Object content editor for debugging

[jlokanis]

I have an idea for a QD plugin but wanted to see if this was feasable or perhpas already in existence.

One of the problems with debugging VIs that have objects as inputs is bench testing the code.  In the past, we would have a typedef cluster instead of an object to represent a complex data type input.  The advantage of that was we could manually set the values in the FP control and then run the VI to see if it correctly executed the code within.  We could then see the results in the output cluster (if present) on the FP.

Unfortunatly with objects it is not possible to set the data of the object on the FP without building a custom wrapper and providing all the class data with property node access outside of the class. We can still see the output objects content by probing them, however, so all is not lost.

I was wondering if it would be possible to create a generic object class data editor to solve this problem.  My idea is we would select an object control on the FP and then launch the QD plugin.  It would then do the following:

• detect the selected object
• derive it's class
• load the class default value
• determine the class data types (perhaps by parsing the flattened XML of the class?)
• construct a VI with controls for each class data item, named using the class data names.
• allow the user to edit the contents of each control on the derived VI.
• construct the class data from the new values (perhaps using the XML again and then converting it back to a class object)
• Set the value of the original FP control to this new class value.
• exit the plugin.

Can this even be done?  Is there a better way? If it can be done, what about object composition?  Can QD Plugings be called recursively?

thanks for your thoughts.

-John