[Feature]: Automatically add linked objects to an NWBFile if we know where they should go.

[mavaylon1]

What would you like to see added to PyNWB?

This came up in #1701. The goal is to auto-add the ElectrodesTable to the nwbfile when the ElectricalSeries is added. This could be done for other objects, but we will start with this application first.

Is your feature request related to a problem?

No response

What solution would you like?

Auto-Add the table.

Do you have any interest in helping implement the feature?

Yes.

Code of Conduct

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[mavaylon1]

@rly I am trying to think how this would work. The meat and potatoes of add_acquisition is generated as an add method. When adding ElectricalSeries to the NWBFile, the parent is set. The first thing I think of is modifying add_acquisition to check if the instance is ElectricalSeries and then auto add the table via a child hierarchy search. I'll explore and test.

Edit: I suppose we could modify it as such:

    @docval({'name': 'nwbdata', 'type': (NWBDataInterface, DynamicTable)},
            {'name': 'use_sweep_table', 'type': bool, 'default': False, 'doc': 'Use the deprecated SweepTable'})
    def add_acquisition(self, **kwargs):
        nwbdata = popargs('nwbdata', kwargs)
        self._add_acquisition_internal(nwbdata)
        if isinstance(nwbdata, ElectricalSeries):
            self.set_electrode_table(nwbdata.electrodes.table)
        use_sweep_table = popargs('use_sweep_table', kwargs)
        if use_sweep_table:
            self._update_sweep_table(nwbdata)

[mavaylon1]

@rly can we find a time before Boston to review this?