[Query]: does helpersConvertInputToList.py always need to UnwrapElement ?

[adambear82]

Thanks for starting this resource, looks really useful :)

dynamoPython/helpers/helpersConvertInputToList.py

Lines 22 to 25 in 05bbfb9

	# Custom method to convert single items to a list to iterate over, also unwraps the items.
	def toList(x): # the name of the function
	if isinstance(x,list): return UnwrapElement(x) # if the input element is a single thing, return it as a list.
	else : return [UnwrapElement(x)] # if the input thing was a list all along, just return that

I was wondering why you used UnwrapElement is that always necessary?
or do you include it just in case its necessary?
sometimes I use this single line that I picked up from looking at packages

if not isinstance(inputs, list): inputs = [inputs]

which is pretty similar but skips over doing anything that is already a list so there wouldn't be the opportunity to UnwrapElement for objects that are already in a list

[Amoursol]

Hello Adam,

The single line item you use is perfectly acceptable - the reality is that there are many ways to achieve results in Python. I’ll be adding in a couple of other versions to showcase just such comparatively to Johns version embedded in your query above. As noted, your version, while more succinct, doesn't allow for the else condition.

Typically, the only reason you need to UnwrapElement is if you want access to the underlying Revit API calls themselves (And bare in mind you’ll have to wrap them up again if so for the Dynamo context to understand them).

Example

In the example below, we do not UnwrapElement(). This gives us access to the Dynamo calls on the object (i.e the Wall is wrapped up into a Dynamo thing).

If we UnwrapElement(wall) then this gives us access to the Revit API calls we can make upon the object (i.e the Wall is unwrapped).

You can see the variance in the number count and calls themselves.

[adambear82]

thanks sol thats interesting

wrapped = dir(IN[0])
unwrapped = dir(UnwrapElement(IN[0]))

wrappedonly = []
unwrappedonly = []
unandwrapped = []
lens = []

for i in wrapped :
	if i not in unwrapped :
		wrappedonly.append(i)

for i in unwrapped :
	if i not in wrapped :
		unwrappedonly.append(i)

for i in unwrapped :
	if i in wrapped :
		unandwrapped.append(i)

wraps = wrapped, wrappedonly, unandwrapped, unwrappedonly, unwrapped
for i in wraps : lens.append(len(i))
nam = 'wrapped', 'wrapped only', 'unwrapped and wrapped', 'unwrapped only', 'unwrapped'
ven = [ [x, y] for x,y in zip(lens, nam) ]

OUT = ven, [ [x, y] for x,y in zip(ven, wraps) ]

[Amoursol]

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