What is the type of starting_row in FieldType.row_of_dependency_updated ? I see TableModelQuerySet, list, or single row

lucw · August 30, 2023, 11:14am

I’m putting together a sample baserow plugin which introduces new FieldTypes. The API is well documented (comments on class FieldType in baserow), but one thing eludes me: what is the type of starting_row in FieldType.row_of_dependency_updated ?

github.com

Language-Tools/baserow-translate-plugin/blob/master/plugins/baserow_translate_plugin/backend/src/baserow_translate_plugin/field_types.py#L130

      
        
                    update_collector,
                    field_cache: "FieldCache",
                    via_path_to_starting_table,
            ):
            
            
    # Minor change, can use this property to get the internal/db column name
                source_internal_field_name = field.source_field.db_column
                target_internal_field_name = field.db_column
                source_language = field.source_language
                target_language = field.target_language
            
            
    # Would be nice if instead Baserow did this for you before calling this func!
                # Not suggesting you do anything, but instead the Baserow project itself should
                # have a nicer API here :)
            
            
    if isinstance(starting_row, TableModelQuerySet):
                    # if starting_row is TableModelQuerySet (when creating multiple rows in a batch), we want to iterate over its TableModel objects
                    row_list = starting_row
                elif isinstance(starting_row, list):
                    # if we have a list, it's a list of TableModels, iterate over them
                    row_list = starting_row

seems like I have to do the following to cover all use cases:

        if isinstance(starting_row, TableModelQuerySet):
            # if starting_row is TableModelQuerySet (when creating multiple rows in a batch), we want to iterate over its TableModel objects
            row_list = starting_row
        elif isinstance(starting_row, list):
            # if we have a list, it's a list of TableModels, iterate over them
            row_list = starting_row            
        else:
            # we got a single TableModel, transform it into a list of one element
            row_list = [starting_row]

is this the right way to implement row_of_dependency_updated ? or am I doing something wrong ? Disclaimer: i’m a Django noob but I plan on remedying this soon.

nigel · August 30, 2023, 11:21am

Hey @lucw

So i’m not sure Baserow’s internals ever actually use this parameter. I found its type definition here:

StartingRowType = Union["GeneratedTableModel", List["GeneratedTableModel"]]

So from the typing level it should be either one row instance, or a list of row instances.

After looking at it however, it looks like as you point out we never pass in a List["GeneratedTableModel"] but instead a queryset of all the updated rows in the RowHandler.update_rows function.

Given this I think your code to handle this is sensible, and agree Baserow should just always pass a list as a nice to have refactor.

lucw · August 30, 2023, 2:50pm

OK great thanks, i’ll leave it like that !