v2.0.3

• Allows values to be assigned to a NXlink object using the nxlink attribute, including updating a linked object's value via a dictionary assignment.
  • Adds auxiliary signals to virtual datasets created by nxconsolidate, and allows links to be added to auxiliary signals defined by a NXdata group's auxiliary_signals attribute.
  • Adds a set_date function to the NXprocess class to update the stored processing date.
  • Improves the efficiency of the NXfield index function when selecting slices with smart indices.
  • Includes the offending key or path in NXgroup error messages to make lookup failures easier to diagnose.
  • Fixes deserialization of fields containing variable-length strings.
  • Fixes unreliable handling of dtype arguments when creating a NXvirtualfield.
  • Fixes decoding of fields containing non-UTF-8 encoded strings, using the chardet package to detect the correct encoding.
  • Preserves the relative file path when copying an external link, instead of converting it to an absolute path.
  • Fixes the regular expression used to validate NeXus object names.
  • Fixes the natural_sort function to handle path-like objects.
  • Keeps the file mode as 'rw' after calling save() or when using a NXroot context manager.
  • Fixes a bug when copying virtual datasets.
  • Fixes a crash when reading a lazy-loaded field that had been rewrapped in a new container at the same file path.
  • Releases the file lock even if closing the underlying HDF5 file raises an error.

What's Changed

• Modernize dev dependency config by @rosborn in #255
• Improve serialization by @rayosborn in #256
• Add ruff linting and update CI to match nexpy by @rosborn in #257
• Update copyright dates by @rayosborn in #258
• Fix link deepcopy by @rayosborn in #259
• Allow-linkfield-assignments by @rayosborn in #260
• Improve-encoding-detection by @rayosborn in #261
• Improve efficiency of the NXfield index function by @rayosborn in #262
• Miscellaneous-fixes by @rayosborn in #263
• Skip self-copy when reading uncopied lazy-loaded field by @rayosborn in #264
• Release file locks on close failure and clarify path errors by @rayosborn in #265
• Bump actions/checkout from 6 to 7 by @dependabot[bot] in #266

New Contributors

• @rosborn made their first contribution in #255

Full Changelog: v2.0.2...v2.0.3