Maya 2022/3: drag/drop Python script isn't reloaded on import

[am5143]

Hey all,

Found that executing a drag/drop Python file using the onMayaDroppedPythonFile function does not reload the module like it did in 2020.  As a result, updating the script and drag/dropping it in the viewport will not run the updated version, but the cached version.  I have to remove the module from sys.modules in order for drag/drop to reflect any changes.  It'd be great if drag/drop automatically reloaded the module on import again.  I saw this in 2022.3 and 2023 (haven't tried 2021).

Repro: 

1. Create a testScript.py with a onMayaDroppedPythonFile function that prints("hi").
2. Drag/drop into Maya's viewport, and "hi" will print in the Script Editor.
3. Modify testScript.py and replace "hi" with "bye".
4. Drag/drop the testScript.py into the viewport and "hi" will print in the Script Editor.  It should print "bye"

[Kahylan]

Hi!

The relaod funtion works diffrent in python 3, it needs to be imported using importlib. This could be the problem, could you post the exact code you are using, so I could reproduce the problem and verify what is going wrong?

[am5143]

Hi!  Thanks for looking into this 🙂  I've attached an example drag/drop script as a .txt file.

In case it's helpful, I compared executeDroppedPythonFile.py between Maya 2020 and 2022.  For Maya 2020, I saw it was using imp.load_module, which reloads the module on import.  (C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2020\Python\Lib\site-packages\maya\app\general\executeDroppedPythonFile.py line:66)

Maya 2022 is using importlib.import_module.  The Python 3.7 docs mentioned load_module was deprecated since 3.4 and recommended exec_module and create_module.  I've never used either of those, so I don't know if that's useful info, but maybe it can help save some time.  (C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2022\Python37\Lib\site-packages\maya\app\general\executeDroppedPythonFile.py line: 63)

Amy

[am5143]

Found a workaround for anyone with the same issue.  In the drag/drop script, within the def onMayaDroppedPythonFile, I remove the module from sys.modules.

e.g., del sys.modules[<"module name">]

[jing_local]

I reproduced this issue  easily, and it can be fixed by adding module reload on 64 line in  C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2022\Python37\Lib\site-packages\maya\app\general\executeDroppedPythonFile.py line

    import importlib
    loadedModule = importlib.import_module(theModuleName)
    importlib.reload(loadedModule)
    
    # If we successfully loaded the module, call the dropped function.
    if loadedModule: