How do I Get The Selected Object type

Question

I need to basically query and perform a few tasks based on the current selection with PYMEL, example:

from pymel.core import *    
s = selected()
if (s.selType() == 'poly'):
    #do something    
if (s.selType() == 'surface'):
    #do something    
if (s.selType() == 'cv'):
    #do something    
if (s.selType() == 'vertex'):
    #do something    
if (s.selType() == 'face'):    
    #do something
if (s.selType() == 'edge'):  
    #do something
if (s.selType() == 'curve'):
    #do something

I know that selType() is not an actual pymel function, I'd like to also take advantage of pymels api commands, not using standard mel commands if that makes sense.

Answer 1

PyMEL will convert the selection list for you to nodes (unlike MEL, where everything is a simple datatype.) At least this is true with ls and related commands (selected is just ls(sl=True).)

Everything in that list will be a subclass of PyNode, so you can rely on them having a method nodeType.

From there, it is easy to process each selection based on its type.

---

Components inherit from pymel.core.Component, and there is one class for each component type; MeshVertex for example.

You can use isinstance(obj, type_sequence) to filter out components:

filter(lambda x: isinstance(x, (pm.MeshVertex, pm.MeshEdge, pm.MeshFace)), pm.selected())

You can find them under the general section in the PyMEL docs.

Answer 2

You could use the maya native filterExpand command to sort each into their respective types. It essentially sifts through your selection and makes a list of the objects that correspond to the type you're looking for

For example:

import maya.cmds as cmds

selection = cmds.ls(sl=1) # Lists the current selection and 
                          # stores it in the selection variable

polyFaces = cmds.filterExpand(sm=34) # sm (selectionMask) = 34 looks for polygon faces.
                                     # Store the result in polyFaces variable.

if (polyFaces != None): # If there was any amount of polygon faces.
   for i in polyFaces:  # Go through each of them.
      print(i)          # And print them out.

More info on the command and the filters corresponding int-value is in the python or mel command reference.