hal_action_open

Hello,

I did a search, but could not find anything specific about this.

I am running gscreen.gaxis on a lilliput 10.1 inch touchscreen. It works quite well. The main issue I have is that I would like the file load to be a lot more user-friendly on a touch screen. Something icon based as opposed to a file list.

Did I just miss how to do this? Have not really been able to find anything on this, but could easily have missed it.

Thanks.

Gaxis is quite sparse of options - it was not developed very far - anything glaring besides the file opening?

Could you be more specific about how you would like an icon file chooser?
I agree the current on is a little cumbersome with out a keyboard.

Chris M

cmorley wrote:

Gaxis is quite sparse of options - it was not developed very far - anything glaring besides the file opening?

Could you be more specific about how you would like an icon file chooser?
I agree the current on is a little cumbersome with out a keyboard.

Chris M

Basically, the file chooser needs to have something about the same size as the various buttons for each file within a directory. Hit "Open file", then the file chooser opens up and instead of a file list, you get a set of icons. (Essentially the same as what windows has if you hit the "icons" instead of list option in explorer).

Some form of overrides for feed rate would be good. I'd almost argue that they could go into that top toolbar instead of tabs as this would apply to any of the tabs.

I added icons for the "Run at Line" and unit selection to make it more obvious that they were buttons. I swapped icons for several of the others to make the buttons larger and easier to push.

In manual mode, I found that the homing there often conflicted with the "All-Home Machine" button and the whole interface would get into a weird hung state where it would never home properly.

I'll explain my use case here. I am working with a group of retirees. They make small wooden toys for missionary groups that go to Third World countries. They used to have manual milling machines and templates. But, their output was very low. Built them a CNC milling machine using Mach, but the interface was very intimidating. Even mini and touchy is intimidating. But, when they were showed a 10 inch touchscreen, they loved the idea. They all have some experience with i-pad's or tablet computers of various forms. Its not intimidating. So, essentially, I am looking at designing what amounts to a kiosk/app interface for linuxcnc. gaxis is, by far, the closest interface available to use as a base. The most common usage of the CNC machine will be the retiree inserting some pieces of wood into preset clamps, then loading one of a few specific files, then hitting run. So, for flow, the buttons lined up left-to-right across the top is great. I'll monkey with the homing options to where they can just push buttons in a set order to run the machine. I am designing for people who are not machinists and who probably will never get beyond basic operator skills. They also have zero interest in learning Linux.

Some other things to consider if gaxis is used as a kiosk by non-machinists. How do I load files from a thumb drive into the nc_files dir? (I am planning to install a file manager for that). I'm also looking at options so they can shut the computer down, or reboot from within gaxis. I will also be adding a button to start a calibration option for the touchscreen.

I looked for a solution for a icon based file chooser and found nothing suitable.
It seems someone must make one.
Usually the file chooser has a way to directly choose a thumb drive.

There is interest in a GUI for 3d printers, to be run by non machinists too.
When talking of a feed override button, are you looking for up/down or say 5 buttons for direct increments?

Chris M

cmorley wrote:

I looked for a solution for a icon based file chooser and found nothing suitable.
It seems someone must make one.
Usually the file chooser has a way to directly choose a thumb drive.

There is interest in a GUI for 3d printers, to be run by non machinists too.
When talking of a feed override button, are you looking for up/down or say 5 buttons for direct increments?

Chris M

Well, if you're referring to the email on the mailing list, that is me also. So, you might want to gauge interest by how many others step in. gaxis does look good for a basis for 3D machining, however.

Up/Down for the feed override. In general terms, the group I am working with is most comfortable with the sliding bar, which gives a very good representation of speed, but up/down would work also.

If you are referring to jogging continuous vs incremental, separate check boxes for the speed works better. Not sure how well to incorporate that.

So, my python is not great, but I am game to look at options for the file chooser.

Would this be compatible?

zetcode.com/gui/pygtk/advancedwidgets/

Nice find.
That could be a basis for a Icon filechooser.
Need to combine HAL_action_open to use that instead of the GTK filechooser.
I'm sure there are a couple other wrinkles to iron out too.

Chris M

Halo Chis,

did I understand correct?

You will do that directly after reworking the offset table?

This would be great to fit with our Touch GUIS!

Norbert