outputting links

[bendichter]

in the code

dev = types.core.Device( ...
    'source', ns_path);
file.general_devices.set('dev1', dev);

eg = types.core.ElectrodeGroup('source', ns_path, ...
    'description', 'a test ElectrodeGroup', ...
    'location', 'unknown', ...
    'device', types.untyped.SoftLink('/general/devices/dev1'));
file.general_extracellular_ephys.set('elec1', eg);

I don't like that you have to know the path of dev1 in order to link it. I think that makes it hard for new users that might not know the hierarchical structure of nwb-schema. How would you feel about having file.general_devices.set optionally output the SoftLink object if an output is requested?

so the new syntax would be

dev = types.core.Device( ...
    'source', ns_path);
dev_link = file.general_devices.set('dev1', dev);

eg = types.core.ElectrodeGroup('source', ns_path, ...
    'description', 'a test ElectrodeGroup', ...
    'location', 'unknown', ...
    'device', dev_link);
file.general_extracellular_ephys.set('elec1', eg);

[lawrence-mbf]

Since SoftLinks are expecting full paths it's a bit finicky if we just look at the subsref list. How do you think we should approach it this way?

Another possible idea is to use dot notation similar to one of MATLAB's options for edit:
https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/edit.html?searchHighlight=edit&s_tid=doc_srchtitle#btk4bs6-file
Basically, instead of:
types.untyped.SoftLink('/general/devices/dev1')
We have:
types.untyped.SoftLink('general_devices.dev1')
Implementing the above will require adding the functionality to io.resolvePath (trivial) as well as a converter for export functions (not as trivial).

[bendichter]

Yeah I proposed this and then attempted to implement it and realized it will be non-trivial. It's still on my wishlist but I'd say not a priority for me.

[ehennestad]

@bendichter Is this issue relevant anymore as it is now possible to pass other objects/nwb types to types.untyped.SoftLink?

[bendichter]

This has been fixed