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As per the question, is it possible to avoid the effect of Undo / Redo on a StringProperty? I've run into a situation where I have to avoid this, but I'm not sure if it can be done, and how.

At this moment in particular I am focused on a StringPropery, but I think it may be useful to know also for other types of bpy.props

Noob Cat
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1 Answers1

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Setter and getter saving data outside blend file data.

Suggest this could be done with a setter / getter. For example could append string property to a text file, which would be outside the influence of the blend file data (undo stack.)

Here is a test example, using a hardcoded filepath to a text file. The property is prepended to the text editor footer to test.

enter image description here

import bpy
from bpy.props import StringProperty

from pathlib import Path
filepath = "/tmp/test.txt"


def get_foo(self):
    f = Path(filepath)
    if f.exists():
        return f.read_text()
    else:
        return "Default"


def set_foo(self, value):
    f = Path(filepath)
    f.write_text(value)


bpy.types.Scene.foo = StringProperty(
        get=get_foo,
        set=set_foo,
        )


def draw(self, context):
    scene = context.scene
    self.layout.prop(scene, "foo")


bpy.types.TEXT_HT_footer.prepend(draw)

Note: This is solely a proof of concept. Would require a blend file name based filepath, or in file data for different values on a per blend basis.

batFINGER
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  • It could be a solution. I am surprised that there are no APIs in Blender to avoid this, such as operators that can avoid undo and redo. I wonder if I am making "absurd" claims, or is it simply an API missing in Blender. You who are an expert in Python / Blender, what do you think about this? – Noob Cat May 23 '21 at 13:56
  • No expert in the ins and outs of how the undo stack works. But imagine it would be difficult to maintain state. – batFINGER May 23 '21 at 15:08
  • I think maybe it could also be interesting to use bpy.app.handlers undo_pre, undo_post, redo_pre, redo_post. – Noob Cat May 29 '21 at 12:42