What widgets are needed in a new version of VCP ?

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13 Oct 2010 01:36 #4656 by cmorley
This seemed the closest subject.

In the development version of EMC I have cobbled together a VCP program
using GLADE 's UI builder program, python and GTK.
Right now the HAL pinned widgets are pretty minimal and some need some tweaks.
I built a ( blinkable ) LED and there is basic spinboxs and and labels for numeric display etc.
What there is none of is the more fancy widgets pyvcp has such as the analog meter or MPG dial.
I was just wondering what widgets people were interested in.
I figure the meter needs to be built and maybe a graph widget, not so sure the dial widget was used much.
I dont have a ton of time to build widgets but sometimes I'm looking for something quick and interesting to do...
What do others wish pyvcp had or how could they be better?

Chris M

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13 Oct 2010 11:49 - 13 Oct 2010 11:53 #4660 by BigJohnT
Hi Chris,

The only problem I have with pyvcp atm that I can remember is the spinbox number entry. If you type a number in you have to spin it up or down for that number to be on the pin if that makes any sense.

How do you add your VCP to Axis?

How do you build the VCP?

John
Last edit: 13 Oct 2010 11:53 by BigJohnT.

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13 Oct 2010 15:22 #4661 by andypugh
cmorley wrote:

I was just wondering what widgets people were interested in.


Numeric entry boxes.
Currently you can sort-of use the spinbox, but the value isn't registered until you spin up or down.
Also, the focus leaves the box if you type a - sign, which can be annoying if you want a negative number.
Conversely, the boxes hold focus if you type into them. disabling keyboard commands.
There was a patch that enabled "Enter" to register the value, which was a big help (I lost it in an upgrade) but I think it still had the annoying behaviour with "-"

My Lathe config is run pretty much entirely from a PyVCP panel and a subroutine calls, I have created a fair bit of scrap by having the numbers in the boxes not actually be the numbers on the pins due to the way the spinbox works.

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13 Oct 2010 20:58 #4663 by robh
one i would love to see is a type of load meter where the bar changes colours (fixed or definable) but definable colour change area/value

just to give a nicer indication to the operator how much load is on an axis or spindle or other..
so for axis load or spindle load when you reach value of 100 say you can have it turn Red in last section(100+), just like on a real analog meter where it has the red section to indicate excess overload. based on the pyvcp bar widget just with added colour change section.. hope it makes sence


rob

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14 Oct 2010 00:31 #4666 by cmorley
Hi john. The process of loading a stand alone gladevcp panel is very similar to pyvcp:

loadusr gladevcp [-c conponentname] [-g WxH+Xoffset+Yoffset] gladefile.glade

bulding a panel requires GLADE 3.6.7 ( Ubuntu 10.04 )
basically the main window must be called window1 then add widgets
to it. There are a selection of HAL widgets on the left side to choose from.
see here:
wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/emcinfo.pl?GladeVcp
There is some system links that need to be added and right now GLADE seems to have to be started from a terminal to see the LED widget.
The system links are mentioned in the read me.

You can add gladevcp to AXIS and Touchy using the newly added Embedded tabs.

The HALized widget selection is not very big right now.
I remember the spinbox problem. I will check how gladevcp can handle that.

I probably need to add some info to the wiki page....

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14 Oct 2010 00:33 #4667 by cmorley
Yes I understand what you mean and found a widget on the net that I think I could adapt to build this..

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14 Oct 2010 11:48 #4676 by BigJohnT
Chris, that is cool. What I'd like to do for my lathe is have something similar to Deweys ngcgui program in a tab. On my lathe I use it with subroutines almost every time for making parts as it is fast to program and once I've proven a subroutine it is reliable. Unfortunately the ngcgui is in TCL which is impossible for me to understand. The code part of it works fine but the GUI part is kinda clunky...

Is there any info on the new Embedded Tabs anywhere?

Thanks
John

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15 Oct 2010 01:16 #4688 by cmorley
Embedded tabs are mentioned on the glade wiki page . Chris added a touchy with embedded tab to master somewhere.
and there is a page about emdedded tabs for axis here:
wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/emcinfo.pl?Axis_Embed_Video

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15 Oct 2010 18:18 #4705 by cmorley
andypugh wrote:

cmorley wrote:

I was just wondering what widgets people were interested in.


Numeric entry boxes.
Currently you can sort-of use the spinbox, but the value isn't registered until you spin up or down.
Also, the focus leaves the box if you type a - sign, which can be annoying if you want a negative number.
Conversely, the boxes hold focus if you type into them. disabling keyboard commands.
There was a patch that enabled "Enter" to register the value, which was a big help (I lost it in an upgrade) but I think it still had the annoying behaviour with "-"

My Lathe config is run pretty much entirely from a PyVCP panel and a subroutine calls, I have created a fair bit of scrap by having the numbers in the boxes not actually be the numbers on the pins due to the way the spinbox works.


I just checked gladevcp's spinbox:
the pin changes as soon as you spin up or down, type enter or if you change the number and then move the mouse off the box.
negative numbers are no problem. So I think that is the behavior you are expecting (and I didn't have to change anything !)
Since they work well I wonder if a numeric entry box is needed?

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15 Oct 2010 18:26 - 15 Oct 2010 18:31 #4706 by cmorley
I forgot to mention that when building gladevcp panels in the GLADE UI builder one should choose Libglade NOT gtkbuilder
from the preference popup.
gtkbuilder needs some tweaks to be useful yet.
Last edit: 15 Oct 2010 18:31 by cmorley.

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