Feature request: get unspecified components

[tjstienstra]

In a tutorial session of BRiM (#122), it was noted that it would be nice if one could easily see what components should still be specified. This is in general not a difficult feature to implement. However, we should make a good choice of what the most optimal output is. Some options are:

• Create a method ModelBase.get_unspecified_components and have it return:
  • An iterable of attribute strings, which should be specified (advantage is that it is nice and short, but lacks extra information, which can of course be requested)
  • An iterable of unsatisfied requirements (disadvantage is that printing this gives quite a repr)
• Other options ...

Here is an example implementation:

    def get_unspecified_components(self, optional: bool = False) -> tuple[str]:
        """Get the unspecified components of the model.
        
        Parameters
        ----------
        optional : bool, optional
            Whether to include the optional components, by default False.
        """
        return tuple(
            req.attribute_name
            for req in (self.required_models + self.required_connections)
            if getattr(self, req.attribute_name) is None and (optional or req.hard)
            )

This would give:

import brim as bm
bike = bm.WhippleBicycle("bike")
print(bike.get_unspecified_components())
# -> ('rear_frame', 'front_frame', 'rear_wheel', 'front_wheel', 'ground', 'front_tire', 'rear_tire')
bike.rear_frame = bm.RigidRearFrame("rear_frame")
bike.front_frame = bm.RigidFrontFrame("front_frame")
bike.rear_wheel = bm.KnifeEdgeWheel("rear_wheel")
bike.front_wheel = bm.KnifeEdgeWheel("front_wheel")
bike.rear_tire = bm.NonHolonomicTire("rear_tire")
print(bike.get_unspecified_components())  # -> ('ground', 'front_tire')
print(bike.get_unspecified_components(True))  # -> ('cranks', 'ground', 'front_tire')

# Advantage of returning requirements would be
print((bike.required_models[0],))  # A lot of data
# -> (ModelRequirement(attribute_name='rear_frame', types=(<class 'brim.bicycle.rear_frames.RearFrameBase'>,), description='Submodel of the rear frame.', full_name='Rear frame', type_name='RearFrameBase'),)
# And it is easy to combine with the registry.
from brim.core import Registry
reg = Registry()
print(reg.get_from_requirement(bike.required_models[0]))
# -> [<class 'brim.bicycle.rear_frames.RigidRearFrameMoore'>, <class 'brim.bicycle.rear_frames.RigidRearFrame'>]

@moorepants what is your preference?