Force Dynamo to update references

Packages
1

Hi there,

I’ve set up an Excel Read / Write (write from Grasshopper) definition in Dynamo, the points are being used to drive an adaptive component. When I open the Dynamo script and hit run it works perfectly, I get what I’d expect, but when I update the Excel file and hit run again in Dynamo nothing happens - it doesn’t update. I have only managed to get around this by closing Dynamo and starting it up again.

Is there a way to force dynamo to update when one of its links change (Excel file or alteration to adaptive component placement points for example)?

 

Thanks a lot

Matt

2

Matthew,

I have two points:

  1. You can do what you want if you connect your File Path node to File.FromPath node and then feed that into Read Excel. That will make it check for changes in Excel file.

  2. Or you can use Mantis Shrimp to read directly from Grasshopper without ever writing/reading to excel and it will update like you want it when changes are made in Grasshopper definition. If this sounds like something that you are interested in then, go visit archi-lab.net blog and check out Mantis Shrimp plugin. Let me know if you have any questions.

3

Thanks Konrad. I’ll try both methods out and see what works best for what I’m doing - I do like the sound of Mantis Shrimp though. How does this compare to the Rhynamo plugin by Nathan Miller in your opinion?

Matt

4

Well, from the sound of it you are using Grasshopper so not much you can do with Rhynamo unless you want to bake it all out every time. Mantis Shrimp is a live link to Grasshopper from Dynamo. I prefer Mantis Shrimp, but I am biased…the truth is, that I wrote Mantis Shrimp :slight_smile: Let me know how you like it.

5

Understandably so! I’ve just done a successful test so I’m feeling pretty good about Mantis Shrimp at the moment :slight_smile: I created a ruled surface in Rhino/Grasshopper and took points from that to create the timber framing, ply and cladding metal in Revit/Dynamo. If I update the .geo files and re-run the Dynamo script the geometry doesn’t update like I was hoping but with a step of ‘toggle-ing’ the Boolean component I do - much better than closing Dynamo and opening it again!

Next step is to test how lines behave and what I can do with them I think. Mantis Shrimp is definitely a lot more intuitive and easier than exporting to Excel so I’m converted :slight_smile: Great tool

6

Same rule applies to reading the geo files by mantis shrimp. Do file path > file.frompath > mantis shrimp node. This will ensure that MS is checking for changes in the geo file (which gh updates constantly) so if you hit run it will always update. No need to toggle the boolean.

Capture

7

I’ll keep that in mind, we’re on version 7.1 at work… I don’t seem to have that component. Will have to wait till we update

Thanks Konrad