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[BlenderBIM] Having a dev version alongside stable version, external editor etc… (dev tricks)

  1. C by Cyril on 5 Oct 2020, edited 7 Oct 2020 #

    Hi,

    Dev version alongside stable version

    I followed Blender Addon tutorial and now understand better how addon structure works but I also saw that it is not possible to have two version of blender bim addon installed (eg. one in /usr/share/blender/2.90/scripts/addons/blenderbim and one in ~/.config/blender/2.90/scripts/addons/blenderbim) because they have the same folder name. However changing folder name to blenderbim_dev seems to be enough. Is it the best way to have a dev and stable version of an addon alongside ?

    Changing code without restarting Blender (external editor)

    I noticed that if I make some change on code base I need to restart Blender to see effects. Unload/reload seems to be not sufficient. Is there a way to work on addon code base without having to restart Blender to have you modification taken in account ?

    Addon remote debugging (external editor)

    I think I saw some videos for external debugging I will search for it except some one can explain how to debug remotely a blender addon. This is pretty much related the previous version as you often need to add some code somewhere for remote debugging.

    Control Blender remotely

    Is it possible to control Blender remotely. If so, how ?

  2. S by stephen_l on 5 Oct 2020 #

    Dev alongside stable

    as long as they are not enabled at same time (leading in class names registration clash) you may simply use 2 folders at same location but with different names.

    /blenderbim_dev

    /blenderbim

    Restart

    It is the safest way to ensure python cache of sub modules are properly updated.

    Remote debugging

    There is an addon from JacquesLuke for Visual Studio Code, basically loading blender on the fly with your addon, solving both debug and restart issues.

  3. M by Moult on 5 Oct 2020 #

    Agree with @stephen_l but a couple of my own opinions. For dev alongside stable, Just git init, and then use git stash and/or branching?

    For controlling Blender remotely, there are options for running Blender by command line, and you can feed it a Python script.

  4. C by Cyril on 6 Oct 2020 # +4 votes

    Thanks to you two.

    I also found a great and fresh introduction to python coding in Blender :