Simple GUI Creation for Robodk Scripts

Incorperating tkinter into robodk scripts adds unnessecary complexity and confusion to otherwise simple scripts. This complexity made it difficult to modify the GUI, and make it harder for new users to figure out what's going on in the robodk script. This package attempts to alleviate the overhead of tkinter by instead defining the GUI in a seperate json file. The functionality of this package is very streamlined and limited. If more complex GUI design is needed consult other packages such as pytkgen.

Install

git clone https://github.com/kobbled/robodk-gui
cd robodk-gui
pip3 install .

Usage

use by importing the module

from robodkgui.parsejson import *
from robodkgui.create import *

First the JSON file must be parsed into the proper data format. This is done with the parsejson2gui module, and can be constructed with:

objList = guiparse("path/to/json_file.json")

The parse tree can then be accessed through:

objList.members

The GUI is then created with the creategui module, and can be invoked with:

gui = tkGUI("Test GUI!")

Make sure this is done globally in the script so all members have access to it.

Variables can be loaded from a robodk save file with:

gui.loadVars(members, RDK, var_pack)

where RDK is the robolink to the robodk file i.e.:

RDK = Robolink()

the gui is then created with:

gui.build()

Button must be manually created with tkinter in the robodk script itself in order to have access to the trigger event command in the robodk script.

Button(gui.root, text='Run', font=large_font, width=20, height=4, command=function, bg='green').pack()

Finally the tkinter spinner must be called in the robodk script in order to persist the GUI.

gui.root.mainloop()

unitialized varaibles should be stored as a dictionary instead of raw members to pass to the creategui.tkGUI object like:

var_pack = {
    "BOOL1" : True,
    "RADIO1" : 1,
    "STRING1" : "foo",
    "STRING2" : "bar"
}

Note

Do not include frame variables, progress bar variables, or frame toggle variables in this packet.

In the robodk script reference the members through the creategui.tkGUI class. For instance if the object is called gui call BOOL1 with gui.BOOL1

In order to use the user input values into the gui, before proceeding with trigger events make sure you update the class attributes with:

gui.updateVars()

And then save them to your robodk instance with:

gui.saveVars(RDK)

Note

tk buttons must be made explicitly in the robodk script. This is because of scoping issues outside the creategui.tkGUI class. For example the button can be created with:

Button(gui.root, text='Run', font=larege_font, width=20, height=4, command=run_function, bg='green').pack()

Test Example

examples folder contains a test example to verify the install. test_gui.json contains the json structure for creating a GUI. test_gui.py contains the python code for the script which basically opens the GUI defined in test_gui.json, and when the event button is pressed will display a message and then increments the progress bar every second until complete, and display a message at the end.

To run:

cd path/to/robodk-gui/examples
python test_gui.py

Alternatively open up the robodk file and run the program.

Variable will remember their state, as they are saved in the robodk instance, as long as the event trigger button is pressed to save them.

Tk functionality

Textboxes/Checkboxes

Variables are stored as a dictionary list specifying there class attribute name as the key, and their label, and value type as their value. Numerous variables can be neatly stored in this fashion.

"members" : {
    "VAR1" : ["Variable Name 1", "StringVar"],
    "VAR2" : ["Variable Name 2", "StringVar"],
    "VAR3" : ["Variable Name 3", "StringVar"]
}

frames

Frame containers are used to organize the gui layout, with a general structure of:

{"root" : [{
    "panel" : {
        "frm1" : {
        },
        "frm2" : {
        }
    }

    }]
}

root must be the first thing declares in the json file.

Frame toggle

Toggling panels is done by specifying the checkbox, with an attribute name, and a label. The panels or frames that this checkbox controls are defined in the toggle block as the trueframe or the falseframe. the value of the trueframe, or the falseframe are written just as you would for defining a panel, and its internal contents.

"toggle" : {
    "variable" : "TOGGLE1",
    "label": "toggle example",
    "trueframe" : {
        "name" : "frame_name1",
        "members" : {
        "VAR1" : ["Variable Name 1", "StringVar"]
        }
    },
    "falseframe" : {
        "name" : "frame_name2",
        "members" : {
        "VAR2" : ["Variable Name 2", "StringVar"]
        }
    }
}

Display Notification

Display is used to display information to the user through the GUI interface. In JSON this can be defined as:

"display" : {
    "variable" : "NOTIFY_MSG",
    "type" : "StringVar",
    "color" : "green"
}

Progess bar

Progress bars can be defined as:

"progress" : {
    "variable" : "PROG_BAR",
    "length" : 100,
    "determinate" : true
}

The progress bar can be defined as determinate, or indeterminate.

Radio buttons

Radio buttons can be defined with numerous options, i.e.

"radio" : {
            "variable" : "RADIO_VAR",
            "type" : "IntVar",
            "modes" : {"option1": 1,
                        "option2": 2,
                        "option3": 3}
        }

These options are stored as a dictionary key/value pair, in tkradio.modes.

Spacer

Input a spacer of size width x height. To seperate widgets. Can also input a color for the spacer if specified.

"spacer" : {"options" : {"width" : 20, "height" : 1}, "color" : "yellow"}