source: framspy/gui/README.md @ 1198

Last change on this file since 1198 was 1198, checked in by Maciej Komosinski, 14 months ago

Added simple Python GUI for Framsticks library/server

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1# Python GUI for Framsticks library and server
2
3## Table of contents
4
5- [About](#about)
6- [Running](#running)
7- [Sources and directories](#sources-and-directories)
8- [Threading](#threading)
9- [Development](#development)
10
11
12
13## About
14
15This GUI offers basic features when connecting to a native Framsticks library (```dll/so/dylib```) or the [Framsticks server](https://www.framsticks.com/common/server.html). While there exist native GUIs for Framsticks which are much faster and offer more features, the advantage of this GUI is that it is written entirely in Python (thus being portable), it is entirely open-source, and can be freely modified or serve as an implementation example. This GUI is also completely separate from the Framsticks simulator (either the library or the server).
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17
18
19
20## Running
21
22Run the ```gui.py``` script.
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24
25
26
27## Sources and directories
28
29```text
30framspy/
31├── frams.py
32├── gui.py
33└── gui/
34    ├── framsutils/
35    ├── res/
36    │   ├── icons/
37    │   ├── img/
38    │   └── obj/
39    ├── tests/
40    ├── visual/
41    │   └── shaders/
42    └── widgets/
43```
44
45- ```framsutils``` contains all classes used for low-level data manipulation.
46- ```res``` is a resource directory.
47- ```tests``` contains basic test classes.
48- ```visual``` contains all OpenGL-related classes and files (shaders).
49- ```widgets``` contains all tkinter widgets.
50
51
52
53
54## Threading
55
56The GUI runs the ```Tkinter``` main loop in the main thread.
57
58```glFrame``` runs an additional thread to periodically and asynchronously obtain creatures data to render without freezing the render window. This is especially required for the socket connection, because requesting data is time-consuming relatively to rendering.
59
60```FramsSocket``` runs the communication module with ```asyncio``` in another thread to provide fast and concurrent network communication.
61
62The communication module uses another thread to detect asynchronous events from server and to call an adequate callback.
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64
65
66
67
68## Development
69
70### Communication
71
72If you want to add another feature to socket communication, send feature negotiation request in ```CommWrapper```'s *start* method in ```comm.py```.
73
74There is no generic system for registering for new events in the socket communication. If you want to register for a new event, add callback in ```EventConsumer```'s *run* method in ```comm.py``` and register for an event in ```FramsSocket```'s *initConnection* method in ```FramsSocket.py```.
75
76### UI
77
78All property features for input widgets are handled in ```framsProperty.py``` in the *propertyToTkinter* function.
79
80All widget's definitions for the main window are added in the *\_\_init\_\_* method of the ```MainPage``` class in ```mainPage.py```. This method is divided into sections:
81- OPENGL FRAME
82- SIDE FRAME
83    - CONTROL PANEL
84    - TREEVIEW
85- STATUS BAR
86- MENU BAR
87- WINDOW
88- ORGANIZE WINDOWS POSITIONS for all displayed windows
89
90If you need to ask for more fields in ```ListGenePoolWindow``` or ```ListPopulationsWindow```, add their ids to *self.fields* list. If you want to show them as columns, make sure to add them in the right order at the begining of the list, because only *len(self.headers)* first fields with *self.headers* headers are shown. Also fill *self.headers_width* with the correct percentage value of the initial window width, for example:
91```python
92fields = ["name", "genotype", "numjoints", "index", "uid"]
93headers = ["Name", "Genotype"]
94headers_width = [0.5, 0.5]
95```
96The above example asks for *name*, *genotype*, *numjoints*, *index*, *uid*, but only shows *name* in the *Name* column and *genotype* in the *Genotype* column with 50% and 50% widths for each column. The remaining fields can be used during the preparation of the row.
97
98### Contributing
99
100There are a number of "TODO" items (features, bugs) for this Python GUI described [here](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KeY6RceeeiPDkt_Z6S2GihpcA4YsfujNfk3AErvXP3Q/edit?usp=sharing). Contact ```support@framsticks.com``` to learn more about the development.
101
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