Add initial entities

New in v13.2.0

Create initial entities by means of the initial_entities variable in app.py.

Sometimes it is desirable to begin with one or more initial entities when starting the app (the demo app is such an example). In case of a tree-type app it is even required to have at least one initial entity from which the user can work.

Initial entities can be set by means of the initial_entities variable in app.py, which is a list of InitialEntity objects. For example, adding an entity with name "An example entity" of type "ExampleType" would look like:

from viktor import InitialEntity


class ExampleType(ViktorController):
   ...


initial_entities = [
    InitialEntity("ExampleType", name="An example entity", params=...)
]

note

On your development workspace, the initial entities including their children are applied on every start. On a production workspace, however, only the top level entities are applied the first time the workspace is created.

Click to see all available InitialEntity arguments

InitialEntity has the following arguments:

entity_type_name (obligatory): Refers to the class name of the entity-type's controller (or its alias).
name (obligatory): Name of the entity which is shown in the interface.
params:
params of the initial entity. If not defined, the default params will be set.
Assume we have a parametrization with inputs width and length, the initial values can be set using a dictionary notation:
```
InitialEntity(..., params={"width": 300, "length": 500})
```
or by pointing to a .json file located relative to the app file:
```
InitialEntity(..., params='initial_dimensions.json')
```
with initial_dimensions.json:
```
{
  "width": 300,
  "length": 500
}
```
children (tree-type app only)
List of children defined as InitialEntity objects. If not defined, no children will be added. Each child must be a valid child-type of its parent (i.e. the child-type must be defined as one of the children on the parent controller).
```
InitialEntity("ParentType", ..., children=[
  InitialEntity("ChildType", ...),
  ...
])
```
show_on_dashboard (tree-type app only, only on top-level entities)
This flag controls which top-level entities are shown as cards on the dashboard (default=True)