Externalize Property with a defined value

[rafinhafpb]

Hello Bonsai community!

I've been working on some workflows for different applications, and there is a feature that would be quite useful, but I don't know how to implement it or if it is even possible.

I understand that when we externalize a property of a node within a Group Workflow, it becomes available to be edited as a property of that group. However, is it possible to have a variable dependent on another one, with its value also externalized? For example, I want a variable named "time on" that depends on the frequency and the duty cycle of a wave, both parameters that you can choose. The "time on" variable would be calculated automatically and shown in the properties, but it should not accept inputs.

In other words, I would like to display the results of some calculation graphically, but any externalized property that I attribute a value to, automatically calculated, will not be shown in the Group Workflow property section.

If anyone has already done something similar, I would love to hear your ideas. Thanks!

[bruno-f-cruz]

Not sure if this is what you want, but you can just calculate the value from values stored elsewhere, for instance, subjects.

Workflow (Copy+Paste me)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<WorkflowBuilder Version="2.8.2"
                 xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
                 xmlns:rx="clr-namespace:Bonsai.Reactive;assembly=Bonsai.Core"
                 xmlns:scr="clr-namespace:Bonsai.Scripting.Expressions;assembly=Bonsai.Scripting.Expressions"
                 xmlns="https://bonsai-rx.org/2018/workflow">
  <Workflow>
    <Nodes>
      <Expression xsi:type="ExternalizedMapping">
        <Property Name="Value" DisplayName="Frequency" />
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="Combinator">
        <Combinator xsi:type="FloatProperty">
          <Value>1</Value>
        </Combinator>
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="rx:BehaviorSubject">
        <Name>Frequency</Name>
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="ExternalizedMapping">
        <Property Name="Value" DisplayName="DutyCycle" />
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="Combinator">
        <Combinator xsi:type="FloatProperty">
          <Value>0</Value>
        </Combinator>
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="rx:BehaviorSubject">
        <Name>DutyCycle</Name>
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="SubscribeSubject">
        <Name>Frequency</Name>
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="SubscribeSubject">
        <Name>DutyCycle</Name>
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="Combinator">
        <Combinator xsi:type="rx:Zip" />
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="scr:ExpressionTransform">
        <scr:Name>DoSomeMath</scr:Name>
        <scr:Expression>1.0 / Item1 * Item2</scr:Expression>
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="rx:BehaviorSubject">
        <Name>Result</Name>
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="SubscribeSubject">
        <Name>Result</Name>
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="PropertyMapping">
        <PropertyMappings>
          <Property Name="Value" />
        </PropertyMappings>
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="GroupWorkflow">
        <Name>UseTheResultHere</Name>
        <Workflow>
          <Nodes>
            <Expression xsi:type="ExternalizedMapping">
              <Property Name="Value" />
            </Expression>
            <Expression xsi:type="Combinator">
              <Combinator xsi:type="FloatProperty">
                <Value>0</Value>
              </Combinator>
            </Expression>
            <Expression xsi:type="WorkflowOutput" />
          </Nodes>
          <Edges>
            <Edge From="0" To="1" Label="Source1" />
            <Edge From="1" To="2" Label="Source1" />
          </Edges>
        </Workflow>
      </Expression>
    </Nodes>
    <Edges>
      <Edge From="0" To="1" Label="Source1" />
      <Edge From="1" To="2" Label="Source1" />
      <Edge From="3" To="4" Label="Source1" />
      <Edge From="4" To="5" Label="Source1" />
      <Edge From="6" To="8" Label="Source1" />
      <Edge From="7" To="8" Label="Source2" />
      <Edge From="8" To="9" Label="Source1" />
      <Edge From="9" To="10" Label="Source1" />
      <Edge From="11" To="12" Label="Source1" />
      <Edge From="12" To="13" Label="Source1" />
    </Edges>
  </Workflow>
</WorkflowBuilder>

[rafinhafpb]

Hi Bruno, thank you for the response.

It's not exactly what I was looking for, but it's a great example for me to explain better:

Imagine if all of this were inside a Group Workflow. The properties shown when you click on the Group node would be Frequency and Duty Cycle, right? But I was asking if there is a way to show the value of "Result" in the properties as well, even though it is calculated automatically and not set by the user.

[bruno-f-cruz]

You can externalize the property twice:

or use the new Bonsai.Gui package (https://bonsai-rx.org/gui/) and PropertyGrid operator. This will probably require you to periodically hit the refresh property.
This package is still in its early stages so complete documentation might take a while. Play around a bit and ask questions :)

Workflow (Copy+Paste me)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<WorkflowBuilder Version="2.8.2"
                 xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
                 xmlns:rx="clr-namespace:Bonsai.Reactive;assembly=Bonsai.Core"
                 xmlns:gui="clr-namespace:Bonsai.Gui;assembly=Bonsai.Gui"
                 xmlns="https://bonsai-rx.org/2018/workflow">
  <Workflow>
    <Nodes>
      <Expression xsi:type="Combinator">
        <Combinator xsi:type="rx:Timer">
          <rx:DueTime>PT0S</rx:DueTime>
          <rx:Period>PT0.1S</rx:Period>
        </Combinator>
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="Multiply">
        <Operand xsi:type="IntProperty">
          <Value>2</Value>
        </Operand>
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="PropertyMapping">
        <PropertyMappings>
          <Property Name="Value" />
        </PropertyMappings>
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="ExternalizedMapping">
        <Property Name="Value" DisplayName="SetFloat" />
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="Combinator">
        <Combinator xsi:type="FloatProperty">
          <Value>228</Value>
        </Combinator>
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="Combinator">
        <Combinator xsi:type="rx:Timer">
          <rx:DueTime>PT0S</rx:DueTime>
          <rx:Period>PT0.1S</rx:Period>
        </Combinator>
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="Combinator">
        <Combinator xsi:type="BooleanProperty">
          <Value>true</Value>
        </Combinator>
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="PropertyMapping">
        <PropertyMappings>
          <Property Name="AutoRefresh" />
        </PropertyMappings>
      </Expression>
      <Expression xsi:type="gui:PropertyGridBuilder">
        <gui:Enabled>true</gui:Enabled>
        <gui:Visible>true</gui:Visible>
        <gui:HelpVisible>true</gui:HelpVisible>
        <gui:ToolbarVisible>true</gui:ToolbarVisible>
        <gui:AutoRefresh>true</gui:AutoRefresh>
      </Expression>
    </Nodes>
    <Edges>
      <Edge From="0" To="1" Label="Source1" />
      <Edge From="1" To="2" Label="Source1" />
      <Edge From="2" To="4" Label="Source1" />
      <Edge From="3" To="4" Label="Source2" />
      <Edge From="5" To="6" Label="Source1" />
      <Edge From="6" To="7" Label="Source1" />
      <Edge From="7" To="8" Label="Source1" />
    </Edges>
  </Workflow>
</WorkflowBuilder>

[rafinhafpb]

Thank you Bruno! That really helped!