[Bf-python] Layout.operator - update to draw

[James Crowther]

Hi, 
	I’ve been trying to create a button that begins a task to connect two blender sessions together on two separate machines, so far I have been able to get the backend to work, but I would like to change the appearance of the button to match the state my task is in. Its fairly basic, when the user presses the button it changes to a pending state, then a connected state if the connection works, or back to the ready state if the connection fails (there may also be a report to the console or info section in this case, separate issue thought).

I use a simple piece of code to do this in a custom panel class

def draw(self, context):

	button_operator = operators[client.status]
	button_icon = icons[client.status]
	button_text = text[client.status]

	layout.operator( button_operator, button_icon, button_text)


depending on the value of client.state, a different set of button operator, icon and text is displays. This kind of works, but the issue I am having is that the user has to mouse over the button in order to make the icon and text change. I also suspect this is the same for the operator, but since you have to mouse over to click the button, i never trigger the wrong operator. 

I have been searching for why the button only re-draws on mouseover and not when the values of button_operator, icon and text change, but I haven’t found anything to suggest why. 

So, I’d like to know, how can I create a button that does redraw when these properties change? What actually causes the operator to redraw other than a mouse over? I have experimented with layout.prop, this will change when the property changes and I don’t have to mouse over it, but I would rather have a button than a property since the button is used to connect, cancel and disconnect. 

Thanks!

James