Dialog interfaces for processes¶

Anais Ducoffe & Bernard Mourrain

To run a process from the Axl Application Interface, you need a dialog class which is used to select the input and the parameters of the process and then execute it. Using the mechanism implemented in the axlInspectorToolGeneric class will help you to generate your dialog thanks to a description provided in the process, and will avoid to write a dedicated dialog process class (though this is still possible). To use this tool you must first check (or create) two things:

the process must implement the method virtual QString axlAbstractProcess::form(void) const;

the process has to be registered in the factory of processes (with the method registered).

Warning

The class providing this method form should derived from axlAbstractProcess

Formalism¶

Overload axlAbstractProcess::form(void) const with a QString following this convention:

a line per input ending with “n”, formatted as follows:
```
"INPUT[:CHANNEL] TYPE LABEL [VALUE]\n"
```
where:
- CHANNEL is a number identifying the rank of an input, see dtkAbstractProcess. [:CHANNEL] is optional. Write this channel identifier if the process method setInput uses a channel in its parameters.
- TYPE is either int, double or data
- LABEL is the input’s name
- VALUE is optional. It specifies the default value of the input, when it is an “int” or “double”.
a line per parameter ending with “n”, formatted as follows:
```
"PARAMETER[:CHANNEL] TYPE LABEL [VALUE]\n"
```
where:
- CHANNEL is a number identifying the rank of an parameter, see dtkAbstractProcess. [:CHANNEL] is optional. Write this channel identifier if the process method setParameter uses a channel in its parameters.
- TYPE is either int or double
- LABEL is the parameter’s name
- VALUE is optional. It specifies the default value of the parameter when it is an int or double.
a line per output, formatted as follows:
```
"OUTPUT[:CHANNEL] LABEL"
```
where:
- CHANNEL is a number identifying the output, see dtkAbstractProcess. [:CHANNEL] is optional.
- LABEL is the output’s name

Here is an example of such a declaration:

QString form(void) const
{
   return QString(
     " INPUT:0 data StartPoint \n"
     " INPUT:1 data EndPoint \n"
     " PARAMETER:0 double Radius 1.1\n"
     " OUTPUT Cylinder ");
}

Another example with the axel class axlBarycenterProcess, which uses axlBarycenterProcess::setParameter(double value) and not axlBarycenterProcess::setParameter(double value, int channel):

QString form(void) const
{
   return QString(
      " INPUT:0 data line \n"
      " PARAMETER double coefficient 0.5\n"
      " OUTPUT:0 barycenterPoint");
}

Examples¶

Here is an example used in axlBarycenterProcess.h

class AXLCORE_EXPORT axlBarycenterProcess : public axlAbstractProcess
{
    Q_OBJECT

public:
    axlBarycenterProcess(QObject *parent = 0);
    ~axlBarycenterProcess(void);

public :
    axlAbstractData * getInput(int channel) const;
    double getCoeffValue(void) const;

public :
    virtual int update(void);

public :
    QString description(void) const;
    QString identifier(void) const;

public :
    dtkAbstractData *output(void);
    void setInput(dtkAbstractData *newData, int channel = 0);
    void setParameter(double data, int channel = 0);
    int channelCount(void);

public:
    QString form(void) const
    {
        return QString(
             " INPUT:0 data line \n"
             " PARAMETER:0 double coefficient 0.5 \n"
             " OUTPUT:0 data barycenterPoint ");
    }

signals:
    void dataInserted(axlAbstractData *data);

private:
    axlBarycenterProcessPrivate *d;
};

This process takes a line defined by two points as input and outputs a point which is the barycenter of the two points. The parameter is the barycentric coordinate used to compute this barycenter. The default value is 0.5, which corresponds to the middle point.

Here is an example used in axlFieldSpatialPointDistanceCreator.h:

class AXLCORE_EXPORT axlFieldSpatialPointDistanceCreator : public axlAbstractFieldGenerator
{
    Q_OBJECT

public:
     axlFieldSpatialPointDistanceCreator(void);
    ~axlFieldSpatialPointDistanceCreator(void);

public:
    QString description(void) const;
    QString identifier(void) const;

public slots:
    void setInput(dtkAbstractData *data, int channel=0);
    void setParameter(double data, int channel=0);

public slots:
    int update(void);
    int channelCount(void);

public:
    QString form(void) const
    {
        return QString(
             " INPUT:0 data supportData \n"
             " PARAMETER:0 double x 0.0 \n"
             " PARAMETER:1 double y 0.0 \n"
             " PARAMETER:2 double z 0.0 ");
    }

public:
    static bool registered(void);

private:
    axlFieldSpatialPointDistanceCreatorPrivate *d;
};

The process creates a scalar field, from a general input, using 3 parameters which are the coordinates of a points. The value of the field for a point on the input object is its distance to the parameter point. The default value for the parameter point is [0, 0, 0].