Avoid loading all assemblies by using a pre-compiled menu data file #531

adecler · 2025-10-19T14:22:16Z

NOTE: Used by

NOTE: Depends on

BHoM/BHoM#1698
BHoM/BHoM_Engine#3561
BHoM/BHoMAnalytics_Toolkit#95
https://github.com/BuroHappoldEngineering/BuroHappold_BHoMAnalytics_Toolkit/pull/82
https://github.com/BuroHappoldEngineering/BuroHappold_Installer/pull/462
BHoM/Versioning_Toolkit#317

Issues addressed by this PR

Closes #521

This PR eliminates the need to load all the assemblies when starting the BHoM UI. Instead, here's how it now works:

Menus are populated using a pre-compiled file containing all the items found in the menus.
Those menu items are first created with just the json representation of the method/object it links to.
When a menu item is selected for the first time, the json will be deserialised to link the method/object to it.
The serialiser itself in in charge of dynamically loading the dlls needed to deserialise an object. Those that haven't been loaded already at least.

Solving the problem at the level of the serialiser means we are taking care of the following problems at the same time:

UI component creation
UI component copy-pasting
File saving
Toolkit setting
Deserialisation of BHoM datasets

The file that contains all the information needed to populate the menus is located here: C:\ProgramData\BHoM\Resources\AssemblyContent.tsv

Test files

In both Excel, Rhino 7, and Rhino 8:

Try to create each type of component from the global menu. Make sure each component links to a method/object from a different. assembly.
Try to create each type of component from the components found in the ribbon. Make sure each component links to a method/object from a different. assembly.
Save the file, close BHoM_UI and re-open the file to make sure everything was saved correctly
Deserialise BHoM data from existing datasets. Make sure to test versioning by using older datasets
Check that the analytics is still working

… dll at start

adecler · 2025-10-22T16:08:03Z

The UI is now loading any dll than is newer or not found in the AssemblyContent.tsv file. And then update the file itself. The system will work even if the file doesn't exist when loading the UI and will create it after loading all the dlls.
I was also not a big fan of the engine having to access that file so I added a dependency injection for an IAssemblyResolver that the UI can set on the engine. That resolver is now the only place where the tsv file is accessed and used. I hope that makes sense.
I have tested switching only the BHoM_UI repo to the develop branch and both UIs are still working fine for me. So it seems we should indeed be able to merge everything excel BHoM_UI if needed. Let me know if that is the same for you.
Finally, the slowest part of the UI loading is now in collecting the menu items for the CreateData component. No idea why it was done this way but asking for the list of datasets, also load the content of all the datasets files in memory. I'll have a look how to change that.

adecler · 2025-10-23T14:02:20Z

@BHoMBot check installer

bhombot-ci · 2025-10-23T14:02:22Z

@adecler to confirm, the following actions are now queued:

check installer

adecler · 2025-10-26T14:14:11Z

@BHoMBot check versioning

bhombot-ci · 2025-10-26T14:14:13Z

@adecler to confirm, the following actions are now queued:

check versioning

adecler · 2025-10-26T14:38:14Z

@BHoMBot check copyright-compliance
@BHoMBot check project-compliance
@BHoMBot check core
@BHoMBot check installer

bhombot-ci · 2025-10-26T14:38:16Z

@adecler to confirm, the following actions are now queued:

check copyright-compliance
check project-compliance
check core
check installer

bhombot-ci · 2025-10-26T16:21:25Z

@adecler just to let you know, I have provided a check-versioning result to this Pull Request as it was detected to be linked to other Pull Requests in a series. The comment which triggered this check came from @adecler on BHoM_Engine

pawelbaran

I read through the code changes, happy with the overall setup, just a few comments concerning particular decisions

pawelbaran · 2025-10-28T10:50:48Z

BHoM_UI/Components/UI/UnitTest.cs

        public UnitTestCaller() : base()
        {
-            SetPossibleItems(Engine.UI.Query.EngineItems());
+            IEnumerable<SearchItem> items = Initialisation.SearchItems.Where(x => x.Text.Contains('('));


I do not know the exact details of the UI, but should we not have a UnitTestCaller type filter here rather than checking whether text contains a parenthesis?

No, all methods are candidate for unit testing as far as I understand. I could filter by looking at all callers that use a method but this is much simple and efficient.

pawelbaran · 2025-10-28T11:04:05Z

BHoM_UI/Global/AssemblyResolver.cs

+        /**** Private Fields              ****/
+        /*************************************/
+
+        Dictionary<string, List<string>> m_AssemblyNamePerType = new Dictionary<string, List<string>>();


I would consider changing the type here to an array for performance purposes, assuming these are closed sets that do not change dynamically (and knowing there might be thousands of them)

Suggested change

Dictionary<string, List<string>> m_AssemblyNamePerType = new Dictionary<string, List<string>>();

Dictionary<string, string[]> m_AssemblyNamePerType = new Dictionary<string, string[]>();

We've never used arrays in the BHoM, always lists

pawelbaran · 2025-10-28T11:06:54Z

BHoM_UI/Global/Initialisation.cs

 using System.Threading.Tasks;
 using System.Windows;
 using System.Windows.Controls;
+using System.Windows.Forms;


Hmm, that must have been added when I was exploring different options. I've removed the unnecessary using in this commit: 15aac9c

pawelbaran · 2025-10-28T11:15:22Z

BHoM_UI/Global/Initialisation.cs


+        public static List<CodeElementRecord> CodeElements { get; set; } = new List<CodeElementRecord>();
+
+        public static AssemblyResolver AssemblyResolver { get; set; } = new AssemblyResolver();


What's the purpose of this property? It feels a bit weird that we have a duplicate property in Engine and UI, which (theoretically) could mismatch. I would rather remove it and default all calls to the engine one, assuming it does not serve any other purpose.

This is the same object. The UI is just passing it to the Engine so it can be access from there.

pawelbaran · 2025-10-28T11:19:38Z

BHoM_UI/Global/Initialisation.cs

+
+            // Create the assembly resolver and link it the the BHoM engine
+            AssemblyResolver = new AssemblyResolver(assemblyNamesPerType);
+            BH.Engine.Base.Compute.SetAssemblyResolver(AssemblyResolver);


I am wondering if it would not be worth making this call a bit more explicit, now it is a bit hidden in a method of lower order (LoadCodeElements being called as one of the 4 methods in a sequence). It is a bit like 'now we populate the UI with items to select, and by the way we are changing the way in which assemblies are being loaded - and only if you read the code carefully.

Good point. I have create a comit with that change: 0379593

pawelbaran · 2025-10-28T11:35:53Z

UI_Engine/Compute/LoadNewAssemblies.cs

+        {
+            List<string> loadedAssemblies = new List<string>();
+
+            Regex regex = new Regex(@"oM$|_Engine$|_Adapter$");


Not a big fan of this one, it introduces misalignment with BHoM_Engine

Not sure how it is misaligned with the BHoM_Engine. The is the exact same filter as used by BH.Engine.Base.Compute.LoadAllAssemblies(): https://github.com/BHoM/BHoM_Engine/blob/develop/BHoM_Engine/Compute/LoadAllAssemblies.cs

pawelbaran · 2025-10-28T11:37:00Z

UI_Engine/Compute/LoadNewAssemblies.cs

+            foreach (string file in Directory.GetFiles(BH.Engine.Base.Query.BHoMFolder(), "*.dll", SearchOption.TopDirectoryOnly))
+            {
+                string name = Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(file);
+                if (regex.IsMatch(name))


Following my previous comment, I would suggest using the existing methods to centralise the core classification of assemblies

Suggested change

if (regex.IsMatch(name))

if (name.IsOmAssembly() || name.IsEngineAssembly() || name.IsAdapterAssembly())

I could be convinced of that. As mentioned above, my goal at the moment though is to stay aligned with the previous code from LoadAllAssemblies()

pawelbaran · 2025-10-28T11:42:48Z

UI_Engine/Query/Items.cs

        {
-            return Engine.Base.Query.BHoMTypeList()
-                .Concat(Engine.Base.Query.BHoMInterfaceTypeList())
+            return Engine.Base.Query.AllTypeList()


Why did you make this change here? Trying to follow but can't come up with a reason off the top of my head

Limiting the types registered exclusively to the BHoM objects causes multiple failure on serialisation.
We have separate items for specifically creation BHoM objects via their set of properties or Create methods. So the Types registered here are purely for deserialisation and creating Type objects in the UI.

Avoid loading all assemblies by using a pre-compiled menu data file

e349cb5

adecler requested review from al-fisher, michaelhoehn and pawelbaran October 19, 2025 14:22

adecler self-assigned this Oct 19, 2025

adecler added the type:feature New capability or enhancement label Oct 19, 2025

adecler added 2 commits October 22, 2025 16:09

Dynamically keep AssemblyContent.tsv updated and load any new/updated…

57b49a8

… dll at start

Fix error on extracting location of Excel_UI

78136d7

Avoid loading all libraries in memory at start of the UI

fd0db5e

Adding versioning for Organise methods

c932ff1

pawelbaran requested changes Oct 28, 2025

View reviewed changes

adecler added 2 commits October 28, 2025 13:15

make the creation of the assembly resolver more apparent

0379593

removing unnecessary usings

15aac9c

adecler requested a review from pawelbaran October 28, 2025 13:28

	Dictionary<string, List<string>> m_AssemblyNamePerType = new Dictionary<string, List<string>>();
	Dictionary<string, string[]> m_AssemblyNamePerType = new Dictionary<string, string[]>();


		public static List<CodeElementRecord> CodeElements { get; set; } = new List<CodeElementRecord>();

		public static AssemblyResolver AssemblyResolver { get; set; } = new AssemblyResolver();

	if (regex.IsMatch(name))
	if (name.IsOmAssembly() \|\| name.IsEngineAssembly() \|\| name.IsAdapterAssembly())

Avoid loading all assemblies by using a pre-compiled menu data file #531

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Avoid loading all assemblies by using a pre-compiled menu data file #531

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adecler commented Oct 19, 2025 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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NOTE: Used by

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Issues addressed by this PR

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adecler commented Oct 19, 2025 •

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