Using a new viewport update mode feature you can now make a flow update the views of nodes when they get updated, even if the flow isn't fully finished with the current execution. That's really useful for larger pure data flows doing data processing (like in the OpenCV example, try it there). Furthermore, Flows now have their own settings which get saved and loaded to and from project files to choose an algorithm mode and the new viewport update mode. Also, I added a small 'bubble sort' example and some basic nodes (there are still quite a few missing, though).

• Ryven has now a Blender design!
• I updated a few internal signatures like the remove_event() method in NodeInstances and widgets
• I changed the way custom input widgets are specified (no widget_type argument anymore)
• I fixed some nodes and widgets and added standard line edits including self resizing ones
• I changed the widgets of a few nodes now using resizing and or borderless line edits which looks way nicer
• I moved the package_path for widgets outside of their class (useful for imports of custom classes etc.)
• there is a new Extract Property node which is really useful, an example is included in the examples project
• and I changed the file extensions to .rpo for projects and .rpc for packages

Ryven finally supports simple node activation animations. Every time a node updates, it starts an animation, making it easy to see what's going on in the flow. They can be disabled. Furthermore, I updated some new designs and themes. In pretty mode nodes have now shadows.

Internal changes
I furtherly distributed the NodeInstance related classes. I extracted the whole painting process and put it in a separate class NodeInstancePainter. Also, animations are handled by a separate class.

Besides a lot of fine grinding (like adding shortcuts and stuff like that), I slightly changed the method reference retaining mechanism, now using a callable class M instead of the m() function (I updated the template files and existing nodes). Furthermore, the existing packages experienced a code revision, I updated many of the notations.

Further changes

• I fixed some problems with special_actions
• I finally fixed the layout issues with NodeInstances when adding/removing/changing content. It still needs to rebuild the layout though, but update_shape() calls are not necessary anymore
• I fixed a copy-paste-move undo/redo bug
• I fixed a lot of nodes and updated notations in their source codes
• I fixed a source code update check issue in the NodeManager
• I changed the setup_ports() procedure. Now a port gets initialized after the NodeInstance itself.
• I added a target option to the Log node to access the default logs

And, there is a website in the making.

A lot of fine grinding and small fixes, and I did a big rework of the NodeManager.

NodeManager changes

• I reorganized some internal processing and made it much cleaner
• it also has source code dialogs now to directly edit the metacodes
• it detects changes in the original source file while editing inside, warns the user, and lets him choose whether to override those or not
• I updated the stylesheets, now using the same as Ryven
• a lot of small adjustments, enhancements, and improvements to significantly support the workflow

Ryven changes

• added a function for using method references in metacode files to enable successful method editing in Ryven
• changed the source code editing info dialog
• fixed a package bug in the val node
• added an API method for NodeInstance to provide direct access to the window's stylesheet
• changed the structure of saved points in DrawingObjects (Ryven can still load projects using the old signature though)

Besides reviewing the source code of nodes (NodeInstances) and their widgets inside Ryven, it is now also possible to actually edit a specific object's methods. More specifically:

• Existing methods can be customized (e.g. for debugging) and further methods can be added. (Note that changing a method actually means relinking the method call to a different method and references linked to the original method still point to the original one, not the customized one. I am looking for a way to change that but I am not entirely sure if that is possible.)
• All these changes apply to single instances instead of all objects of the same class.
• What can be written manually in Ryven is equal to what can be parsed in the metacode files (the same module environment is being simulated), so all in the object's metacode file additionally added classes, for example, can still be accessed.
• All this is accessible through an intuitive GUI in the source code preview area.
• All changes are temporary, they do not get saved with the project, so nothing can sustainably be broken. There is also a reset option for every customized class.

This is kinda ridiculous, I didn't think this was actually possible and so unlimited. And considering how unexpectedly useful the pure source code preview became, I am really excited about it.

edit: there is a crucial package bug in the new val node when saving/loading a project which will be fixed in the next release.

pyScript became Ryven
I am very pleased to present the first Ryven release. Ryven is the result of a huge intern code revision (of what was referred to as pyScript before), reimplementing and reorganizing a lot of intern processing, making it much cleaner. Furthermore, Ryven includes many features that make learning and using it more efficient and fun. A new big example project shows the use of OpenCV nodes which represents a very interesting field of application.

A few of the main improvements for the user:

• handy source code preview
• performance mode for flow editing (important for use on weaker hardware like Raspberry Pi)
• algorithm data synchronization modes (for advanced flow optimization, I will add that to the doc in the future)

The main internal change is that the geometric organization of the contents of a NodeInstance now uses QGraphicsLayout - no ugly manual calculations anymore! And I reimplemented the whole selection process recently too, now using the built-in system by QGraphicsScene. Also, the undo/redo system was reimplemented recently, now using references and not relying on the complex index system anymore.

This version runs pretty well and I can't wait to see what it is going to be used for in the future, I am really excited.

Added:

• source code preview! You can now see the source code of a placed node inside the editor. A basic syntax highlighting works too. I will add the option to also show any node's widget classes in the future.
• NodeInstance and OutputPin highlighting on mouse hover
• direct data output value access on mouse hover (over the gate/pin)

Reimplemented:

• the whole selection procedure, now using the built-in system by QGraphicsScene and a std RubberBandSelection
• undo/redo system which now does not rely on indices anymore but instead holds references to the actual objects. A removed object does not get recreated when undoing the remove anymore but the actual object just gets placed in the scene again which is pretty nice. (same for all flow commands)
• Log enabling/disabling process, now working fine with the new undo/redo system

And many small internal adjustments. The only big change left is the reimplementation of the geometric organization of a NodeInstance's contents via QGraphicsWidgets and QGraphicsLayouts. This will make the code much cleaner but isn't of the essence for the user.

I removed tokens. This enables slightly easier and more open programming of nodes. Along with that, I changed the algorithm executing the script, so that now data connections are always forward updated on change and not backward updated on request. This makes execution flows slower but pure data flows faster and simpler. I would like to create some live video and audio processing nodes in this version to show what it is capable of. The biggest issue is currently performance when combining dataflows with execution nodes.

First pre-release of this software! This is the prototype that can be seen in a demo YouTube video. It includes basic functionality including a system for dynamically creating and importing nodes and a mostly working flow execution algorithm.

The next releases will be about improving the NodeManager and adding new content. The documentation will experience a lot of improvement too, I think.