Deleting all variables doesn't work if one variable is derived from another (in GUI).

[cameronsmith1]

In the UVCDAT GUI, I had a few variables and wanted to delete them all. Hence, I clicked the select_all, and hit delete. However, it produced an error that some variables were derived from other variables (which was true because I had generated variables that were averages of the original variables). This raises two issues: (1) I expected that the new variable would be independent of the ones it is derived from, which makes me worry that I have to worry about variable dependencies, and (2) why should it matter if I am deleting all of the variables? Note: I am using version 2.0.0.

[williams13]

I confirmed that if you derived a variable, say a = clt + 100. Select all and delete all you get:

clt is used to derive other variables. Delete those first.

Rémi can you look at this?

[doutriaux1]

@vvpalav any progress on this?

[hgohil2805]

(1) The issue with this is that the new variable is built on the basis of the old one and the old one is kept in memory for provenance purpose. I believe the new variable creation along with some other new variable dependent functionalities were designed with the same approach in mind and changing it around now might affect other things and can lead to a lot of problems on other parts of the application.

(2)True, the check's should not happen when all the variables are selected. I have changed the code to meet this requirement. Unfortunately I don't have the latest build (I am building a fresh one now).I will upload the changes from the newer build as soon as it's done.

[cameronsmith1]

I have since had the related experience of trying to delete a subset of variables that include such dependencies. Will the new code work in this case too?
I envision an iterative deletion process in which any of the selected variable that can be deleted is done so, and then it loops around again and again, until no more selected variables can be deleted.

[hgohil2805]

This is how it works

If you select all the variables for deletion - no checks are performed and you can delete all of them without any pop up errors.
However, if you select a subset of variables (which have dependencies) then it will check for dependencies. It wont be right of me to skip these checks here as the user has to be notified of the reason for not deleting the variable. I wasn't able to complete the build right now, I will anyways create a branch so that you can test it

[hgohil2805]

One work around is you can select the dependent variables first and then select the original variables because as your rightly said, this is an iterative process and the code checks for dependent variables one by one as they are on the list.

[cameronsmith1]

Is it possible to automate the last process, ie catch the errors while going through the list, but don't abort? Then, go back through the list and see if any of the previous dependencies/errors have been resolved. This would also work when the user wants to delete-all.

[hgohil2805]

Yes, that is something that I am doing now. It's not very efficient but I think it will work.

[hgohil2805]

I've created a branch with the changes called

removing_variables_and_dependent_variables.

It's not updated and I am not sure if you would be able to use it. Lemme know if you can or cannot.

[doutriaux1]

@hgohil2805 when you issue a PR i can try to bring it for @cameronsmith1 to test.