AssetBrowser: Add cleanup operator for asset index. #92335

New Issue

Jeroen Bakker · 2021-10-19T10:18:24+02:00

Jeroen Bakker commented

2021-10-19 10:18:24 +02:00

Users can rename/relocate/remove asset libraries. When they do created indexes would lead to files that will not be used anymore. Having a cleanup operation would help the user to free space on their storage device.

Approach

Users can have multiple blender versions installed with different asset libraries configured. The challenge here is that you when cleaning up automatically you can clean up indexes that are still used.
The approach to help the user would be to have an operation with an option to filter what indexes should actually be cleaned.

Requirements

User should be able to remove all indexes [OP1].
User should be able to only remove indexes that aren't used by the current open blender version [OP2].
User should be able to remove indexes of a specific asset library [OP3].

Design questions

There are 4 locations where such an operation makes sense:

Blender Icon->System menu: Current cleanup operation works on the opened blend file, very hidden.
File -> Cleanup menu: Currently only shows cleanup operations on the opened blend file. [OP1, OP2]
Blender Preferences -> File Paths -> Asset Libraries: The cleanup operations we want to introduce works on multiple asset libraries so it might be a good location. Concern is that it is hidden far away and is very specific. [OP1, OP2, OP3]
Asset Browser Space -> Only shows/works on a single asset library. Adding a cleanup operation here might be confusing, or only when it targets the current index. What is already done automatically, so might not make much sense. [OP3] might fit here.

System Menu	Operation Fit OP1	Operation Fit OP2	Operation Fit OP3
Blender Icon	Not very discoverable	Not very discoverable	Not very discoverable
File menu	Ok fit	Ok fit	Nok fit as the current library could not be visible in the current screen
Preferences	Ok fit	Ok fit	Ok/Nok fit, when user actually want to use it the operator is far away
Asset Browser	Nok	Nok	Ok

Looking at the table above I would propose to add OP1, OP2 to the preferences and OP3 to the asset browser space inside the edit menu.

Users can rename/relocate/remove asset libraries. When they do created indexes would lead to files that will not be used anymore. Having a cleanup operation would help the user to free space on their storage device. ## Approach Users can have multiple blender versions installed with different asset libraries configured. The challenge here is that you when cleaning up automatically you can clean up indexes that are still used. The approach to help the user would be to have an operation with an option to filter what indexes should actually be cleaned. ### Requirements - User should be able to remove all indexes [OP1]. - User should be able to only remove indexes that aren't used by the current open blender version [OP2]. - User should be able to remove indexes of a specific asset library [OP3]. ## Design questions There are 4 locations where such an operation makes sense: - **Blender Icon->System menu**: Current cleanup operation works on the opened blend file, very hidden. - **File -> Cleanup menu**: Currently only shows cleanup operations on the opened blend file. [OP1, OP2] - **Blender Preferences -> File Paths -> Asset Libraries**: The cleanup operations we want to introduce works on multiple asset libraries so it might be a good location. Concern is that it is hidden far away and is very specific. [OP1, OP2, OP3] - **Asset Browser Space** -> Only shows/works on a single asset library. Adding a cleanup operation here might be confusing, or only when it targets the current index. What is already done automatically, so might not make much sense. [OP3] might fit here. | **System Menu** | **Operation Fit OP1** | **Operation Fit OP2**| **Operation Fit OP3** | | -- | -- | -- | -- | | Blender Icon | Not very discoverable| Not very discoverable| Not very discoverable | | File menu | Ok fit | Ok fit | Nok fit as the current library could not be visible in the current screen | | Preferences | Ok fit| Ok fit| Ok/Nok fit, when user actually want to use it the operator is far away | | Asset Browser | Nok | Nok | Ok | Looking at the table above I would propose to add OP1, OP2 to the preferences and OP3 to the asset browser space inside the edit menu.

Jeroen Bakker self-assigned this 2021-10-19 10:18:24 +02:00

Jeroen Bakker commented

2021-10-19 10:18:24 +02:00

Changed status from 'Needs Triage' to: 'Confirmed'

Jeroen Bakker commented

2021-10-19 10:18:24 +02:00

Added subscribers: @Jeroen-Bakker, @JulianEisel

Julian Eisel commented

2021-10-19 14:42:46 +02:00

I know we've planned this for 3.0 last week, but thinking about it, for me this isn't necessary for 3.0. It's a nice-to-have, but these caches won't be that big. So just having some left-over caches lying around isn't much of an issue. There's also no way to clear cached thumbnails, not in Blender and I think not in OSes either.

So your plan is to allow the user to select which exact libraries will get their cache cleared? I find that problematic UI design wise. How would the UI look like to select these? But more importantly, what do users see that identifies a library? The name? That would mean we have to store the asset library name in the cache, which is an issue if multiple Blender versions register the same library under a different name. Or we have to somehow synchronize the name between Blender versions...

Deleting a cache that is actually still used isn't that big of an issue. It'll just be recreated.

Some alternative ideas:

Check if the library is used by any of the preferences stored on the system (we know the paths to those). A .py script could do this quite easily I think.
Let the cleanup operator only delete caches that were saved with this current version.
In addition to this, there could be an operator variant that clears caches saved with any version older than the current one.
Store a last-accessed timestamp in the cache, caches that haven't been read for say 30 days are cleared.

I know we've planned this for 3.0 last week, but thinking about it, for me this isn't necessary for 3.0. It's a nice-to-have, but these caches won't be that big. So just having some left-over caches lying around isn't much of an issue. There's also no way to clear cached thumbnails, not in Blender and I think not in OSes either. --- So your plan is to allow the user to select which exact libraries will get their cache cleared? I find that problematic UI design wise. How would the UI look like to select these? But more importantly, what do users see that identifies a library? The name? That would mean we have to store the asset library name in the cache, which is an issue if multiple Blender versions register the same library under a different name. Or we have to somehow synchronize the name between Blender versions... Deleting a cache that is actually still used isn't that big of an issue. It'll just be recreated. Some alternative ideas: * Check if the library is used by any of the preferences stored on the system (we know the paths to those). A .py script could do this quite easily I think. * Let the cleanup operator only delete caches that were saved with this current version. * In addition to this, there could be an operator variant that clears caches saved with any version older than the current one. * Store a last-accessed timestamp in the cache, caches that haven't been read for say 30 days are cleared.

Jeroen Bakker removed their assignment 2021-11-03 10:49:30 +01:00

Julian Eisel commented

2022-03-03 15:30:24 +01:00

General development task, nothing release specific.

Sign in to join this conversation.

No Label

Download

What's New

Blender Studio

Manual

Developers Blog

Documentation

Benchmark

Blender Conference

Development Fund

One-time Donations

AssetBrowser: Add cleanup operator for asset index. #92335

Approach

Requirements

Design questions