createData = defineFeature(function(context is Context, id is Id, definition is map)
        precondition
        {
            
        }
        {
            const billysData=[vector(1,2,3), vector(1,1,1), vector(1,2,1)];
            const billysMap={'1':vector(1,2,3), '2':vector(1,1,1), '3':vector(1,2,1)};
            
            setVariable (context is Context, 'billysData', billysData);
            
            setAttribute (context is Context, billysMap);
            
        }, { /* default parameters */ });



    getData.fs:

    FeatureScript 307;
    import(path : "onshape/std/geometry.fs", version : "307.0");

    annotation { "Feature Type Name" : "getData", "UIHint":"NO_PREVIEW_PROVIDED" }
    export const getData = defineFeature(function(context is Context, id is Id, definition is map)
        precondition
        {
            // Define the parameters of the feature type
        }
        {
            var billysData;
            getVariable(context is Context, 'billysData');
            getAttributes (context is Context, billysMap);
            println('billysData ' ~ billysData);
            println('billysMap ' ~ billysMap);
        }, { /* default parameters */ });



    and none of it works:


  • ilya_baranilya_baran Onshape Employees, Developers, HDM Posts: 1,174
    The reason you're having some of the issues is the "is Context" has different meaning in a function declaration and a function call.

    When you declare a function as:
    function foo(context is Context)
    {
        ...
    }
    you're specifying that the argument passed into foo must be a Context.  It is an error (or warning if it is caught) if you pass in something else.
    In your function, you're calling:
    getVariable(context is Context, 'billysData');
    and "context is Context" is indeed a boolean that always evaluates to true.  But the getVariable function expects a Context, not a boolean as its first argument, hence the error.  The correct call is (with the assignment to your variable):
    billysData = getVariable(context, 'billysData');
    Now there's another issue: billysMap is not declared in the second feature so trying to pass it to getAttributes won't work (and even if it could be done, it wouldn't do the right thing -- like I said, attributes are a bit more complicated and I don't think you need them yet here).

    Regarding speed, FeatureScript does very little actual copying, so passing around a 50k element array shouldn't be any more expensive than passing around a smaller one.  One thing that is currently inordinately expensive (we're working on it) is modifying a large array.  So maps are likely to be faster than arrays actually for now.  The general rule is that YMMV so try profiling different things -- every use case is slightly different.

    Hope this helps.
    Ilya Baran \ VP, Architecture and FeatureScript \ Onshape Inc
  • billy2billy2 Member, OS Professional, Mentor, Developers, User Group Leader Posts: 2,014 PRO
    edited February 2016
    I was off by just a little bit, thanks for your help.

    I'm passing arrays & maps. It's cool that the vectors stay true through the transfer. I thought I'd have to serialize my object before sending and then parse the variable on the other side. Nope, everything stays valid. You can store a lot in one variable.

    Will run a little test and find out which is faster.





    Here's the source for those who want to pass variables around feature scripts.

    createData:
    FeatureScript 307;
    import(path : "onshape/std/geometry.fs", version : "307.0");
    annotation { "Feature Type Name" : "createData", "UIHint":"NO_PREVIEW_PROVIDED"  }
    export const createData = defineFeature(function(context is Context, id is Id, definition is map)
        precondition
        {
            
        }
        {
            const billysData=5;
            //const billysData=[vector(1,2,3), vector(1,1,1), vector(1,2,1)];
            
            setVariable (context, 'billysData', billysData);
            
        }, { /* default parameters */ });


    getData:
    FeatureScript 307;
    import(path : "onshape/std/geometry.fs", version : "307.0");

    annotation { "Feature Type Name" : "getData", "UIHint":"NO_PREVIEW_PROVIDED" }
    export const getData = defineFeature(function(context is Context, id is Id, definition is map)
        precondition
        {
            // Define the parameters of the feature type
        }
        {
            var billysData;
            billysData=getVariable(context, 'billysData');
            println('billysData ' ~ billysData);
        }, { /* default parameters */ });





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