Import Script vs Calling a Function Inline

Ignition
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1

I’m trying to figure out exactly what happens when I first import a script in my code compared to when I just call the function without explicitly importing the script. For example, if I had a script called “Test” with a function inside it called fTest(), what is the difference between these two examples?

import Test
Test.fTest()

Test.fTest()

My specific situation is that I have been using the second example, but I think it is causing me a specific problem. The function that I am calling relies on data from a query that runs at the top of the “Test” script and creates a variable with a Python Dataset. It appears the variable was somehow being cached and did not refresh every time I called the function. I am wondering if importing the script will update the variable every time.

2

There’s no practical difference, and what you are seeing is expected behavior for script modules in python and jython. Script modules execute at the top level just once when imported (until a project save triggers a “script reload”). In Ignition, calling out an element from a script module implicitly imports it. If you need something to execute every time a function is called, put that code in the function.

1 Like
3

Thanks! I have made the change so that the queries are run every time the function executes.