CIBC:Documentation:SCIRun:DevTasks:QtMigration

SCIRun Qt Migration Project

Git Help

• Git community book
  • basic branching and merging
  • git stash
• Quick git reference site
  • branching and merging and sharing with remote repositories are especially useful

Deployment Help

Qt

• Qt Mac deployment suggestions
• Qt conf file

OS X Bundles

• Core Foundation Keys

User Suggestions

CIBC:Documentation:SCIRun:DevTasks:UserInput

Basic GUI Redesign

1. Determine overall look and feel.
   • Background color of network editor
   • Placement of main window widgets--match current design at first?
2. Redesigning major parts of the main window.
   • Menu bar
   • Context menus
   • Toolbars
   • Status bar
   • Configuration panel
   • Module Search
   • Module progress indicators
   • Module general settings: port caching, info on ports, general info: available in "drawer" subwidget
   • Tooltips
   • Command window
3. CIBC:Documentation:SCIRun:DevTasks:SCIRunGuiFeatureList

Major Development Milestones

• ✓ Can add/delete module widgets
• ✓ Can connect ports with connections in the GUI
• ✓ Can execute dummy network (modules do nothing, stubbed with an execution time)
• ✓ Can load/save srn file (using dummy module descriptions)
• → All menu options/preferences work
• ✓ Can load/save srn file (using real module descriptions)
• ✓ Can execute a basic network (file i/o, matrix math, no graphics)
  • Question: to achieve this, do we need to hook up all current network plumbing, or just have a minimal set of code to get this working? Perhaps the latter can be step A, while the former is step B.
• ✓ Can execute basic multithreaded network
• ✓ Volume rendering == ViewScene module.
• ✓ Can execute network with graphical output
• Can walk through entire SCIRun tutorial!
• At this point, all essential modules should be converted. Can begin converting other individual modules.

Core

• Discuss memory model for Matrix/Arrays/etc.
• Move namespace SCIRunAlgo into SCIRun::Algo to remove need for using directives in headers.
• Replace Thread library with Boost.
  • Boost threading notes.

IO

• is there a way we can display a brief blurb describing file importer and exporter plugin information (i.e. show a short description of the file types supported, file extensions etc.)?
• change file importer and exporter plugin function pointer table to functors

Dataflow

• Execute all button in network editor: triggers execution even if network is currently executing. Queue (or block?) request for execution until current execution is done.

Graphics and Visualization

• Be able to select or click on objects in renderer and get information i.e. node index, position etc.

OpenGL

• move all OpenGL code into Core (and intermediate layer as needed)

Externals

• is GLEW still needed for OpenGL support, and if so, which version? - handled through Spire
• verify that libpng and zlib are still needed, if so, update
• better XML parsing library (libxml2 is overly complex and buggy)

Boost

• Boost is an external project in the CMake build
• In case Boost needs to be built outside of SCIRun: Boost build notes

Build

• merge all generated headers into a single generated header file

Testing

• Add regression testing feature to diff numerical output, either through text files or of matrix objects directly.

Core

• Isosurface algorithm is very slow and should be rewritten

Error Handling and Exceptions

• SCIRun exceptions could use an overhaul.
• SCIRun assertions could also use an overhaul.
• The same kind of assertions need to be used throughout the code. Currently, we're using:
  • assert from cassert
  • SCIRun's custom ASSERT macros
  • Boost static assert (perhaps it would be best to replace all other asserts with Boost assert utilities?)

Modules

Possible Problem Modules

• ShowMatrix: this module should be completely rewritten
• CreateMatrix: bug #327
• GeneratePointSamplesFromFieldOrWidget: spinner boxes in both tabs are not editable. This is really annoying if one wants to generate a large number of samples.
• GeneratePointSamplesFromField: The execution pattern for this module should be improved. Also, SCIRun test networks are using GeneratePointSamplesFromFieldOrWidget, so there are no tests for this module.
• CreateAndEditColorMap: the GUI is not very usable and can be difficult to navigate.

Module Improvements

• See if it's possible to encapsulate common functionality in Matlab Importer modules in a parent class. Same with Exporter modules.