An easier to understand demo

[joaopedrosgs]

Hey, first of all, thanks for your work on this project =)

I would like to ask you for an easier to understand and simpler demo project. I'm having a hard time to undestand how the calculator demo works.

Just for context, what I'm trying to achieve is:

• Define a bunch of nodes using JSON. For example, node A has three inputs (ai1:string, ai2:int, ai3:bool) and one output (ao1:Vector)
• Load the JSON containing the descriptions of theses nodes in runtime
• Allow the player to create a graph using these nodes
• Save the created graph as a JSON

Is it possible using this plugin?

[Drakynfly]

Hi @joaopedrosgs!

The calculator demo is going to be refactored as I continue to develop and evolve the plugin. Hopefully this will make it easier to understand over time!

As for your goal:

• The plugin currently only supports serializing/deserializing into binary. Adding direct support for exporting/importing graphs or nodes as Json, is a good idea tho. I could see myself supporting that at some point, although I would want to be careful about how I do it so its not to tailored to one specific use-case. I do not want to bloat the base plugin with too many one-off features.
• What you would have to do now, is load the Json yourself, using either the existing BP or C++ Json utilities, and then using the Heart Node API to spawn nodes. You would do this by using the CreateNodeFromClass, SpawnPinFromClass, and AddPin nodes at runtime.
• In order for the nodes to show up in the palette for the User to select from, they need to have a NodeObject class defined in a GraphNodeRegistrar asset. Please see how the calculator graph does this. Im not sure how you intend for your Json format to describe node functionality, so im not sure how you would go about binding functionality.

Thanks for the comments, and if you need more help understanding the Demo, please ask on the Demo Projects Github, or in my discord!