[PaperUI] UI does not refresh channel types

[ppieczul]

My binding creates channel types during runtime, after initialize() finishes, but before thing status goes to online, based on the information it obtains from the remote device (which takes some time). It calls editThing and updateThing to make the channel changes. This causes issues with paperui. On the first creation of a thing, binding builds channel types and channels in runtime as stated above, and UI shows the channels correctly as they appear, but it does not allow to add new items for the channels. When I click + to add an item to a channel, there is a JS exception, because it can't find the channel type in $scope. I tried to put breakpoints on where channel types are populated and it never gets updated in runtime, only when thing configuration is changed. It is also possible to force channel type reading, when I go to a page that needs explicitly this information. So, if I just click on "Items" menu and then go back to the thing channels, I will be able to create new items for the channels, because $scope will contain correct channel types. When I looked into paperui source code, the channel types are updated once in ViewThingController. Channels are updated in refreshChannels function. If it is allowed to modify channel types in runtime, shouldn't refreshChannels also update channel types, to have both in sync?

[kaikreuzer]

@aounhaider1 Can you comment on this?

[kaikreuzer]

Maybe @htreu instead...?

[htreu]

added to the queue :-)

[aounhaider1]

Is it possible to get the binding that you are using? It will make the debugging much easier.

[ppieczul]

Attached is a simple test - it includes source code and jar in target subdir.

How to perform the test: 1) switch simple mode to OFF in paper UI 2) install binding and create a thing for it in the paper UI

• during initialization, thing will create one channel type, called static-channel type, spawn a thread and return from initialization
• every 10 seconds the thread will create a static-channel with random name/id, using the type ID created during intialization. Before that, it will remove the previous static-channel, if exists.
• additionally, the thread will also create a new channel type ID called dynamic-channel and a dynamic-channel, using the just created ID (and random name/id for channel type and channel). Before that, it will remove previous dynamic-channel type and channel, if exist.
• after first creation of the two channels, it will set thing state to ONLINE 3) Go to thing in the UI and unfold channels, there will be two channels updated every 10 seconds. UI reflects the updates in the channels very well. 4) Just after the channels are updated, click on the icon to unfold items and click on the plus sign to add a new item to the channel
• it will work for static-channel, since its channel type was created once during thing initialization
• it will not work for dynamic-channel, since its channel type was created 10 seconds ago, when UI was already open. It will throw JS exception in the browser where it can't find the type in scope.

Of course, such exact situation will not happen in the reality, but similar one happens - when user works on his/her setup and changes remote device configuration, at the same time having browser with paper UI open. The conditions needed to happen here is having browser open when channel type changes. In case of my real binding, this happens, when changing configuration of the remote device, it causes reconfiguration of the thing. If I keep browser open at the same time, I will need to refresh it in order to be able to add items. Since channel changes are perfectly dynamically reflected in the UI, I thought it should also work for channel types.

org.openhab.binding.test1.tar.gz

Thanks Pawel