bcdamenu

Creates a GUI menu button to start common beam line software

Provides

  • bcdamenu : the button menu

Package Information

Usage

typical:
user@linux > bcdamenu path/to/settings_file.ini &
bash starter file:
 
#!/bin/bash
bcdamenu path/to/settings_file.ini &
usage:
user@linux > bcdamenu
usage: BcdaMenu [-h] settingsfile
BcdaMenu: error: too few arguments
help:
user@linux > bcdamenu -h
usage: BcdaMenu [-h] settingsfile

BcdaMenu: Creates a GUI menu button to start common beam line software

positional arguments:
  settingsfile  Settings file (.ini)

optional arguments:
  -h, --help    show this help message and exit

Contents

Settings File

The BcdaMenu GUI is configured by the content provided in a settings file which name is specified on the command line when starting the program. For example, this Linux command:

bcdamenu path/to/menus_settings.ini &
Version “2017.3.0” format of the Settings file

The settings file version 2017.3.0 uses the .ini format, a structure similar to what you would find in Microsoft Windows INI files. This format was chosen for its minimal approach to language markup. The examples provided should guide you to the syntax. For more details, see the documentation for the Python ConfigParser. The web has many explanations of this informal format.

Settings file elements

The settings file consists of sections which are lines starting with “[” and ending with “]”, such as [section_name]. In BcdaMenu, these sections are single words with no embedded white space.

Within a section, one or more lines are given with the syntax of key = value (or key: value). It is expected by the .ini format that any key is unique within its section. In BcdaMenu, the key has two parts. First an integer is given that is used to sort the menu’s items in order`. The integer is not required to be strictly increasing from 1. Gaps and negative numbers are also allowed. Keep the integers between -9999 .. 9999 to avoid any potential misunderstandings. You will not have that many menu items.

Refer to the Example settings file section for an example settings file. As the examples show, both key and value are quite flexible strings. A key should not contain either the “:” or “=” separator characters. The comment characters allowed by the .ini format should also be avoided within either key or value content.

{BcdaMenu] section:
 

This section expects the following keys and values. Other keys and values will be ignored.

title:The window title (default: BCDA Menu)
version:The version of the settings file format. Presently, the only allowed value is 2017.3.0, the settings format of the initial release. If this format ever changes, this key will be used to identify how to handle the different syntax of the settings file of the new version.
menus:Names of the sections below with menu specifications. Its value may have more than one menu name, separated by white space.
menu sections:

As referenced by menus or submenu keys. Each menu section must have a one-word name with no internal white space (to simplify the parsing of names in the [BcdaMenu] section. All menu (and submenu) sections must be unique with the settings file. If the same name is used in more than one section, a configparser.DuplicateSectionError exception will be raised.

other sections:

will be ignored

Shortcut keys

Shortcut keys are not supported for any menu items.

Example Settings File

The settings file in the source code distribution (download, also shown below) is an example demonstrating the various features used by BcdaMenu.

file

The example settings file (highlighted lines show the sections, lines 1, 6, & 19 and the specification of the popup menus, line 4) is shown next.

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[BcdaMenu]
title = BcdaMenu: 9-ID-C USAXS
version = 2017.3.0
menus = USAXS linux

[USAXS]
title = 9-ID-C USAXS
1 SAXS Imaging tool = /APSshare/epd/rh6-x86/bin/python /home/beams/USAXS/Apps/USAXS_dataworker/Main.py
2 sample and detector XY position tool = wxmtxy.csh
3 separator =
4 USAXS Q calculator = qToolUsaxs.csh
5 9-ID-C USAXS controls (MEDM) = start_epics
6 Save Instr. status to Elog = saveToElog.csh
7 PyMca = /APSshare/bin/pymca
8 USAXS sample stage tool = /home/beams/USAXS/Apps/wxmtusaxs/wxmtusaxs
9 separator =
10 submenu = example_submenu

[linux]
1 Xload = xload
2 FireFox = firefox

[example_submenu]
title = this is an example of a submenu
1 comment = echo "this is not a comment"
# this is a comment
screens

This settings file produces a GUI titled 9-ID-C USAXS menu with two user menus: USAXS and linux. The following screen views are from Linux.

_images/gui.png

GUI using example settings file.

This is the USAXS menu:

_images/usaxs-menu-dropped.png

GUI using example settings file, showing the USAXS menu.

This is the linux menu:

_images/linux-menu-dropped.png

GUI using example settings file, showing the linux menu.

The “Help” popup menu button

The Help popup menu button is controlled by the program and is not configurable by the user through the settings file.

This is the Help menu:

_images/help-menu-dropped.png

GUI showing the Help menu.

These items are available in the Help popup menu:

  • About … : prints to the console basic information about this program
  • Reload User Menus : reloads the settings file (use this when editing/revising that file)
  • (Un)hide history panel : if checked, show a history panel with command output
  • scroll to new output : if checked, always scroll when new output is received
  • command echo : if checked, show command in history when executed
  • toggle Debug flag : if checked, turns on diagnostic output

Examples

Linux: variety of possibilities

an example from Linux with a number of possibilities

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# bcdamenu.ini
#
# settings file for BcdaMenu GUI

[BcdaMenu]
title = BcdaMenu: jemian@gov
version = 2017.3.0
menus = IOC BlueSky linux

[IOC]
title = IOCs on gov
20 submenu   = iocgov
42 submenu   = iocprj

[iocgov]
title = IOC: gov (synApps 5.8)
## synApps 5.8 IOC has start/stop/status/console features
1 caQtDM iocgov   = cd /home/oxygen/JEMIAN/sandbox/ioc/gov; ./start_caQtDM.sh
# 2 screen editor = # this is not supported yet
10 separator   =
8 start IOC    = cd /home/oxygen/JEMIAN/sandbox/ioc/gov/iocBoot/iocLinux; ./gov.sh start
14 console iocgov = cd /home/oxygen/JEMIAN/sandbox/ioc/gov/iocBoot/iocLinux; gnome-terminal -e "./gov.sh console"
15 status iocgov  = cd /home/oxygen/JEMIAN/sandbox/ioc/gov/iocBoot/iocLinux; ./gov.sh status
23 stop iocgov    = cd /home/oxygen/JEMIAN/sandbox/ioc/gov/iocBoot/iocLinux; ./gov.sh stop

[iocprj]
title = IOC: prj on gov (synApps 5.6)
# synApps 5.6 did not have console & process management
101 caQtDM   = cd /home/oxygen/JEMIAN/sandbox/ioc/prj; ./start_caQtDM
103 start    = /home/oxygen/JEMIAN/bin/start_ioc_prj.sh
114 console  = cd /home/oxygen/JEMIAN/sandbox/ioc/prj/iocBoot/iocLinux; gnome-terminal  -e "screen -r"

[linux]
1 edit settings file = /bin/nedit-client /home/oxygen/JEMIAN/bin/bcdamenu.ini
2 type settings file = /bin/cat /home/oxygen/JEMIAN/bin/bcdamenu.ini
44 xload = xload
45 Ku'damm clock = blnuhr

[BlueSky]
title = NSLS-II BlueSky
14 BlueSky console = cd /home/oxygen/JEMIAN/Documents; gnome-terminal -e "/home/oxygen/JEMIAN/bin/use_bluesky.sh bluesky"
20 submenu = BlueSky-mongodb
90 submenu = BlueSky-documentation

[BlueSky-mongodb]
title = mongodb viewer
22 start mViewer server (console) = cd /home/oxygen/JEMIAN/Apps/mViewer; gnome-terminal -e "./start_mviewer.sh 8086"
24 mongodb viewer in web browser (chrome) = /bin/google-chrome http://localhost:8086/index.html
25 mongodb viewer hints = echo "host: gov.aps.anl.gov   port: 27017  others leave blank"

[BlueSky-documentation]
title = web documentation
92 BlueSky documentation = /bin/google-chrome http://nsls-ii.github.io/bluesky
93 NSLS-II Software documentation = /bin/google-chrome http://nsls-ii.github.io
Windows: caQtDM & PyMca

an example from Windows showing one absolute path and one default path

screen shot
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[BcdaMenu]
title = BcdaMenu: amb (Windows)
version = 2017.3.0
menus = amb Windows

[amb]
#title = 
1 CaQtDM = "D:\Program Files\caQTDM\bin\windows-x64\caQtDM.exe"
3 separator =
7 PyMca = PyMca

[Windows]
10 edit settings file = "D:\Apps\Sublime Text\sublime_text.exe" C:\Users\Pete\.bcdamenu.ini

History panel in main window

With version 2017.4.0, the BcdaMenu was transformed from a button window style to a main window style of application. This change gained several features:

  • keyboard motion between the various menus and menu items
  • a status line to report program information (like the unimenu predecessor of BcdaMenu)
  • a main window panel to gather any command output and show history

The history panel (like real history) cannot be changed after it has been written. Both stderr and stdout from any command are combined and reported in the window. There are options (under the Help menu) to control what is written to the history.

Since the original program did not have a history panel, the default is to not display the history panel. Again, the Help menu has an item to show/hide the history.

_images/history.png

History panel is shown.

_images/history_debug.png

History panel is shown with debugging turned on. This shows when commands are started and stopped. All lines are time stamped with debugging turned on.

Installation

Install this program from the Python Package Index (PyPI) using the pip command:

pip install bcdamenu
pip install --no-deps bcdamenu

The --no-deps option tells pip not to download and attempt to build newer versions of other required packages.

Requirements
  • Python 2.7
  • PyQt4

Your system will need to have the package PyQt4.QtGui already installed. A Python 2.7 distribution, such as Anaconda Python provides this package.

This program was developed on a Windows workstation and tested with various Linux distributions (RHEL7, Linux Mint, Raspberry Pi). It is expected to run on any host that provides the standard Python 2.7 packages and PyQt4.

or

  • Python 3.6+
  • PyQt5

Development and testing have progressed to include Python 3.6 or higher and PyQt5.

Source : about

source code: about

show the About box

Usage (example)

ui = about.InfoBox(self)

ui.setTodoURL(__issues__)
ui.setDocumentationURL(__url__)
ui.setLicenseURL(__license_url__)
ui.setTitle(config_file_parser.MAIN_SECTION_LABEL)
ui.setVersionText("software version: " + __version__)
ui.setSummaryText(__doc__.strip())
ui.setAuthorText(__author__)
ui.setCopyrightText(__copyright__)

ui.show()
InfoBox([parent, settings]) a Qt GUI for the About box
myLoadUi(ui_file[, baseinstance]) load a .ui file for use in building a GUI
class bcdamenu.about.InfoBox(parent=None, settings=None)[source]

a Qt GUI for the About box

setTodoURL(url) set the URL for the issue tracker
setDocumentationURL(url) set the URL for the documentation
setLicenseURL(url) set the URL for the software license text
setTitle(text) set the title in the About box
setVersionText(text) set the version text in the About box
setSummaryText(text) set the description in th e About box
setAuthorText(text) set the author list in the About box
setCopyrightText(text) set the copyright string in the About box
closeEvent(event)[source]

called when user clicks the big [X] to quit

doDocsUrl()[source]

show documentation URL in default browser

doIssuesUrl()[source]

show issues URL in default browser

doLicense()[source]

show the license URL in default browser

doUrl(url)[source]

opening URL in default browser

setAuthorText(text)[source]

set the author list in the About box

setCopyrightText(text)[source]

set the copyright string in the About box

setDocumentationURL(url)[source]

set the URL for the documentation

setLicenseURL(url)[source]

set the URL for the software license text

setSummaryText(text)[source]

set the description in th e About box

setTitle(text)[source]

set the title in the About box

setTodoURL(url)[source]

set the URL for the issue tracker

setVersionText(text)[source]

set the version text in the About box

bcdamenu.about.myLoadUi(ui_file, baseinstance=None, **kw)[source]

load a .ui file for use in building a GUI

Wraps uic.loadUi() with code that finds our program’s resources directory.

See:http://nullege.com/codes/search/PyQt4.uic.loadUi
See:http://bitesofcode.blogspot.ca/2011/10/comparison-of-loading-techniques.html

inspired by: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14892713/how-do-you-load-ui-files-onto-python-classes-with-pyside?lq=1

Source : config_file_parser

source code: config_file_parser

Source : launcher

source code: launcher

Change History

Production
2019.05.0:
  • #47 fix About box for Qt5
  • #49 create conda package (Qt5 only)
2017.9.0:
  • #43 no output to command history
  • #42 only one separator line is added, even if multiple are described
2017.4.0:
  • #35 spawns commands in separate subprocess threads
  • #31 capture all console output to history panel
  • #30 changed buttons into menubar, added history panel
  • #13 About box added
  • #12 submenu feature added!
2017.3.5:
  • #6 source code now documented on ReadTheDocs
2017.3.3:
  • #27 reload settings file now sets window title
  • #26 add option to lay out buttons vertical (horizontal is the default)
  • #25 reload settings file now clears previous buttons
  • #24 started an Examples section in the documentation
2017.3.2:
  • #21 allow command line help to be shown on MS Windows
  • #20 show version on command line help
  • #18 change internal handling of user menu specs from dictionary to list
  • #17 preserve capitalization of menu items
2017.3.0:
  • initial release: 2017.03.21
Development
2017-03-20:

License

Copyright (c) 2009-2019, UChicago Argonne, LLC

All Rights Reserved

BcdaMenu

BCDA, Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory


OPEN SOURCE LICENSE

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, 
   this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.  Software changes, 
   modifications, or derivative works, should be noted with comments and 
   the author and organization's name.

2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice,
   this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation 
   and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

3. Neither the names of UChicago Argonne, LLC or the Department of Energy 
   nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote 
   products derived from this software without specific prior written 
   permission.

4. The software and the end-user documentation included with the 
   redistribution, if any, must include the following acknowledgment:

   "This product includes software produced by UChicago Argonne, LLC 
   under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357 with the Department of Energy."

****************************************************************************

DISCLAIMER

THE SOFTWARE IS SUPPLIED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.

Neither the United States GOVERNMENT, nor the United States Department 
of Energy, NOR uchicago argonne, LLC, nor any of their employees, makes 
any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or 
responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any 
information, data, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or 
represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights.

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