How reload module button works?

Development
1

Hi,
Is the “Reload” button supposed to work in a ScriptedLoadableModuleTemplate right after creating it in the Extension Wizard? Or does something have to be set in the code?

I created a couple ScriptedLoadableTemplateModule with the Extension Wizard and then made some small changes to ScriptedLoadableModuleTemplate.py: self.parent.contributors and self.parent.acknowledgementText and pressed “Reload” but the changes don’t show up until I press “Restart Slicer” button and restart Slicer.

The “Enable Developer Mode” is checked.
It’s Slicer 4.6.2 on Mac OS X, binary version. I’m only tying to add in Python Modules.
I added the new ScriptedLoadableModuleTemplate directory (which are outside the Slicer installation directory) to the “Additional module paths:” and the added modules show up with the current changes when Slicer starts.

Best regards,
Karl

2

Use the latest nightly version, it should work correctly there. If you have trouble with latest nightly version, too, then let us know.

1 Like
3

Would it make sense to have the Python (script) CMake install step create a symlink from the runtime directory to the original script source in the source directory, on platforms where user symlink is supported? This would avoid the rebuild (make/ninja/etc.) step required to copy modified scripts from source tree to runtime directory before they can be reloaded…

I guess this could be as simple as changing the copy command to create_symlink in ctkMacroCompilePythonScript. But I think that will break packaging unless the copy step is done somewhere else, or if CPack can be told to follow symlinks. cc @jcfr @pieper

4

During development, I just add the source folder (not the install folder) to “Additional module paths” for scripted modules.

5

Hi Karl - changing the template after generating the module shouldn’t have any effect but changes to the generated scripted module should take effect after hitting the Reload button.

Like @lassoan during development I use Reload all the time. I don’t put the code in the Slicer tree and I typically don’t rebuild scripted modules during development. I run Slicer with the --additional-module-paths option followed by the list of module directories I want to test (since I often have several going at once and don’t want to change my settings).

@ihnorton I prefer to avoid things like symlinks that are not consistent across platforms.

6

Alright. Win10 Fall Creators Update does (finally) provide unprivileged symlinks, but it will take a while before that can be generally relied upon.